1950 college football season

The 1950 college football season finished with the unbeaten and untied Oklahoma Sooners (9–0) being the consensus choice for national champion. On New Year's Day, however, the Sooners were upset by the Kentucky Wildcats (ranked No. 7 in the AP and UP polls) in the Sugar Bowl. The Army Cadets, ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll, had been defeated in its final regular season game by 2–6 Navy, 14–2. However, the final poll had been issued on November 27, and the bowl games had no effect on Oklahoma's status as the No. 1 team.

During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A". While the NCAA has never officially endorsed a championship team, it has documented the choices of some selectors in its official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records publication.[1] The AP Poll in 1950 consisted of the votes of as many as 317 sportswriters. Though not all writers voted in every poll, the sportswriters who did cast ballots voted on the ten best teams. Under a point system of 10 points for first place, 9 for second, etc., the "overall" ranking was determined, and the top twenty colleges were ranked based on their overall points.

For the first time, the Associated Press issued a "preseason poll", before most teams played their first games.[2]

Starting in 1950, the United Press began the "Coaches Poll." "Thirty-five of the nation's foremost football coaches will rate the country's top collegiate football teams each week for the United Press this coming season," an announcement stated, with "five coaches from each section of the country -- the east, midlands, midwest, Pacific coast, the Rockies, south and southwest". The UP added, referring to the AP writers' poll, "The nature of the board giving each section of the country equal representation avoids the sectional bias and ballot box stuffing for which other football polls have been criticized.".[3] The coaches named Notre Dame as the No. 1 team in the first UP poll, with 25 of the 35 first place votes.[4]

Generally, the top teams played on New Year's Day in the four major postseason bowl games: the Rose Bowl (near Los Angeles at Pasadena), the Sugar Bowl (New Orleans), the Orange Bowl (Miami), and the Cotton Bowl (Dallas).

Conference and program changes

Conference changes

  • One conference began play during 1950:

Membership changes

School1949 conference1950 conference
Butler BulldogsMACIndependent
Idaho State BengalsIndependentRocky Mountain
Montana GrizzliesPCCIndependent
Portland PilotsIndependentDropped Program
Saint Louis BillikensMissouri ValleyDropped Program
West Virginia MountaineersIndependentSoCon

September

In the preseason AP poll released on September 25, 1950, the defending champion Fighting Irish of Notre Dame were the overwhelming choice for first, with 101 of 123 first place votes. Far behind were #2 Army, #3 Michigan, #4 Tennessee and #5 Texas (which had won at Texas Tech 28-14). As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.

On September 30 #1 Notre Dame beat #20 North Carolina 14-7. #2 Army beat Colgate 28-0, #3 Michigan lost to #10 Michigan State 14-7. #4 Tennessee lost at Mississippi State, 7-0. #5 Texas beat Purdue, 34-26, but fell to 7th. #6 Oklahoma beat Boston College 28-0. #10 SMU, which had beaten Georgia Tech 33-13, and Ohio State 32-27, rose to 3rd.

October

October 7 #1 Notre Dame lost to Purdue, 28-14, and eventually finished with a 4-4-1 record. #2 Michigan State lost to Maryland, 34-7. #3 SMU won at Missouri 21-0. #4 Army beat Penn State 41-7. #5 Oklahoma beat Texas A&M 34-28. #6 Kentucky registered a fourth shutout and a 4-0 record, with a 40-0 win against Dayton. #7 Texas, which was idle, rose to 4th place.

October 14 #1 Army beat #18 Michigan 27-6 at Yankee Stadium. #2 SMU beat Oklahoma State 56-0. #3 Oklahoma and #4 Texas met in Dallas, with Oklahoma winning narrowly, 14-13. #5 Kentucky beat Cincinnati 41-7. #7 California, which had beaten USC 13-7, rose to 5th in the next poll.

