1946 college football season

1946 NCAA football season

Total # of teams

120^[1]

First AP #1 of season

Texas Longhorns^[2]

Number of bowls

Champions

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (AP)
Army Cadets (Various)

Heisman

Glenn Davis, Army HB

College football seasons
« 1945	1947 »

The 1946 NCAA football season finished with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish crowned as the national champion in the AP Poll, with the United States Military Academy named as national champion in various other polls and rankings. The two teams both had won all of their games, with the exception of their November 9 meeting at New York's Yankee Stadium, where they had played to a 0-0 tie in a #1 vs #2 matchup regarded as a "Game of the Century".

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.^[3]

Georgia and UCLA would finish the regular season as the only unbeaten and untied teams. Georgia would even hammer this point home with a decisive Sugar Bowl win, while UCLA lost big in the Rose Bowl. Both Notre Dame and Army would not play in a bowl. Most third party observers would consider them National Champions.

Several new bowl games would debut, among them the Tangerine Bowl (later known as the Citrus Bowl and currently known as the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl).

Conference and program changes

Conference establishments

Two conferences began football play in 1946:
- College Conference of Illinois – an active NCAA Division III conference; now known as the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin
- Mason-Dixon Conference – an NCAA Division III conference active until 1974

Membership changes

School	1945 Conference	1946 Conference
Houston Cougars	Program Established	Lone Star

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 1946, the two service academies—Army and Navy, as well as Alabama, Indiana and Oklahoma State, several had faltered before the first poll. Army beat Villanova 35-0 on September 21, and Oklahoma State beat Denver, 40-7, but Indiana lost to the University of Cincinnati, 15-6. Also on September 21, Houston of the Lone Star Conference played its first ever football game against Louisiana–Lafayette of the Louisiana Intercollegiate Conference, in which Houston was defeated by a score of 13-7.

On September 28, Army beat Oklahoma 21-7, and Navy beat Villanova 7-0. Alabama edged Southern Mississippi in a game at Montgomery, 13-12. Indiana lost again, 21-0 at Michigan, and OK State was tied 21-21 by Arkansas. Notre Dame won at Illinois, 26-6, and UCLA beat Oregon State 50-7.

October

On October 5, Army beat Cornell 46-21. Navy lost at Columbia and dropped the rest of its games, finishing 1-8-0. Oklahoma State lost 54-6 at Texas and would finish at 3-7-1. Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh 33-0. Michigan beat Iowa 14-7. UCLA won at Washington, 39-13. In the poll that followed, One voter split his first place vote between Texas, Army, and Notre Dame, who received 69⅓, 21⅓ and 15⅓ votes respectively. Michigan and UCLA rounded out the Top Five.

October 12 In Dallas, #1 Texas beat Oklahoma 20-13. #2 Army and #4 Michigan met in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the visiting Cadets won 20-13. #3 Notre Dame beat Purdue 49-6. #5 UCLA beat #17 Stanford 26-6.

October 19 #1 Army beat #11 Columbia 48-14. #2 Notre Dame was idle. #3 Texas beat #14 Arkansas 20-0. #4 UCLA won at California 13-6. #5 Michigan and #10 Northwestern played to a 14-14 tie. #9 Tennessee beat #7 Alabama 12-0.

October 26 At the Polo Grounds in New York, #1 Army beat #13 Duke 19-0. #2 Notre Dame won at #17 Iowa, 49-6. In Houston, #3 Texas lost to #16 Rice, 18-13. #4 Tennessee lost to unranked Wake Forest, 19-6. #5 UCLA beat Santa Clara 33-7. #6 Penn beat Navy 32-19 and #7 Georgia won at Furman, 70-7

November

November 2 #1 Army beat West Virginia, 19-0. In Baltimore, #2 Notre Dame defeated Navy 28-0. #3 Pennsylvania lost to Princeton, 17-14. #5 Georgia beat #15 Alabama 14-0. #4 UCLA had beaten St. Mary's, 46-20, in a Friday night game. #8 Rice beat Texas Tech 41-6.

November 9 A crowd of 74,000 turned out at New York's Yankee Stadium to watch #1 Army and #2 Notre Dame in a meeting of the nation's two unbeaten and untied teams. Both teams missed scoring opportunities. In the opening quarter, Army recovered a fumble on the Irish 24, but was stopped on fourth down at the 13 yard line. The Irish drove to the Army three yard line in the second quarter but no further. Army reached the Irish 20 yard line in the third quarter, but Notre Dame's Terry Brennan picked off a pass from Glenn Davis. In the last quarter, a bad punt was returned by Davis to the Irish 39 yard line, but they forced a fumble and stopped any further scoring chances. The game ended in a scoreless tie, 0-0. .^[4] In Jacksonville, #3 Georgia beat Florida 33-14. In Portland, #4 UCLA beat Oregon 14-0. #5 Rice lost in Little Rock to Arkansas, 7-0. #9 Penn returned to the Top Five after beating Columbia in New York's "other" football game, 41-6.

November 16 In its third meeting against a Top Five team, #1 Army beat #5 Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, 34-7. #2 Notre Dame beat Northwestern, 27-0. #3 Georgia beat Auburn 41-0 in a neutral site in Columbus, Georgia. #4 UCLA beat Montana 61-7. #9 Illinois beat #13 Ohio State, 16-7.

November 23 #1 Army was idle. #2 Notre Dame beat Tulane in New Orleans, 41-0. #3 Georgia won at Chattanooga, 48-27. #4 UCLA defeated #10 USC 13-6. #5 Illinois won at Northwestern, 20-0, to close its season with an 8-1-0 record

November 30 #1 Army barely beat a 1-7-0 Navy team, 21-18. #2 Notre Dame beat #16 USC, 26-6 #3 Georgia defeated #7 Georgia Tech 35-7. #4 UCLA beat Nebraska 18-0 and accepted an invitation to face #5 Illinois in the Rose Bowl.

