1957 Cotton Bowl
Texas Christian 28, Syracuse 27
Jan. 1, 1957Â
Dallas, Texas
A fierce Syracuse rally in the fourth quarter came up just short and TCU held on for a 28-27 win in the 21st Cotton Bowl.Â
TCU jumped out to a 14-0 lead before SU’s Jim Brown scored on runs of two yards and four yards to knot the score with about a minute left in the half. Brown gained 49 of the 70 yards on SU’s first scoring drive.Â
TCU started fast again in the second half and had a 28-14 lead with 12 minutes left in the game. Brown scored on a 1-yard plunge with five minutes to play, but his point-after attempt was blocked. That proved to be the difference. Jim Ridlon caught a 27-yard TD pass from Chuck Zimmerman at the 1:16 mark to pull the Orange within two. Since the two-point conversion did not yet exist, Brown could only kick the extra point. He finished the day with 132 yards on 26 carries and scored 21 of SU’s 27 points.Â
TCU quarterback Charles Curtis completed 12-of-15 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns.
| Â Score By Quarter | Â 1 | Â 2 | Â 3 | Â 4 | Â F |
|  Syracuse |  0 |  14 |  0 |  13 |  27 |
| Â Texas Christian | Â 7 | Â 7 | Â 7 | Â 7 | Â 28 |
| Â Scoring Summary | ||
| Â Team | Â Play | Â Score |
| Â TCU | Â Nikkel 6 pass from Curtis (Pollard kick) | Â 0-7 |
| Â TCU | Â Shofner 11 pass from Curtis (Pollard kick) | Â 0-14 |
| Â SU | Â Brown 2 run (Brown kick) | Â 7-14 |
| Â SU | Â Brown 4 run (Brown kick) | Â 14-14 |
| Â TCU | Â Curtis 7 run (Pollard kick) | Â 14-21 |
| Â TCU | Â Swink 4 run (Pollard kick) | Â 14-28 |
| Â SU | Â Brown 1 run (kick failed) | Â 20-28 |
| Â SU | Â Ridlon 27 pass from Zimmerman (Brown kick) | Â 27-28 |
| Â Team Stats | Â SU | Â TCU |
| Â First Downs | Â 16 | Â 15 |
| Â Rushing Yardage | Â 235 | Â 133 |
| Â Passing Yardage | Â 63 | Â 202 |
| Â Total Offense (Plays-Yds) | Â 60-298 | Â 72-335 |
| Â Passes | Â 3-7 | Â 13-16 |
| Â Passes Had Intercepted | Â 1 | Â 0 |
| Â Punts/Avg. | Â 2/46.5 | Â 4/37.5 |
| Â Punt Returns | Â 1-5 | Â 1-3 |
| Â Kickoff Returns | Â 5-123 | Â 4-89 |
| Â Fumbles-Lost | Â 3-3 | Â 3-2 |
| Â Penalties-Yards | Â 1-5 | Â 4-40 |
RUSHING: Syracuse - Brown 26-132, Cann 8-28, Ridlon 5-25, Zimmerman 4-21, Kuczala 3-14, Coffin 3-8, Jackson 2-4, Ackley 2-3. TCU - Dike 11-54, Swink 12-41, Wineburg 7-17, Hallbeck 13-13, Curtis 3-11, Miller 1-6, Shofner 4-5, Vacek 1-4, Finney 4-minus 18.
PASSING: Syracuse - Zimmerman 1-3-0-22, Brown 1-2-1-20, Ridlon 1-2-0-15; TCUÂ - Curtis 12-15-0-174, Miller 1-1-0-28.
RECEIVING: Syracuse - Ridlon 2-48, Massey 1-15. TCU - Swink 4-60, Nikkel 3-57, Williams 2-37, Vacek 1-28, Shofner 2-16, Wineburg 1-6.