October 21 #1 Army won at Harvard 49-0. #2 Oklahoma beat Kansas State 58-0. In Houston, #3 SMU beat #15 Rice 42-21. In Philadelphia, #4 Kentucky beat Villanova 34-7. #5 California beat Oregon State in Portland 27-0

October 28 #1 SMU was idle. #2 Army won at Columbia 34-0. #3 Oklahoma won at Iowa State 20-7. In Atlanta, #4 Kentucky beat Georgia Tech 28-14. #5 California beat St. Mary’s 40-25 and dropped in the polls. #6 Ohio State beat Iowa 83-21

November

November 4 #1 SMU lost at #7 Texas, 23-20. #2 Army won at #15 Pennsylvania 28-13. #3 Oklahoma won at Colorado 27-18. #4 Ohio State won at Northwestern 32-0. #5 Kentucky beat #17 Florida 40-6. #7 Texas beat SMU 23-20, and returned to the top five.

November 11 #1 Army beat New Mexico 51-0. #2 Ohio State beat #15 Wisconsin 19-14. #3 Oklahoma won at #19 Kansas, 33-13. #4 Kentucky won at Mississippi State, 48-21. #5 Texas beat Baylor 27-20. #6 California, which was 7-0-0 after a 35-0 win against #19 UCLA, rose to 4th.

November 18 #1 Ohio State lost at #8 Illinois, 14-7. #2 Oklahoma beat Missouri 41-7. #3 Army won at Stanford 7-0. #4 California defeated San Francisco 13-7. #5 Kentucky handed visiting North Dakota an 83-0 defeat to extend its record to 9-0-0, but still faced a final game was against 8-1-0 Tennessee. #6 Texas won at TCU 21-7.

November 25 #1 Oklahoma beat #16 Nebraska 49-35. #2 Army was idle as it prepared for the Army–Navy Game. #3 Kentucky lost at #9 Tennessee, 7-0. #4 California and unranked Stanford played to a 7-7 tie in Berkeley. #5 Texas beat Texas A&M 21-6. Michigan beat Ohio State in the famous Snow Bowl 9-3.

The final AP poll was released on November 27, although some colleges had not completed their schedules. On December 2, with its champion status assured, #1 Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State 41-14. #2 Army (9-0-0) was heavily favored to beat unranked, and 2-6-0, Navy. Instead, the Philadelphia game turned into a 14-2 win for the Midshipmen. #3 Texas played a game on December 9, beating LSU 21-6.

