1943 college football season

The 1943 college football season concluded with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame crowned as the nation’s #1 team by a majority of the voters in the AP Poll, followed by the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks as the runner-up. For the third time in the history of the AP Poll, a team that had lost a game was named mythical national champion; (Minnesota (1936) and Ohio State (1942)). Notre Dame lost its final game of the season, a Chicago contest against the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Along the way, however, the Fighting Irish had played one of the toughest college schedules ever, beating two #2 ranked teams (Michigan and Iowa Pre-Flight) and two #3 ranked teams (Navy and Army). Purdue University would seemingly have a claim on the 1943 Championship as well as the only undefeated team playing a full schedule, but the Purdue athletic department has never pursued the claim.

1943 college football season
First AP No. 1 of seasonNotre Dame[1]
Number of bowls5
Champion(s)Notre Dame (AP)
HeismanAngelo Bertelli, (quarterback, Notre Dame)
football seasons

In 1943, as many as 131 sportswriters participated in the AP poll, which included, for the first time, "service teams." Drawn from flight schools and training centers for participants in World War II, the service teams played against the colleges. At the same time, a number of universities suspended their football programs. Eight members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) -- Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt -- did not field teams in 1943. In addition, six Pacific Coast Conference teams (Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State, Idaho, and Montana) did not play, nor did Boston College, the Citadel, Duquesne, Fordham, Harvard, Michigan State, Syracuse, and William & Mary.

Conference and program changes
School1942 Conference1943 Conference
Creighton BluejaysMissouri ValleyDropped Program
Manhattan JaspersIndependentDropped Program
Washington (MO) BearsMissouri ValleyIndependent

September

On September 17, Georgia beat Presbyterian College 25-7. The next day, September 18, Michigan won at Camp Grant, 26-0. Wisconsin lost to Marquette, 33-7, on its way to a 1-9-0 finish.

September 25 Ohio State lost to Iowa Pre-Flight 28-13. Michigan beat Western Michigan 57-6. Notre Dame won at Pitt, 42-0. Army beat Villanova 27-0 and Navy beat North Carolina Pre-Flight, 31-0. Georgia lost at LSU, 34-27. Tulsa beat SMU 20-7, Georgia Tech beat North Carolina 20-7.

October

October 2 Michigan won at Northwestern 21-7. Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech 55-13. Army defeated Colgate 42-0 and Navy beat Cornell 46-7.

October 9 #1 Notre Dame beat #2 Michigan, 35-21. #3 Army registered another shutout, defeating Temple 51-0. In Baltimore, #4 Navy edged #5 Duke, 14-13. #6 Penn edged Dartmouth 7-6. #7 Purdue went to 4-0-0 with a 19-0 win over Camp Grant.

October 16 #1 Notre Dame won at Wisconsin 50-0. #2 Army won at Columbia, 52-0. In four games, the Cadets had outscored their opponents 172-0. #3 Navy beat Penn State 14-6. #4 Penn beat the Lakehurst Naval Air Station 74-6. #5 Purdue beat Ohio State 30-7 at a game in Cleveland.

October 23 #1 Notre Dame beat Illinois 47-0. #2 Army yielded its first points, but won at Yale, 39-7. #3 Navy beat Georgia Tech 28-14 in Baltimore. #4 Purdue beat Iowa 28-7. #5 Penn won at Columbia, 33-0, but dropped from the Top Five. #7 USC stayed unbeaten, untied, and unscored upon with a 6-0 win over Pacific.

October 30 In Cleveland, #1 Notre Dame beat #3 Navy, 33-6. In Philadelphia, #2 Army and #6 Pennsylvania played to a 13-13 tie. #4 Purdue won at Wisconsin, 32-0. #5 USC beat California, 13-0, for its sixth straight shutout.

November

November 6 At Yankee Stadium in New York, #1 Notre Dame beat #3 Army, 26-0. #2 Purdue won at Minnesota, 14-7. #4 USC lost at San Diego to the San Diego Navy team. #5 Penn lost to #7 Navy, 24-7. #6 Michigan beat Indiana 23-6. #8 Iowa Pre-Flight continued its unbeaten streak with a 46-19 win at Marquette on November 7, and became the first “service team” to ever reach the AP’s Top Five.

