1950 Gator Bowl

{{use mdy dates|date=February 2020}}

{{Infobox college football game

| name =

| year_game_played = 1950

| game_name = Gator Bowl

| subheader = 5th Gator Bowl

| football_season = 1949

| visitor_name_short = Missouri

| visitor_nickname = Tigers

| visitor_school = University of Missouri

| home_name_short = Maryland

| home_nickname = Terrapins

| home_school = University of Maryland

| visitor_record = 7–3

| visitor_conference = Big Seven

| home_record = 8–1

| home_conference = SoCon

| visitor_coach = Don Faurot

| home_coach = Jim Tatum

| visitor_rank_AP = 20

| home_rank_AP = 14

| visitor_1q = 0

| visitor_2q = 0

| visitor_3q = 0

| visitor_4q = 7

| home_1q = 7

| home_2q = 13

| home_3q = 0

| home_4q = 0

| date_game_played = January 2

| stadium = Gator Bowl

| city = Jacksonville, Florida

| MVP = Bob Ward

}}

The 1950 Gator Bowl was the fifth edition of the Gator Bowl and featured the Missouri Tigers representing the University of Missouri and the Maryland Terrapins representing the University of Maryland. It was the first-ever meeting of the two teams.[http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/records/opp-opp.pl?start=1869&end=2007&team1=Maryland&team2=Missouri Maryland vs Missouri, 1869–2007], Stassen College Football Information, retrieved 18 January 2009.

Missouri was coached by his former boss, Don Faurot, under whom Tatum had previous been an assistant coach for the U.S. Navy's Iowa Pre-Flight team. Maryland was led by third-year head coach Jim Tatum, who had engineered one season turn-arounds at Maryland and previously Oklahoma.Gary King, [http://www.oufoundation.org/sm/spring08/story.asp?ID=284 The Forgotten Man of Oklahoma Football: Jim Tatum] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090222224249/http://www.oufoundation.org/sm/spring08/story.asp?ID=284 |date=2009-02-22 }}, Sooner Magazine, University of Oklahoma Foundation, Inc., Spring 2008, retrieved 17 December 2008. This game was the first in a six-game series between the former colleagues and would last for the remainder of Tatum's tenure at Maryland.

The game was described as a "proving ground" for the split-T formation, which was employed by both teams. Several prominent Southern coaches were in attendance at the game to watch the formation, including Bob Neyland of Tennessee, Wally Butts of Georgia, Frank Howard of Clemson, George Barclay of Washington & Lee, and Tom Nugent of VMI.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tM4bAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wFAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6566,5742457&dq=tom-nugent&hl=en Gator Bowl Is Proving Ground For Split-T], The Dispatch, December 22, 1949.