Conference standings

Major conference standings

1950 Big Nine Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 9 Michigan $ 4 1 1  6 3 1
No. 14 Ohio State 5 2 0  6 3 0
Wisconsin 5 2 0  6 3 0
No. 13 Illinois 4 2 0  7 2 0
Northwestern 3 3 0  6 3 0
Iowa 2 4 0  3 5 1
Minnesota 1 4 1  1 7 1
Indiana 1 4 0  3 5 1
Purdue 1 4 0  2 7 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1950 Big Seven Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 1 Oklahoma $ 6 0 0  10 1 0
No. 17 Nebraska 4 2 0  6 2 1
Missouri 3 2 1  4 5 1
Kansas 3 3 0  6 4 0
Iowa State 2 3 1  3 6 1
Colorado 2 4 0  5 4 1
Kansas State 0 6 0  1 9 1
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1950 Border Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
West Texas State $ 6 0 0  10 1 0
Arizona State 4 1 0  9 2 0
Texas Western 4 2 0  7 3 0
Texas Tech 3 2 0  3 8 0
Hardin–Simmons 3 3 0  5 5 0
Arizona 2 4 0  4 6 0
New Mexico 2 5 0  2 8 0
New Mexico A&M 1 4 0  2 7 0
Arizona State–Flagstaff 0 4 0  2 7 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Middle Three Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Lehigh $ 2 0 0  9 0 0
Rutgers 1 1 0  4 4 0
Lafayette 0 2 0  1 8 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 19 Tulsa $ 3 0 1  9 1 1
Detroit 2 1 1  6 3 1
Wichita 3 2 0  5 4 1
Drake 1 2 1  6 2 1
Oklahoma A&M 1 2 1  4 6 1
Bradley 0 3 0  5 5 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1950 Pacific Coast Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 5 California $ 5 0 1  9 1 1
No. 11 Washington 6 1 0  8 2 0
UCLA 5 2 0  6 3 0
Stanford 2 2 2  5 3 2
Idaho 1 1 1  3 5 1
Washington State 2 3 2  4 3 2
USC 1 3 2  2 5 2
Oregon State 2 5 0  3 6 0
Oregon 0 7 0  1 9 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1950 Rocky Mountain Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Colorado College $ 5 0 0  8 1 0
Colorado State–Greeley 3 2 0  6 2 1
Idaho State 3 2 0  4 4 0
Western State 2 3 0  4 4 0
Montana State 1 3 0  1 8 0
Colorado Mines 0 4 0  3 6 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Skyline Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 12 Wyoming $ 5 0 0  10 0 0
Colorado A&M 4 1 0  6 3 0
Denver 2 2 1  3 8 1
Utah 1 2 2  3 4 3
BYU 1 3 1  4 5 1
Utah State 0 5 0  2 9 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1950 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 7 Kentucky $ 5 1 0  11 1 0
No. 4 Tennessee 4 1 0  11 1 0
No. 16 Alabama 6 2 0  9 2 0
No. 20 Tulane 3 1 1  6 2 1
Georgia Tech 4 2 0  5 6 0
Georgia 3 2 1  6 3 3
Mississippi State 3 4 0  4 5 0
Vanderbilt 3 4 0  7 4 0
LSU 2 3 2  4 5 2
Florida 2 4 0  5 5 0
Ole Miss 1 5 0  5 5 0
Auburn 0 7 0  0 10 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1950 Southern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 18 Washington and Lee $ 6 0 0  8 3 0
No. 10 Clemson 3 0 1  9 0 1
VMI 5 1 0  6 4 0
Wake Forest 6 1 1  6 1 2
Maryland 4 1 1  7 2 1
Duke 5 2 0  7 3 0
North Carolina 3 2 1  3 5 2
George Washington 4 3 0  5 4 0
NC State 4 4 1  5 4 1
William & Mary 3 3 0  4 7 0
The Citadel 2 3 0  4 6 0
South Carolina 2 4 1  3 4 2
Furman 2 4 0  2 9 1
West Virginia 1 3 0  2 8 0
Davidson 1 5 0  3 6 0
Richmond 1 8 0  2 8 0
VPI 0 8 0  0 10 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1950 Southwest Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 3 Texas $ 6 0 0  9 2 0
Baylor 4 2 0  7 3 0
Texas A&M 3 3 0  7 4 0
TCU 3 3 0  5 5 0
Rice 2 4 0  6 4 0
SMU 2 4 0  6 4 0
Arkansas 1 5 0  2 8 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

Independents

1950 Eastern college football independents records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Franklin & Marshall      9 0 0
No. 6 Princeton      9 0 0
No. 2 Army      8 1 0
Fordham      8 1 0
Carnegie Tech      7 1 0
Drexel      6 1 0
No. 20 Cornell      7 2 0
Penn      6 3 0
Yale      6 3 0
Buffalo      5 3 0
Colgate      5 3 0
Penn State      5 3 1
Syracuse      5 5 0
Temple      4 4 1
Tufts      4 4 1
Columbia      4 5 0
Villanova      4 5 0
Holy Cross      4 5 1
Dartmouth      3 5 1
Duquesne      2 6 1
NYU      1 5 1
Harvard      1 7 0
Brown      1 8 0
Pittsburgh      1 8 0
Boston College      0 9 1
Rankings from AP Poll
1950 Midwestern college football independents records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Valparaiso      9 1 0
No. 8 Michigan State      8 1 0
Xavier      8 1 0
Baldwin–Wallace      5 2 1
Marquette      5 3 1
Wabash      4 2 3
Butler      4 4 1
Notre Dame      4 4 1
Toledo      4 5 0
Bowling Green      3 4 2
Dayton      4 6 0
Youngstown      3 5 0
Washington University      2 7 0
Wayne      2 7 0
Rankings from AP Poll
1950 Southern college football independents records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Maryland State      8 0 0
No. 15 Miami (FL)      9 1 1
Virginia      8 2 0
Western Maryland      6 2 0
Grambling      6 4 1
Tampa      5 4 0
Catholic University      2 3 1
Houston      4 6 0
Louisville      3 6 1
Navy      3 6 0
Delaware      2 5 1
Georgetown      2 7 0
Chattanooga      1 9 0
Rankings from AP Poll
1950 Western college football independents records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Loyola (CA)      8 1 0
Pacific (CA)      7 3 1
San Francisco      7 4 0
San Jose State      6 3 1
Hawaii      5 4 2
La Verne      3 5 0
Santa Clara      3 7 0
Saint Mary's      2 7 1
Cal Poly San Dimas      1 6 1
Nevada      1 9 0


