Southern Methodist: 0
Georgia Tech: 0

After opening the season with a 13-0 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats, the 3rd ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets remained home to face the SMU Mustangs at Grant Field. The squads had met in each of the previous seven seasons with the Yellow Jackets winning six straight after dropping the 1950 contest 33-3 in Dallas.

Tough weather conditions made for a sloppy game with rainy, windy conditions dominating the afternoon. The Jackets lost possession on the opening drive when Freddie Braselton threw an interception to Billy Dunn and the Mustangs returned the ball to Tech’s 44. The remainder of the first half was littered with punts, as neither team could muster up enough offense to even threaten to score.

The third quarter chugged along in similar fashion until the Jackets began a solid drive midway through the period. Starting from their own 43, Stan Flowers and Eladio Fonts traded carries to SMU’s 36 yard line. Fonts nearly lost possession on a fumble in the early stages of the drive, but John Reed luckily fell on the ball for a 12 yard gain. Braselton hit Jerome Green for 9 yards and Fonts followed with a 7 yard run to the 20. Lester Simerville picked up a first down at the 12 and Braselton found Jerry Nabors on a strike to the 6. But Tech’s hopes of a score soon faded when Braselton bobbled a third down snap on the last play of the quarter and SMU took over deep in her own territory.

The Jackets threatened again on their first drive of the fourth quarter after starting from their own 24 following a punt. Eight plays pushed to the Mustang 32 before Braselton found John Rudolph for 9 yards to the 23 and Flowers rushed for 17 to the 6. Calvin James then made two attempts at the line, but advanced no farther than the 2. Rather than attempt a kick in the nasty conditions, Bobby Dodd elected to go for the touchdown on fourth down, but Braselton’s pass to James fell incomplete and Tech squandered another scoring opportunity.

With little time remaining, the Jackets found themselves in a hole after Stan Flowers muffed a punt and Willard Dewveall recovered for the Mustangs at Tech’s 33 yard line. Frank Smith took a pitch 22 yards on first down to setup the potential winning score, but Don Meredith bobbled a snap soon thereafter and the Jackets recovered to put an end to the threat.

The game ended in a scoreless tie, the first of its kind at Grant Field since Georgia Tech and Florida tied 0-0 in 1938. The game also marked the 5th straight regular season shutout for Georgia Tech and the seventh in its past eight regular season contests dating back to October 27th, 1956.

Statistics:

First Downs:
SMU – 3
GT – 14

Rushing Yards:
SMU – 63
GT – 215

Passing (Comp-Att-Yds):
SMU – 2-5-27
GT – 3-6-23

Interceptions thrown:
SMU – 0
GT – 1

Fumbles lost:
SMU – 2
GT – 2

Penalty yards:
SMU – 20
GT – 30

References:
Outlar, Jesse. “SMU Holds Tech To 0-0 In Mud.” The Atlanta Journal Constitution. 1957 Sep. 30

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