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1946 Big Ten football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#5 Illinois $	6	–	1	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
#6 Michigan	5	–	1	–	1	6	–	2	–	1
#20 Indiana	4	–	2	–	0	6	–	3	–	0
Iowa	3	–	3	–	0	5	–	4	–	0
Minnesota	3	–	4	–	0	5	–	4	–	0
Ohio State	2	–	3	–	1	4	–	3	–	2
Northwestern	2	–	3	–	1	4	–	4	–	1
Wisconsin	2	–	5	–	0	4	–	5	–	0
Purdue	0	–	5	–	1	2	–	6	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1946 Big 6 football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#14 Oklahoma +	4	–	1	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Kansas +	4	–	1	–	0	7	–	2	–	1
Missouri	3	–	2	–	0	5	–	4	–	1
Nebraska	3	–	2	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Iowa State	1	–	4	–	0	2	–	6	–	1
Kansas State	0	–	5	–	0	0	–	9	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

1946 MSC football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Utah	4	–	2	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Colorado	3	–	2	–	1	5	–	4	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1946 New England Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
New Hampshire $	3	–	0	–	1	6	–	1	–	1
Connecticut $	2	–	0	–	1	4	–	3	–	1
Northeastern	1	–	1	–	0	3	–	3	–	0
Rhode Island	1	–	2	–	0	2	–	4	–	0
Maine	0	–	4	–	0	2	–	5	–	0

$ – Conference champion

1946 PCC football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#4 UCLA $	7	–	0	–	0	10	–	1	–	0
Oregon State	6	–	1	–	1	7	–	1	–	1
USC	5	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Washington	5	–	3	–	0	5	–	4	–	0
Stanford	3	–	3	–	1	6	–	3	–	1
Oregon	3	–	4	–	1	4	–	4	–	1
Montana	1	–	3	–	0	4	–	4	–	0
Washington State	1	–	5	–	1	1	–	6	–	1
California	1	–	6	–	0	2	–	7	–	0
Idaho	0	–	5	–	0	1	–	8	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1946 SEC football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#3 Georgia +	5	–	0	–	0	11	–	0	–	0
#7 Tennessee +	5	–	0	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
#8 LSU	5	–	1	–	0	9	–	1	–	1
#11 Georgia Tech	4	–	2	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
Mississippi State	3	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
Alabama	4	–	3	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Vanderbilt	3	–	4	–	0	5	–	4	–	0
Kentucky	2	–	3	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Tulane	2	–	4	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Auburn	1	–	5	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Ole Miss	1	–	6	–	0	2	–	7	–	0
Florida	0	–	5	–	0	0	–	9	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

1946 Southern Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#9 North Carolina $	4	–	0	–	1	8	–	2	–	1
William & Mary	7	–	1	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
#18 NC State	6	–	1	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
South Carolina	4	–	2	–	0	5	–	3	–	0
Duke	3	–	2	–	0	4	–	5	–	0
Richmond	3	–	2	–	2	6	–	2	–	2
VPI	3	–	3	–	2	3	–	4	–	3
VMI	2	–	3	–	1	4	–	5	–	1
George Washington	1	–	1	–	0	4	–	3	–	0
Clemson	2	–	3	–	0	4	–	5	–	0
Wake Forest	2	–	3	–	0	6	–	3	–	0
Maryland	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Furman	1	–	4	–	0	2	–	8	–	0
Washington and Lee	1	–	4	–	0	2	–	6	–	0
The Citadel	1	–	5	–	0	3	–	5	–	0
Davidson	1	–	5	–	0	4	–	5	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1946 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#10 Rice +	5	–	1	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
#16 Arkansas +	5	–	1	–	0	6	–	3	–	2
#15 Texas	4	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
Texas A&M	3	–	3	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
SMU	2	–	4	–	0	4	–	5	–	1
TCU	2	–	4	–	0	2	–	7	–	1
Baylor	0	–	6	–	0	1	–	8	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Minor conferences

Conference	Champion(s)	Record
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Kalamazoo Hillsdale	4–1–0

Final polls

Main article: 1946 NCAA football rankings

Bowl games

Bowl game		points		points
Rose Bowl	#5 Illinois Illini	45	#4 UCLA Bruins	14
Sugar Bowl	#3 Georgia Bulldogs	20	#9 North Carolina Tar Heels	10
Orange Bowl	#10 Rice Owls	8	#7 Tennessee Volunteers	0
Cotton Bowl	#16 Arkansas Razorbacks	0	#8 LSU Tigers	0
Sun Bowl	Cincinnati Bearcats	18	Virginia Tech Hokies	6
Gator Bowl	#14 Oklahoma Sooners	34	#18 NC State Wolfpack	13
Tangerine Bowl	Catawba Indians	31	Maryville Scots	6
Oil Bowl	#11 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	41	St. Mary's Gaels	19
Raisin Bowl	Utah State Aggies	0	San Jose State Spartans	20
Harbor Bowl	Montana State	13	New Mexico Lobos	13
Alamo Bowl	Hardin–Simmons Cowboys	20	Denver Pioneers	0

References

↑ http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf1946.htm
↑ http://www.appollarchive.com/football/ap/seasons.cfm?appollid=83
↑ appollarchive.com/football/ap
↑ "Fighting Irish Battle Army to 0-0 Stalemate", The Post-Standard (Syracuse), Nov. 10, 1946, p13

NCAA football seasons

Pre-regulation	1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905

IAAUS/NCAA	1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955

NCAA University Division/ Division I	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

NCAA Division I-A/FBS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

NCAA Division I-AA/FCS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

NCAA Division II	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

NCAA Division III	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

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