1944 college football season

The 1944 college football season was played during the Second World War. The football team of the United States Military Academy (West Point), more popularly known as Army, was crowned as the nation's No. 1 team by 95 of the 121 writers who participated in the AP Poll.

As in 1943, the AP poll included service teams, drawn from flight schools and training centers which were preparing men for fighting in World War II, and the teams played against the colleges as part of their schedules. Half of the final Top 20 teams were composed of service teams, in addition to the two service academies at West Point and Annapolis. Most colleges that had suspended their programs in 1943 were back in 1944, including the entire Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Pacific Coast Conference again fielded only four teams (out of ten).

In the AP poll, each participating writer listed his choice for the top ten teams, and points were tallied based on 10 for first place, 9 for second, etc., and the AP then ranked the top twenty results.

September

On September 16 the Great Lakes Naval Training Center team defeated Fort Sheridan, 62–0, before a crowd of 25,000 at its base north of Chicago. Michigan beat Iowa Pre-Flight, 12–7 before a crowd of 22,000 in Ann Arbor.

September 23 Great Lakes won at Purdue, 27–18. In Milwaukee, Michigan beat Marquette 14–0. At San Antonio, Randolph Field defeated Abilene Field, 67–0.

September 30 Notre Dame won at Pittsburgh 58–0. Great Lakes and Illinois played to a 26–26 tie. Michigan lost to Indiana, 20–0. In Houston, Randolph Field beat Rice 59–0. Army beat North Carolina, 46–0. North Carolina Pre-Flight, quarterbacked by Otto Graham (formerly of Northwestern, and a future Cleveland Browns star) upset Navy, 21–14.[2]

October

October 7 Notre Dame beat Tulane 26–0 and Army defeated Brown 59–7. In games between service teams and colleges, the servicemen triumphed, as N.C. Pre-Flight won at Duke, 13–6, Great Lakes won at Northwestern 25–0, and Randolph Field won at Texas 42–6. In the poll that followed, Notre Dame was first, and Army third, with the service teams occupying the other spots.

October 14 In Boston, No. 1 Notre Dame beat Dartmouth, 64–0. No. 2 North Carolina Pre-Flight was tied by Virginia, 13–13. No. 3 Army beat Pittsburgh, 69–7. No. 4 Randolph Field, quarterbacked by “Bullet Bill” Dudley, beat SMU at home in San Antonio, 41–0.[3] No. 5 Great Lakes beat Western Michigan 38–0. No. 8 Ohio State won at Wisconsin, 20–7 and No. 11 Iowa Pre-Flight won at Purdue, 13–6. N.C. Pre-Flight and Great Lakes fell out of the top five: 1.Notre Dame 2.Army 3.Randolph Field 4.Ohio State 5.Iowa Pre-Flight.

October 21 No. 1 Notre Dame defeated Wisconsin 28–13. No. 2 Army beat the Coast Guard Academy, 76–0. No. 3 Randolph Field and Camp Polk played a Sunday game at Fort Worth, Texas, with Randolph's Ramblers winning 67–0. No. 4 Ohio State beat Great Lakes, 26–6. No. 5 Iowa Pre-Flight defeated Fort Warren, 30–0. In Atlanta, No. 8 Georgia Tech defeated Navy 17–15.

October 28 No. 1 Notre Dame won at Illinois, 13–7. At a war bonds fundraiser at the Polo Grounds in New York, No. 2 Army beat Duke 27–7. No. 3 Randolph Field defeated Morris Field 19–0. No. 4 Ohio State beat Minnesota 34–14. No. 5 Georgia Tech reached 5–0–0 after a 13–7 over the flight training school located on the U.Ga. campus, Georgia Pre-Flight.

November

November 4 No. 1 Army rolled over Villanova, 83–0. In six games, the Cadets had outscored their opponents by an average of 60 to 3. In Baltimore, No. 2 Notre Dame lost to No. 6 Navy, 32–13. No. 3 Ohio State beat Indiana 21–7. No. 4 Randolph Field beat North Texas Agricultural (later called the University of Texas-Arlington) 68–0. No. 5 Georgia Tech lost at Duke, 19–13, and fell out of the top five, as Navy moved up.

November 11 At Yankee Stadium in New York, No. 1 Army crushed No. 5 Notre Dame, 59–0. No. 2 Ohio State beat Pittsburgh 54–19. No. 3 Navy beat Cornell, 48–0. No. 4 Randolph Field defeated Maxwell Field, 25–0. No. 8 Michigan, which beat Illinois, 14–0, took Notre Dame's place in the Top Five.

November 18 In Philadelphia, No. 1 Army beat Pennsylvania, 62–7. In Georgetown, Texas, No. 2 Randolph Field beat Southwestern University, 54–0. No. 3 Navy defeated Purdue in Baltimore, 32–0. In Cleveland, before a crowd of 83,627 fans, No. 4 Ohio State beat Illinois 26–12. No. 5 Michigan defeated Wisconsin, 14–0. In a Sunday game between service teams, No. 6 Bainbridge NTC of Maryland defeated Camp Lejeune, 33–6.

