1945 college football season

The 1945 NCAA football season finished with the undefeated United States Military Academy, more popularly known as "Army", being the unanimous choice for the nation's number one team by the 116 voters in the Associated Press writers’ poll. The runner up was the undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide, followed by the United States Naval Academy, more popularly known as "Navy". In 2016, the American Football Coaches Association retroactively named the Oklahoma A&M Cowboys national champion for 1945.

During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A". The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of the Associated Press poll of sportswriters (the UPI Coaches Poll would not start until 1950). The extent of that recognition came in the form of acknowledgment in the annual NCAA Football Guide of the "unofficial" national champions.[2]

Several new bowl games would debut at the end of the 1945 season, among them the Gator Bowl.

Conference and program changes

School1944 Conference1945 Conference
Wichita ShockersIndependentMissouri Valley

September

The Associated Press did not poll the writers until the third week of the season. Among the teams that had been ranked highest at the end of 1944, the two service academies—Army and Navy, as well as Ohio State, USC and Michigan. Among the service teams that had ranked high in 1944, Randolph Field, Bainbridge Naval, and Iowa Pre-flight no longer played against college teams. Some service teams still remained in place, even after the end of World War II.

On September 15, Michigan beat Great Lakes Navy, 27-2. On September 22, Michigan lost to Indiana, 13-7. Minnesota beat Missouri, 34-0. In a Friday night game in Los Angeles, USC beat UCLA 13-6. September 29 Notre Dame beat Illinois 7-0, Army beat Louisville Field, 32-0, and Navy beat Villanova 49-0. USC won at California, 13-2, and Ohio State won at Missouri 47-6.

October

On October 6, Army beat Wake Forest, 54-0 and Navy beat Duke, 21-0. Ohio State beat Iowa 42-0. Minnesota won at Nebraska 61-7. Notre Dame won at Georgia Tech, 40-7. UCLA beat St. Mary's Pre-Flight, 26-14.

October 13 At Yankee Stadium in New York, #1 Army beat #9 Michigan, 28-7. #2 Navy stayed unscored upon with a 28-0 win over Penn State. #3 Notre Dame beat Dartmouth, 34-0. #4 Ohio State beat Wisconsin, 12-0. #5 Minnesota beat Fort Warren, 14-0.

October 20 #1 Army beat Melville PT Boats 55-13. In Baltimore, #2 Navy beat Georgia Tech 20-6. #3 Notre Dame won at Pittsburgh, 39-9. #4 Ohio State lost to #9 Purdue, 35-13. #5 Minnesota defeated Northwestern, 30-7.

October 27 In New York, #1 Army beat #19 Duke 48-13. #2 Notre Dame beat Iowa 56-0. In Philadelphia, #3 Navy defeated #7 Penn, 14-7. #4 Purdue lost to unranked Northwestern, 26-14. #5 Minnesota lost to #12 Ohio State, 20-7. In Birmingham, #6 Alabama beat Georgia 28-14. #8 Indiana beat #14 Tulsa 7-2, to reach 5-0-1.

November

November 3 #1 Army beat Villanova, 54-0. #2 Notre Dame and #3 Navy, both 5-0-0, met in Cleveland, and played to a 6-6 tie. In Louisville, #4 Alabama defeated Kentucky, 60-19. #5 Indiana beat Cornell College of Iowa, 46-6, but dropped to sixth in the next poll. In Los Angeles, #8 St. Mary's beat USC, 26-0.

November 10 #1 Army (6-0-0) and #2 Notre Dame (5-0-1) met for a contest at Yankee Stadium, and it was no contest, with the Cadets winning 48-0. #3 Alabama was idle. In Baltimore, #4 Navy beat #7 Michigan 33-7. #5 St. Mary's beat Fresno State, 32-6. #6 Indiana won at Minnesota, 49-0.

November 17 In Philadelphia, #1 Army beat #6 Penn, 61-0 #2 Navy defeated Wisconsin 36-7 in Baltimore. In Nashville, #3 Alabama beat Vanderbilt, 71-0. #4 Indiana won at Pittsburgh, 19-0. #5 St. Mary's lost to UCLA, 13-7. #7 Notre Dame won at Northwestern, 34-7.

November 24 #1 Army (8-0-0) and #2 Navy (7-0-1), both unbeaten, were idle as they prepared for the Army–Navy Game. #3 Alabama beat the Pensacola Naval Air Station, 55-6. #4 Indiana closed its season at 9-0-1 with a 26-0 win over #18 Purdue. In New Orleans, #5 Notre Dame beat Tulane, 32-6.

December 1 In the second #1 and #2 matchup of the year, #1 Army (8-0-0) and #2 Navy (7-0-1) met at the Army–Navy Game in Philadelphia, with Army winning 32-13 to close a perfect season. #3 Alabama defeated Mississippi State, 55-13. #4 Indiana had finished its season. #5 Notre Dame lost to the Great Lakes Navy team, 39-7. #6 Oklahoma State, which had finished the season 9-0-0 and accepted an invitation to the Sugar Bowl, rose to fifth in the final poll.