Minor conferences

Conference Champion(s) Record
California Collegiate Athletic Association San Diego State 3–0–1
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association North Carolina A&T 5–0–1
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Kansas State Teachers 5–0
College Conference of Illinois Wheaton (IL) 5–0
Evergreen Conference Eastern Washington College 5–1
Far Western Conference San Francisco State 4–0
Gulf Coast Conference North Texas State
Midwestern State
1–0–1
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Saint Ambrose 5–0
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Ottawa 6–0
Lone Star Conference Sul Ross State College 3–0–1
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Alma 4–0–1
Mid-American Conference Miami (OH) 4–0
Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference Coe
Knox
Ripon
5–1
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Gustavus Adolphus 6–0
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association Missouri School of Mines 4–1
Nebraska College Conference Doane 4–1–1
New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference Eastern New Mexico 5–1
North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference South Dakota State 5–0–1
North Dakota College Athletic Conference Valley City State 4–0
Ohio Athletic Conference Muskingum 6–0
Ohio Valley Conference Murray State 5–0–1
Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference Central State College (OK)
Southwestern State Teachers (OK)
4–1
Oregon Collegiate Conference Oregon College
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Chester State Teachers 4–0
Pacific Northwest Conference Lewis & Clark 5–0
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Colorado College 5–0
South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference Northern State Teachers (SD) 4–0
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Pomona-Pitzer
Redlands
Whittier
3–1
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Florida A&M College
Xavier (LA)
6–0
Southwestern Athletic Conference Southern 7–0
State Teacher's College Conference of Minnesota Bemidji State Teachers
Mankato State Teachers
3–0–1
Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference Abilene Christian 5–0
Wisconsin State Teachers College Conference La Crosse State Teachers
Whitewater State Teachers
4–0
4–0

