The 1968 Gator Bowl

Gator Bowl

The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. Held continuously since 1946, it is the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised nationally...

, part of the 1968 bowl game season, took place on December 28, 1968, at the Gator Bowl Stadium

Gator Bowl Stadium

Gator Bowl was an American football stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. Originally built in 1927, it was radically reconstructed in 1994 in preparation for the Jacksonville Jaguars inaugural season and became Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, now EverBank Field. It is most notable for hosting the Gator...

 in Jacksonville

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. The competing teams were the Alabama Crimson Tide, representing the Southeastern Conference

Southeastern Conference

The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

 (SEC), and the , representing the Big Eight Conference

Big Eight Conference

The Big Eight Conference, a former NCAA-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football, was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association by its charter member schools: the University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University...

.

The game featured two eventual College Football Hall of Fame

College Football Hall of Fame

The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...

 coaches, Bear Bryant

Bear Bryant

Paul William "Bear" Bryant was an American college football player and coach. He was best known as the longtime head coach of the University of Alabama football team. During his 25-year tenure as Alabama's head coach, he amassed six national championships and thirteen conference championships...

 at Alabama and Dan Devine

Dan Devine

Daniel John Devine was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach football coach at Arizona State University from 1955 to 1957, the University of Missouri from 1958 to 1970, and the University of Notre Dame from 1975 to 1980, compiling a career college football mark of...

 at Missouri. Missouri won the game 35–10.

Alabama

The 1968 Alabama squad finished the regular season with an 8–2 record, with its two losses coming by a combined three points to and . Following the team's victory over , Alabama accepted an invitation to play in the Gator Bowl on November 20. The appearance marked the first for Alabama in the Gator Bowl, and the school's 22nd overall bowl game

Bowl game

In North America, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating...

.

Missouri

Missouri finished the regular season with a record of 7–3, with losses to , and . Following the team's loss against Oklahoma, Missouri accepted an invitation to play in the Gator Bowl on November 18. The appearance marked the third for Missouri in the Gator Bowl, and the school's 11th overall bowl game.

Game summary

The Missouri Tigers scored first, with a Terry McMillan 4-yard touchdown run to complete an eleven-play, 71-yard drive to take a 7–0 lead.

In the second quarter, Alabama scored their only touchdown of the game after Donnie Sutton intercepted a McMillan pass and returned it 38 yards for touchdown to tie the game at 7–7. Missouri retook the lead late in the second when McMillan scored from five yards out to give the Tigers a 14–7 lead at the half. After a scoreless third quarter, the Alabama Crimson Tide scored its final points of the game on a 28-yard field goal by Mike Dean to cut the score to 14–10. Missouri responded with three touchdowns to put the game out of reach. The first score was set up after Roger Wehrli

Roger Wehrli

Roger Wehrli is a former National Football League cornerback who played his entire 14-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1969 until 1982. He was a seven-time Pro Bowler after playing college football at the University of Missouri, where he was a consensus All-American and a first-round...

 intercepted a Neb Hayden pass and returned it to the Bama 21-yard line. Four plays later, McMillan scored his third touchdown of the game on a two-yard run. Greg Cook scored next on a 35-yard touchdown run and Dennis Poppe had the final points after returning a Scott Hunter

Scott Hunter (American football)

James Scott Hunter is a former professional American football quarterback in the National Football League. He played for the Green Bay Packers, the Buffalo Bills, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Detroit Lions...

pass 47 yards for a touchdown.

For the game, Missouri completed zero passes, but rushed for 402 yards and out-gained the Crimson Tide in total offense 402 to 23. The 25-point loss was the worst for Alabama in its 22 bowl-game history, and the 35 points Missouri scored were the most Alabama had ever surrendered in a bowl game.