November 25 No. 1 Army (8–0–0) and No. 2 Navy (6–2–0) were both idle as they prepared for the annual Army–Navy Game. No. 3 Ohio State beat Michigan 18–14. The next day, No. 4 Randolph Field beat Amarillo Field, 33–0, and No. 5 Bainbridge Naval beat Camp Perry, 21–13.

December 2 No. 1 Army and No. 2 Navy met in Baltimore. Army's offense was held to its lowest score of the season, but won 23–7 to cap a perfect season. Army had scored 59 points or more in seven of its nine games, with a 504 to 35 aggregate over its opponents. No. 3 Ohio State had finished its season, while No. 4 Randolph Field and No. 5 Bainbridge Naval were idle. After the release of the final poll, Randolph Field participated in two more games for the sale of bonds. In Los Angeles, the "Ramblers" beat the Fourth Air Force team (March Field), 20–7, on December 10. Six days later, Randolph Field met the Second Air Force Superbombers at the Polo Grounds in New York for the “Treasury Bond Bowl”, and won 13–6 to complete their season at 11–0–0.

Conference standings

Major conference standings

1944 Big Six Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Oklahoma $ 4 0 1  6 3 1
Iowa State 3 1 1  6 1 1
Missouri 2 1 2  3 5 2
Nebraska 2 3 0  2 6 0
Kansas 1 4 0  3 6 1
Kansas State 1 4 0  2 5 2
  • $ Conference champion
1944 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 2 Ohio State $ 6 0 0  9 0 0
No. 8 Michigan 5 2 0  8 2 0
Purdue 4 2 0  5 5 0
Minnesota 3 2 1  5 3 1
Indiana 4 3 0  7 3 0
No. 15 Illinois 3 3 0  5 4 1
Wisconsin 2 4 0  3 6 0
Northwestern 0 5 1  1 7 1
Iowa 0 6 0  1 7 0
  • + Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
1944 Border Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Texas Tech 2 0 0  4 7 0
West Texas State 1 1 0  4 3 0
New Mexico 0 2 0  1 7 0
Arizona State–Flagstaff 0 0 0  2 2 0
  • $ Conference champion
1944 Middle Three Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Lafayette $ 4 0 0  6 1 0
Rutgers 2 2 0  3 2 0
Lehigh 0 4 0  0 6 0
  • $ Conference champion
1944 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Oklahoma A&M $ 1 0 0  8 1 0
Tulsa 0 1 0  8 2 0
Drake 0 0 0  7 2 0
  • $ Conference champion
1944 Mountain States Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Colorado $ 2 0 0  6 2 0
Denver 2 1 1  4 3 2
Utah 1 2 1  5 2 1
Utah State 0 2 0  3 3 0
  • $ Conference champion
1944 Pacific Coast Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 7 USC $ 3 0 2  8 0 2
Washington 1 1 0  5 3 0
UCLA 1 2 1  4 5 1
California 1 3 1  3 6 1
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1944 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 13 Georgia Tech $ 4 0 0  8 3 0
No. 12 Tennessee 5 0 1  7 1 1
Georgia 4 2 0  7 3 0
Alabama 3 1 2  5 2 2
Mississippi State 3 2 0  6 2 0
LSU 2 3 1  2 5 1
Ole Miss 2 3 0  2 6 0
Tulane 1 2 0  4 3 0
Kentucky 1 5 0  3 6 0
Florida 0 3 0  4 3 0
Auburn 0 4 0  4 4 0
Vanderbilt 0 0 0  3 0 1
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1944 Southern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 11 Duke $ 4 0 0  6 4 0
Wake Forest 6 1 0  8 1 0
Clemson 3 1 0  4 5 0
NC State 3 1 0  7 2 0
William & Mary 2 1 1  5 2 1
Maryland 1 1 0  1 7 1
South Carolina 1 3 0  3 4 2
VMI 1 5 0  1 8 0
North Carolina 0 3 1  1 7 1
Richmond 0 4 0  2 6 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1944 Southwest Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
TCU $ 3 1 1  7 3 1
Texas 3 2 0  5 4 0
Arkansas 2 2 1  5 5 1
Texas A&M 2 3 0  7 4 0
SMU 2 3 0  5 5 0
Rice 2 3 0  5 6 0
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