November 13 #1 Notre Dame won at Northwestern 25-6. #2 Purdue was idle. #3 Navy won at Columbia 61-0. #4 Michigan beat Wisconsin 27-0. #5 Iowa Pre-Flight beat Camp Grant 28-13.

November 20 #1 Notre Dame edged #2 Iowa Pre-Flight, 14-13. #3 Purdue closed its season undefeated (9-0-0) with a 7-0 win at Indiana. #4 Michigan closed its season at 8-1-0 with a 45-7 win over Ohio State. #5 Navy was idle. The following week, it closed its season with a 13-0 win over Army in the Army–Navy Game, which took place at West Point. Duke closed its season at 8-1-0 with a 27-6 win over North Carolina.

November 27 #1 Notre Dame closed its season with a 19-14 loss to Great Lakes NTC, 19-14, but still finished #1 in the final rankings. #2 Iowa Pre-Flight beat Minnesota, 32-0, to finish at 9-1-0. #3 Michigan, #4 Purdue, and #5 Duke had finished their seasons, as had #6 Navy, which rose to fourth place in the final poll.

Conference standings

Major conference standings
1943 Big Six Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Oklahoma $ 5 –0 –0  7 –2 –0
Missouri 3 –2 –0  3 –5 –0
Iowa State 3 –2 –0  4 –4 –0
Kansas 2 –3 –0  4 –5 –1
Nebraska 2 –3 –0  2 –6 –0
Kansas State 0 –5 –0  1 –7 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
1943 Big Ten football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 5 Purdue + 6 –0 –0  9 –0 –0
No. 3 Michigan + 6 –0 –0  8 –1 –0
No. 9 Northwestern 5 –1 –0  6 –2 –0
Indiana 2 –3 –1  4 –4 –2
Minnesota 2 –3 –0  5 –4 –0
Illinois 2 –4 –0  3 –7 –0
Ohio State 1 –4 –0  3 –6 –0
Wisconsin 1 –6 –0  1 –9 –0
Iowa 0 –4 –1  1 –6 –1
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
1943 Middle Three Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Lafayette + 3 –1 –0  4 –1 –0
Rutgers + 3 –1 –0  3 –2 –0
Lehigh 0 –4 –0  0 –5 –1
  • + – Conference co-champions
1943 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 15 Tulsa $ 1 –0 –0  6 –1 –1
Oklahoma A&M 0 –1 –0  3 –4 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1943 Mountain States Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Colorado $ 2 –0 –0  5 –2 –0
Utah 0 –2 –0  0 –7 –0
Denver 0 –0 –0  2 –5 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
1943 Pacific Coast Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
USC $ 5 –0 –0  8 –2 –0
California 2 –2 –0  4 –6 –0
No. 12 Washington 0 –1 –0  4 –1 –0
UCLA 0 –4 –0  1 –8 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1943 Southeastern Conferencefootball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 13 Georgia Tech $ 3 –0 –0  8 –3 –0
LSU 2 –2 –0  6 –3 –0
Tulane 1 –1 –0  3 –3 –0
Georgia 0 –3 –0  6 –4 –0
Vanderbilt 0 –0 –0  5 –0 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
  • Seven other SEC schools did not field a team due to World War II.[2]
Rankings from AP Poll
1943 Southern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 7 Duke $ 4 –0 –0  8 –1 –0
Maryland 2 –0 –0  4 –5 –0
South Carolina 2 –1 –0  5 –2 –0
Wake Forest 3 –2 –0  4 –5 –0
North Carolina 2 –2 –0  6 –3 –0
Richmond 1 –1 –0  6 –1 –0
Clemson 2 –3 –0  2 –6 –0
VMI 2 –3 –0  2 –6 –0
NC State 1 –4 –0  3 –6 –0
Davidson 0 –3 –0  0 –5 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1943 Southwest Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 14 Texas $ 5 –0 –0  7 –1 –1
Texas A&M 4 –1 –0  7 –2 –1
Rice 2 –3 –0  3 –7 –0
SMU 2 –3 –0  2 –7 –0
TCU 1 –4 –0  2 –6 –0
Arkansas 1 –4 –0  2 –7 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