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1945 Big 6 football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Missouri $ 5 –0 –0  6 –4 –0
Oklahoma 4 –1 –0  5 –5 –0
Iowa State 2 –2 –1  4 –3 –1
Nebraska 2 –3 –0  4 –5 –0
Kansas 1 –3 –1  4 –5 –1
Kansas State 0 –5 –0  1 –7 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1945 Big Ten football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 4 Indiana $ 5 –0 –1  9 –0 –1
No. 6 Michigan 5 –1 –0  7 –3 –0
No. 12 Ohio State 5 –2 –0  7 –2 –0
Northwestern 3 –3 –1  4 –4 –1
Purdue 3 –3 –0  7 –3 –0
Wisconsin 2 –3 –1  3 –4 –2
Illinois 1 –4 –1  2 –6 –1
Minnesota 1 –5 –0  4 –5 –0
Iowa 1 –5 –0  2 –7 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1945 IIAC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Northern Illinois State 2 –2 –0  4 –3 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1945 NCAA independents football records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 9 Notre Dame   –    7 –2 –1
Penn State   –    5 –3 –0
Drexel   –    2 –5 –0
Rankings from AP Poll
1945 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 5 Oklahoma A&M $ 1 –0 –0  9 –0 –0
No. 17 Tulsa 2 –1 –0  8 –3 –0
Wichita 1 –1 –0  6 –4 –0
Saint Louis 1 –2 –0  5 –4 –1
Drake 0 –1 –0  5 –4 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1945 MSC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Colorado 3 –1 –0  5 –3 –0
Utah 3 –2 –0  4 –4 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1945 New England Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
Connecticut $  2 –0     7 –1  
Rhode Island $  1 –0     2 –1  
Maine  0 –3     0 –4  
  • $ – Conference champion
1945 PCC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 11 USC $ 5 –1 –0  7 –4 –0
Washington State 6 –2 –1  6 –2 –1
Washington 6 –3 –0  6 –3 –0
Oregon State 4 –4 –0  4 –4 –1
UCLA 2 –3 –0  5 –4 –0
California 2 –4 –1  4 –5 –1
Oregon 3 –6 –0  3 –6 –0
Idaho 1 –5 –0  1 –7 –0
Montana 0 –1 –0  1 –4 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1945 SEC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 2 Alabama $ 6 –0 –0  10 –0 –0
No. 14 Tennessee 3 –1 –0  8 –1 –0
No. 15 LSU 5 –2 –0  7 –2 –0
No. 18 Georgia 4 –2 –0  9 –2 –0
Ole Miss 3 –3 –0  4 –5 –0
Georgia Tech 2 –2 –0  4 –6 –0
Mississippi State 2 –3 –0  6 –3 –0
Auburn 2 –3 –0  5 –5 –0
Vanderbilt 2 –4 –0  3 –6 –0
Florida 1 –3 –1  4 –5 –1
Tulane 1 –3 –1  2 –6 –1
Kentucky 0 –5 –0  2 –8 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1945 Southern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 13 Duke $ 4 –0 –0  6 –2 –0
No. 19 Wake Forest 4 –1 –1  5 –3 –1
William & Mary 4 –2 –0  6 –3 –0
Clemson 2 –1 –1  6 –3 –1
Maryland 3 –2 –0  6 –2 –1
VMI 3 –2 –0  5 –4 –0
North Carolina 2 –2 –0  5 –4 –0
NC State 2 –4 –0  3 –6 –0
VPI 2 –5 –0  2 –6 –0
South Carolina 0 –3 –2  2 –4 –3
Richmond 0 –4 –0  2 –6 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1945 Southwest Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 10 Texas $ 5 –1 –0  10 –1 –0
SMU 4 –2 –0  5 –6 –0
Texas A&M 3 –3 –0  6 –4 –0
TCU 3 –3 –0  5 –5 –0
Rice 3 –3 –0  5 –6 –0
Baylor 2 –4 –0  5 –5 –1
Arkansas 1 –5 –0  3 –7 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

Minor conferences

Conference Champion(s) Record
Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association No champion —
California Collegiate Athletic Association No champion —
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association Virginia State College 7–0–1
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
Far Western Conference No champion —
Indiana Intercollegiate Conference Valparaiso 4–0–0
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Central (IA) 5–0–0
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
Lone Star Conference No champion —
Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Gustavus Adolphus 4–0–0
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association No champion —
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association No champion —
Nebraska College Athletic Conference Nebraska Wesleyan 2–0–0
New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference No champion —
North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
North Dakota College Athletic Conference No champion —
Ohio Athletic Conference Oberlin 2–0–0
Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
Pacific Northwest Conference No champion —
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference No champion —
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Colorado College 1–0–0
South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference No champion —
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Redlands 4–0–0
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Florida A&M College 6–0–0
Southwestern Athletic Conference Wiley (TX) 6–0–0
State Teacher's College Conference of Minnesota No champion —
Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
Washington Intercollegiate Conference No champion —
Wisconsin State Teachers College Conference No champion —

Conference standings

1945 California Collegiate Athletic Association football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
San Diego State 1 –0 –0  2 –5 –0
Fresno State 0 –1 –0  4 –6 –2
  • No champion named for the 1945 season
Rankings from AP Poll
1945 SWAC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Wiley $ 6 –0 –0  10 –0 –0
Southern 5 –1 –0  5 –2 –0
Texas College 3 –2 –1  ? –? –?
Langston 3 –3 –0  5 –3 –0
Samuel Huston 1 –3 –2  ? –? –?
Prairie View 1 –4 –1  3 –5 –1
Arkansas AM&N 1 –5 –0  2 –6 –0
  • $ – Conference champion

Final polls

Bowl games

Bowl Winning team points Losing team points
Rose Bowl #3 Alabama Crimson Tide 34 #11 USC Trojans 14
Sugar Bowl #5 Oklahoma A and M 33 #7 St. Mary's Gaels 13
Orange Bowl Miami Hurricanes 13 #16 Holy Cross Crusaders 6
Cotton Bowl #10 Texas Longhorns 40 Missouri Tigers 27
Sun Bowl New Mexico Lobos 34 Denver Pioneers 24
Gator Bowl #19 Wake Forest Demon Deacons 26 South Carolina Gamecocks 14
Oil Bowl Georgia Bulldogs 20 Tulsa Golden Hurricane 6
Raisin Bowl Drake Bulldogs 13 Fresno State Bulldogs 12

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2015-04-22.
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