Independents

1944 Eastern college football independents records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 1 Army      9 0 0
Yale      7 0 1
Harvard      5 1 0
Bucknell      7 2 1
Penn State      6 3 0
Penn      5 3 0
Boston College      4 3 0
Cornell      5 4 0
Villanova      4 4 0
Drexel      2 2 0
Pittsburgh      4 5 0
Brown      3 4 1
Temple      2 4 2
Syracuse      2 4 1
Princeton      1 2 0
Dartmouth      2 5 1
Colgate      2 5 0
NYU      2 5 0
Columbia      2 6 0
Tufts      1 4 1
Franklin & Marshall      1 8 0
Rankings from AP Poll
1944 Midwestern college football independents records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Miami (OH)      8 1 0
Michigan State      6 1 0
No. 9 Notre Dame      8 2 0
Central Michigan      5 2 0
Wichita      5 2 1
Bowling Green      5 3 0
Western Michigan      4 3 0
Wayne      1 1 0
Ohio Wesleyan      1 8 1
Marquette      1 7 0
Rankings from AP Poll
1944 Southern college football independents records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Virginia      6 1 2
No. 4 Navy      6 3 0
West Virginia      5 3 1
Miami (FL)      1 7 1
Rankings from AP Poll
1944 Western college football independents records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Nevada      4 4 0
Idaho Southern Branch      4 5 0
Saint Mary's      0 5 0
1944 military service football records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 3 Randolph Field      12 0 0
No. 5 Bainbridge      10 0 0
No. 18 Fort Pierce      9 0 0
No. 13 Norman NAS      6 0 0
No. 6 Iowa Pre-Flight      10 1 0
No. 16 El Toro Marines      8 1 0
Bunker Hill NAS      6 1 0
No. 3 Great Lakes Navy      9 2 1
No. 10 March Field      7 2 2
North Carolina Pre-Flight      6 2 1
No. 20 Second Air Force      10 4 1
Camp Peary      5 2 0
Third Air Force      7 3 1
Alameda Coast Guard      4 2 2
No. 19 Saint Mary's Pre-Flight      4 4 0
Rankings from AP Poll

Minor conferences

Conference Champion(s) Record
California Collegiate Athletic Association No champion
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association Morgan State College 4–0
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference No champion
Far Western Conference No champion
Indiana Intercollegiate Conference Wabash College 4–0–1
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 Florida A&M College 5–0
Southwestern Athletic Conference Langston
Texas College
Wiley (TX)
5–1
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

1944 Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Northern Illinois State $ 3 0 0  7 0 0
Illinois State 1 0 0  3 4 1
Southern Illinois 2 1 0  3 3 0
Eastern Illinois 1 2 0  1 3 0
Western Illinois 0 4 0  0 8 0
  • $ Conference champion
1944 New England Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
New Hampshire + 1 1 0  1 3 0
Maine + 1 1 0  2 2 0
Connecticut 0 0 0  7 1 0
  • + Conference co-champions
1944 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Texas College + 5 1 0  8 1 0
Wiley + 5 1 0  8 1 0
Langston + 5 1 0  6 2 1
Southern 2 4 0  4 4 0
Samuel Huston 2 4 0  3 5 0
Prairie View State 2 4 0  3 6 0
Arkansas AM&N 0 6 0  1 7 0
  • + Conference co-champions

Rankings

Bowl games

Bowl game Winning team Losing team
Rose Bowl No. 7 USC 25 No. 12 Tennessee 0
Sugar Bowl No. 11 Duke 29 Alabama 26
Orange Bowl Tulsa 26 No. 13 Georgia Tech 12
Cotton Bowl Classic Oklahoma A&M 34 TCU 0
Sun Bowl Southwestern (TX) 35 Pumas CU 0

Awards and honors

All-Americans

The consensus All-America team included:

Position Name Height Weight (lbs.) Class Hometown Team
QB Les Horvath 5'10" 173 Sr. Parma, Ohio Ohio State
HB Glenn Davis 5'9" 175 So. Claremont, California Army
HB Bob Jenkins 6'1" 195 Jr. Talladega, Alabama Navy
FB Doc Blanchard 6'0" 205 Jr. Bishopville, South Carolina Army
E Phil Tinsley 6'1" 188 Sr. Bessemer, Alabama Georgia Tech
E Paul Walker 6'3" 203 Jr. Springfield, Missouri Yale
T Don Whitmire 5'11" 215 Sr. Giles Co., Tennessee Alabama
G Bill Hackett 5'9" 191 Jr. London, Ohio Ohio State
C John Tavener 6'0" 220 Sr. Newark, Ohio Indiana
G Ben Chase 6'1" 195 San Diego, California Navy
T John Ferraro 6'4" 245 So. Los Angeles, California USC
E Jack Dugger 6'3" 210 Sr. Canton, Ohio Ohio State

Statistical leaders

  • Team scoring most points per game: Army, 56.0

References

  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2009-01-20.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. “Navy Upset”, The Amarillo Sunday News-Globe, Oct. 1, 1944, p17
  3. “Randolph Field Steamrolls Over Southern Methodist 41–0”, Amarillo Sunday Globe-Times, Oct. 15, 1944, pB-6
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