Wildcats Win In Bowl, 20-7
Frogs Lack Punch At Crucial Points
1/2/1952
Texas Christian's Cinderella team lost its slipper for keeps in the Cotton Bowl Tuesday.
Lumbering and punchless, the Horned Frogs were no match for the Kentucky Wildcats, who scored a 20-to-7 victory before a packed house of 75,349 wind-chilled fans.
Babe Parilli, the consensus all-America quarterback, passed his team to a 13-to-0 lead through the first half and the Wildcats added another touchdown, by running, in the fourth period. Just before the final gun sounded, they were in possession of the ball on the TCU 6.
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The Frogs showed little resemblance to the club which roared to the Southwest Conference championship. Their performance was probably their weakest since the early-season Texas Tech game, which they lost, 33-19, and from which they rallied brilliantly to take the conference title.
Three times, in the first half, TCU had great opportunities to score. They reached the 4-yard line, the 5 and the 1.
But on every occasion, they lacked the wallop to put the ball over, as passes failed and the Wildcat line rose furiously to stifle ground thrusts.
For one minute and thirty-seven seconds, however, TCU was the terrific team of old. But their guiding hand, in the swift surge to a third-quarter score, was not Ray McKown, the sophomore who blossomed as a star in the Texas Tech game and who quarterbacked the Frogs into the Cotton Bowl.
In his stead, it was Gil Bartosh, who led the conference in total offense last season but who had to take a back seat to McKown in 1951.
Bartosh replaced McKown late in the third period and buggywhipped the Frogs 80 yards in four plays for their only touchdown. The TCU team aroused itself the moment the little Granger ghost entered the contest. The touchdown play came when Fullback Bobby Jack Floyd broke off left tackle and raced down the sideline for 43 yards.
But after that, Bartosh, too, proved ineffective. The last time TCU had possession, with five minutes left to play in the game, Kentucky's vigorous defenders pushed the Frogs back 16 yards, to the TCU 8. McKown went in to punt and the last hope vanished.
Parilli's scoring passes went to Halfback Emery Clark, one for 5 yards and the other for 12. The third touchdown came when Halfback Ed Hamilton rammed 3 yards across the line.
One TCU player who showed his old regular-season fire was the All-American linebacker, Keith Flowers. Another was Floyd, who ran with tremendous power.
Flowers was voted the game's outstanding lineman Parilli won the honor as the top back.
The Sweet Kentucky Babe gave a good demonstration of his passing and ball-handling prowess. He completed eight of twenty passes for 85 yards and the two aerial touchdowns.
McKown, who completed more than half of his passes during the regular season, managed to place only one into the hands of his receivers which either was not dropped or was off the target. He tried eight.
Kentucky, contrasted to the Frogs, was alert, aggressive and oily-smooth. Coach Bear Bryant said he thought the Wildcats had played one of their best games since he became coach six seasons back.
At the outset, moving against the 18-mile-an-hour wind and through the 40-degree temperature, TCU rushed downfield. Taking the opening kickoff on their own 26, they pumped through the line all the way down to the 4. But there, on third down, Floyd fumbled and McKown recovered back on the 11.
Mal Fowler, another tailback who had been side-lined with the rise of McKown, went into the game to try to get the score. Deserting their famed spread formation for the moment, the Frogs went into a double-wing pattern and Fowler tried to pass across the line. But Hamilton came up swiftly from his defensive halfback post and almost intercepted the ball, which then went to Kentucky on downs.
That failure indicated what was to follow. With their spread, the Frogs moved well downfield but when they went into a wing formation deep inside Kentucky territory or tried to pass from the spread, they were stymied.
With four minutes left in the opening period, Kentucky made its first strike, at the end of a 54-yard drive. Larry Jones, who shared the starting halfback posts with his twin brother Harry, gobbled up 12 yards on two line blasts and Fullback Alan Felch added 4 more yards.
Parilli's 31 yard pass to big End Steve Mellinger, who caught the ball behind halfback Bobby McFarland, put the ball on the Frog 7. Clark hit the line for 2 and then sneaked away from McFarland to take Parilli's touchdown pass. Harry Jones kicked the first of two successful point tries.
The Wildcats moved 57 yards for their next score. They swept from their own 43 to the Frog 12 with only one pass, a 23-yarder to Mellinger, mixed in with the running attack.
But the crusher came on Parilli's 12-yard heave, over the center of the line, to Clark, who was being chased by Halfback Ronald Fraley.
TCU took the kickoff and ran the ball to the Wildcat 5. But on a double-wing play, Johnny Harville lost 3 at left guard and McKown lost 1 at right end. End Bob Blair, who appeared to have possession momentarily, couldn't hang on to McKown's pass on the next play, and on fourth down McKown lost 6 trying to circle right end.
Once more, the Frogs tried to dent the Kentucky goal line. A 25-yard pass from McKown to Teddy Vaught went all the way to the 1-yard line before he stumbled to the ground. The play was good for a 50-yard gain.
But with first down and only 1 yard to go, the Frogs were helpless, as the Kentucky line rocked them back. After four attempts, they had lost a yard.
Finally, deep in the third period, TCU was able to score its only touchdown.
Kentucky was stopped on the TCU 23 when Fraley made the afternoon's only interception of a Parilli pass. He took it in the end zone and TCU obtained possession on its own 20.
That was the point at which Bartosh was sent in, to attempt a revival of the Frogs. He succeeded admirably. Four plays and one minute and thirty-seven seconds later, TCU had moved the 80 yards remaining.
Bartosh flew through left tackle for 9 yards; shot a 22-yard pass to Back Johnny Medaninch, and then, after fumbling a snapback, got 6 yards up center.
The goal for 43 yards away, and on the next play Floyd slashed through left tackle, slid off Kentucky's Miles Willard and headed for the sideline. With Guard Alton Taylor throwing a key block, he went all the way. Flowers kicked the extra point.
That was TCU's last gasp, however. They wound up a few minutes later deep in their own territory and had to punt against the wind. Kentucky took charge on the Frog 26 and drove to a third touchdown as only twenty-five seconds remained in the game. The Wildcats stuck to the ground and finally Hamilton cracked left tackle for 3 yards and the last score of the game.
Glenn Jones of TCU then fumbled the kickoff and Kentucky's Guard Don Dyer recovered on the Frogs' 14. As the final gun sounded, Kentucky had moved the ball to the 6.
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