Independents
1943 Eastern college football independents records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Boston College   –    4 –0 –1
Franklin & Marshall   –    7 –1 –0
Dartmouth   –    6 –1 –0
No. 11 Army   –    7 –2 –1
Holy Cross   –    6 –2 –0
Tufts   –    6 –2 –0
No. 20 Penn   –    6 –2 –1
Brown   –    5 –3 –0
Villanova   –    5 –3 –0
Colgate   –    5 –3 –1
Penn State   –    5 –3 –1
Cornell   –    6 –4 –0
Yale   –    4 –5 –0
Pittsburgh   –    3 –5 –0
Temple   –    2 –6 –0
Princeton   –    1 –6 –0
Carnegie Tech   –    0 –4 –1
Columbia   –    0 –8 –0
Rankings from AP Poll
1943 Midwestern college football independents records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Michigan State Normal   –    2 –0 –0
No. 1 Notre Dame   –    9 –1 –0
Miami (OH)   –    7 –2 –1
Western Michigan   –    4 –2 –0
Marquette   –    3 –4 –1
Central Michigan   –    2 –3 –0
Ohio Wesleyan   –    4 –6 –0
Wayne   –    0 –3 –0
Rankings from AP Poll
1943 Southern college football independents records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 4 Navy   –    8 –1 –0
Miami (FL)   –    5 –1 –0
West Virginia   –    4 –3 –0
Virginia   –    3 –4 –1
Rankings from AP Poll
1943 Western college football independents records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Nevada   –    4 –1 –1
Saint Mary's   –    2 –5 –0
San Francisco   –    1 –7 –0
1943 military service football records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 17 Bainbridge   –    7 –0 –0
Bunker Hill NAS   –    6 –0 –0
Greensboro   –    6 –0 –0
No. 2 Iowa Pre-Flight   –    9 –1 –0
No. 10 March Field   –    9 –1 –0
No. 8 Del Monte Pre-Flight   –    7 –1 –0
Randolph Field   –    9 –1 –1
Georgia Pre-Flight   –    5 –1 –0
No. 6 Great Lakes Navy   –    10 –2 –0
Fort Riley   –    6 –2 –1
Alameda Coast Guard   –    4 –2 –1
Saint Mary's Pre-Flight   –    3 –4 –1
North Carolina Pre-Flight   –    2 –4 –1
Camp Grant   –    2 –6 –2
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 Morgan State College 5–1–1
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
Far Western Conference No champion —
Indiana Intercollegiate Conference DePauw
Earlham		 2–0
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
Lone Star Conference No champion —
Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association No champion —
Nebraska College Athletic Conference No champion —
New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference No champion —
North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
North Dakota College Athletic Conference No champion —
Ohio Athletic Conference No champion —
Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
Pacific Northwest Conference No champion —
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference No champion —
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference No champion —
South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference No champion —
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference No champion —
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tuskegee 5–1–1
Southwestern Athletic Conference No champion —
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 —

Minor conference standings
1943 Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Northern Illinois State 1 –0 –0  4 –1 –1
Illinois State 1 –0 –0  6 –2 –1
Western Illinois 0 –2 –0  1 –6 –0
Eastern Illinois 0 –0 –0  0 –0 –0
Southern Illinois 0 –0 –0  0 –0 –0
1943 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
  • No champion per SWAC.

Rankings
Main article: 1943 NCAA football rankings

Bowl games
Bowl game Winning team Losing team
Rose Bowl USC 29 No. 12 Washington 0
Sugar Bowl No. 13 Georgia Tech 20 No. 15 Tulsa 18
Orange Bowl LSU 19 Texas A&M 14
Cotton Bowl Classic No. 14 Texas 7 Randolph Field 7
Sun Bowl Southwestern (TX) 7 New Mexico 0

See also

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2009-01-20.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Scott, Richard (2008). SEC Football: 75 Years of Pride and Passion. MVP Books. p. 58. ISBN 1616731338. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
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