Minor conference standings

1950 California Collegiate Athletic Association football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
San Diego State $ 3 0 1  5 3 1
Santa Barbara 3 1 0  7 3 0
Pepperdine 2 2 0  4 5 0
Fresno State 1 2 1  2 6 1
Cal Poly 0 4 0  3 7 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Evergreen Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Eastern Washington $ 5 1 0  8 2 0
Western Washington 4 1 1  7 2 1
Pacific Lutheran 3 2 1  4 3 1
Puget Sound 2 2 2  3 3 3
Whitworth 2 4 0  4 3 1
Central Washington 1 4 1  1 7 1
Saint Martin's 1 4 1  ? ? ?
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Far Western Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
San Francisco State $ 4 0 0  6 2 0
Cal Aggies 3 1 0  3 5 0
Chico State 2 2 0  2 6 0
Southern Oregon 1 3 0  3 7 0
Humboldt State 0 4 0  0 4 1
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Gulf Coast Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
North Texas State + 1 0 1  7 2 1
Midwestern State + 1 0 1  4 5 1
Trinity (TX) 0 2 0  5 4 1
  • + Conference co-champions
1950 Gulf States Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Mississippi Southern $ 3 1 0  5 5 0
Louisiana Tech 3 2 0  5 4 1
Louisiana College 2 2 0  5 5 0
Northwestern State 2 3 0  6 4 0
Southeastern Louisiana 2 3 0  6 4 0
Southwestern Louisiana 2 3 0  5 4 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Hoosier Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Canterbury $ 6 0 0  8 0 0
Anderson (IN) 4 1 1  4 3 2
Hanover 3 2 0  3 5 1
Taylor 3 2 0  5 4 0
Indiana Central 2 4 1  3 5 1
Manchester (IN) 2 4 0  3 6 0
Earlham 1 4 0  3 5 0
Franklin (IN) 1 5 0  2 7 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Illinois State $ 5 0 1  7 1 2
Western Illinois 4 1 0  7 1 0
Central Michigan 2 2 0  6 4 0
Eastern Illinois 2 2 0  5 3 0
Northern Illinois State 2 4 0  3 6 0
Southern Illinois 1 3 1  3 5 1
Michigan State Normal 0 4 0  3 6 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Lone Star Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Sul Ross $ 3 0 1  8 2 1
Southwest Texas State 2 2 0  6 3 0
Stephen F. Austin 2 2 0  5 5 0
East Texas State 1 2 1  4 5 2
Sam Houston State 1 3 0  5 5 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Alma $ 4 0 1  6 2 1
Kalamazoo 4 1 0  5 4 0
Albion 2 2 1  6 2 1
Hope 2 2 1  4 3 1
Hillsdale 1 3 1  2 6 1
Adrian 0 5 0  2 6 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Mid-American Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Miami $ 4 0 0  9 1 0
Cincinnati 3 1 0  8 4 0
Ohio 2 2 0  6 4 0
Western Reserve 1 3 0  2 8 0
Western Michigan 1 3 0  5 4 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Mid-Ohio League football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Ohio Northern $ 5 0 0  9 1 0
Ashland 3 1 1  5 3 1
Findlay 3 1 1  3 4 1
Bluffton 2 3 0  4 4 0
Defiance 1 4 0  3 6 0
Cedarville 0 5 0  1 8 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Nebraska College Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Doane $ 4 1 1  7 2 1
Peru State 5 2 0  7 2 0
Wayne State (NE) 5 2 0  6 3 0
Hastings 4 2 1  5 2 1
Chadron State 4 2 1  5 4 1
Nebraska Wesleyan 4 3 0  5 5 0
Kearney State 3 5 0  4 5 0
Midland 1 6 1  2 6 1
York (NE) 0 7 0  1 9 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Ohio Valley Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Murray State $ 5 0 1  7 2 1
Western Kentucky 3 1 2  6 2 2
Eastern Kentucky 4 2 0  6 4 0
Morehead State 3 3 0  4 4 0
Marshall 2 4 0  2 8 0
Evansville 1 4 1  3 6 1
Tennessee Tech 1 5 0  4 7 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Southern $ 7 0 0  10 0 1
Langston 6 1 0  9 1 0
Bishop 5 2 0  7 3 1
Prairie View A&M 4 3 0  6 4 1
Arkansas AM&N 2 5 0  4 6 1
Wiley 2 5 0  3 6 1
Texas College 1 5 1  1 9 1
Samuel Huston 0 6 1  0 6 2
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Texas Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Abilene Christian $ 5 0 0  11 0 0
Texas A&I 4 1 0  6 3 0
Southwestern (TX) 2 3 0  5 5 0
Howard Payne 2 3 0  4 5 1
McMurry 2 3 0  4 5 0
Austin 0 5 0  2 7 0
  • $ Conference champion
1950 Yankee Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
New Hampshire $ 4 0 0  8 0 0
Maine 3 1 0  5 1 1
Rhode Island State 2 2 0  3 5 0
UMass 1 1 0  3 5 0
Vermont 0 3 0  2 5 0
Connecticut 0 3 0  3 5 0
  • $ Conference champion

Rankings

Bowl games

Bowl Winner Runner-up
Sugar #7 Kentucky Wildcats 13 #1 Oklahoma Sooners 7
Cotton #4 Tennessee Volunteers 20 #3 Texas Longhorns 14
Rose #9 Michigan Wolverines 14 #5 California Golden Bears 6
Orange #10 Clemson Tigers 15 #15 Miami Hurricanes 14
Gator #12 Wyoming Cowboys 20 #18 Washington & Lee Generals 7
Sun West Texas State Buffaloes 14 Cincinnati Bearcats 13
Salad Miami Redskins 34 Arizona State Sun Devils 21
Pineapple Hawaii Rainbows 28 Denver Pioneers 27
Presidential Cup Texas A&M Aggies 40 Georgia Bulldogs 20

See also

References

  1. http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2016/fbs.pdf
  2. "Oh, Hum-- AP Writers' Vote Picks Notre Dame Once More," Jefferson City (Mo.) Post-Tribune, Sep. 20, 1950, p. 7
  3. "United Press Will Poll Coaches For Ratings On Leading College Events," Coshocton (O.) Tribune, Sept. 13, 1950, p. 5
  4. "Notre Dame Is Rated No. 1 by 25 of 35 Coaches in United Press Poll," The Berkshire Evening Eagle (Pittsfield, Mass.), Sept. 19, 1950, p. 9
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