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1944 college football season

American college football season


American college football season

FieldValue
year1944
image
preseason_apNotre Dame
regular_season
number_of_bowls5
bowl_start
bowl_end
championArmy (AP)
heismanLes Horvath (halfback/quarterback, Ohio State)

The 1944 college football season was the 76th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. Competition included schools from the Big Ten Conference, the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Big Six Conference, the Southern Conference, the Southwestern Conference, and numerous smaller conferences and independent programs.

The season was played at the height of World War II, starting less than three months after the Normandy landings and as battles raged throughout Europe and the Pacific. As in 1943, the Associated Press poll included service teams, drawn from flight schools and training centers which were preparing men for fighting in the war. Half of the final top 20 teams were composed of service teams, in addition to the Army and Navy service academies. Many colleges that had suspended their programs in 1943 returned to competition in 1944, including the entire SEC.

The teams ranked highest in the final Associated Press poll in December 1944 were:

RankTeamRecordNotes
1Army9–0Voted No. 1 by 95 of 121 writers in the final AP poll. Halfback Glenn Davis led nation with 120 points scored and finished second in Heisman voting. Fullback Doc Blanchard finished third in Heisman voting. Davis and Blanchard were consensus All-Americans. The Cadets ranked No. 1 nationally in scoring offense (56.0 points per game), No. 2 in total offense (430.8 yards per game), and No. 4 in total defense (129.1 yards per game).
2Ohio State9–0Big Ten champion. Halfback/quarterback Les Horvath won the 1944 Heisman Trophy. Horvath, guard Bill Hackett, and end Jack Dugger were consensus All-Americans. Retroactively selected national champion by National Championship Foundation and Sagarin Ratings.
3Randolph Field9–0Texas air field team featuring Glenn Dobbs, Bill Dudley, Pete Layden. Ranked No. 2 nationally in total defense (110.8 yards per game) and scoring offense (42.3 points per game) and No. 3 in total offense (377.0 yards per game). Defeated Second Air Force in Treasury Bond Bowl.
4Navy6–3Tackle Don Whitmire and halfback Bob Jenkins finished fourth and seventh, respectively, in Heisman Trophy voting. Whitmire and guard Ben Chase were consensus All-Americans. Ranked No. 2 nationally in rushing defense (allowing only 53.8 yards per game).
5Bainbridge NTS10–0Naval training center in Maryland. Players included Charlie Justice
6Iowa Pre-Flight10–1Navy pre-flight school at University of Iowa.
7USC7–0–2PCC champion. Shut out victory over Tennessee in 1945 Rose Bowl. Tackle John Ferraro was a consensus All-American.
8Michigan8–2Fullback Don Lund team MVP. Tackle Milan Lazetich a second-team All-American.
9Notre Dame8–2Halfback Bob Kelly finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting. Halfback Creighton Miller was a consensus All-American.
10March Field7–2–2Fourth Air Force base in Riverside, California.

The year's statistical leaders included Bob Fenimore of Oklahoma A&M with 1,758 yards of total offense, Wayne Williams of Minnesota with 911 rushing yards, Paul Rickards of Pittsburgh with 997 passing yards, Reid Moseley of Georgia with 424 receiving yards, and Glenn Davis of Army with 120 points scored.

Season timeline

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.

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 North Carolina 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 service teams occupying the other spots in the top five: No. 2 North Carolina Pre-Flight, No. 4 Randolph Field, and No. 5 Great Lakes.

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. No. 5 Great Lakes beat Western Michigan 38–0. No. 8 Ohio State won at No. 19 Wisconsin, 20–7 and No. 11 Iowa Pre-Flight won at No. 7 Purdue, 13–6. N.C. Pre-Flight and Great Lakes fell out of the top five, which was now No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Army, No. 3 Randolph Field, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 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 No. 6 Great Lakes, 26–6. No. 5 Iowa Pre-Flight defeated Fort Warren, 30–0. In Atlanta, No. 8 Georgia Tech defeated No. 9 Navy 17–15 and moved up to No. 5 behind Notre Dame, Army, Randolph Field, and Ohio State.

October 28 No. 1 Notre Dame won at No. 14 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 win over the flight training school located on the U.Ga. campus, Georgia Pre-Flight. Army moved up to No. 1 in the next poll—the first time since the 1942 season that Notre Dame did not hold the top spot. The Fighting Irish fell to No. 2, followed by No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Randolph Field, and No. 5 Georgia Tech.

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. The new top five were No. 1 Army, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Navy, No. 4 Randolph Field, and No. 5 Notre Dame.

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 No. 10 Illinois 14–0, took Notre Dame's place at No. 5 behind No. 1 Army, No. 2 Randolph Field, No. 3 Navy, and No. 4 Ohio State.

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 No. 14 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 United States Naval Training Center Bainbridge, Maryland defeated Camp Lejeune, 33–6. The next top five was No. 1 Army, No. 2 Navy, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Randolph Field, and No. 5 Bainbridge Naval.

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 No. 6 Michigan 18–14. The next day, No. 4 Randolph Field beat Amarillo Field, 33–0, and No. 5 Bainbridge Naval beat No. 14 Camp Peary, 21–13. The top five remained the same.

December

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 and moved up to No. 2 after Navy's loss, 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. Their final ranking was No. 3, ahead of No. 4 Navy and No. 5 Bainbridge Naval.

Bowl games

Conference standings

Major conference standings

Independents

Minor conferences

ConferenceChampion(s)Record
California Collegiate Athletic AssociationNo champion
Central Intercollegiate Athletics AssociationMorgan State College4–0
Central Intercollegiate Athletic ConferenceNo champion
Far Western ConferenceNo champion
Indiana Intercollegiate ConferenceWabash College4–0–1
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic ConferenceNo champion
Kansas Collegiate Athletic ConferenceNo champion
Lone Star ConferenceNo champion
Midwest Collegiate Athletic ConferenceNo champion
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic ConferenceNo champion
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic AssociationNo champion
Nebraska College Athletic ConferenceNo champion
New Mexico Intercollegiate ConferenceNo champion
North Central Intercollegiate Athletic ConferenceNo champion
North Dakota College Athletic ConferenceNo champion
Ohio Athletic ConferenceNo champion
Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic ConferenceNo champion
Pacific Northwest ConferenceNo champion
Pennsylvania State Athletic ConferenceNo champion
Rocky Mountain Athletic ConferenceNo champion
South Dakota Intercollegiate ConferenceNo champion
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic ConferenceNo champion
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic ConferenceFlorida A&M College5–0
Southwestern Athletic ConferenceLangston
Texas College
Wiley (TX)5–1
State Teacher's College Conference of MinnesotaNo champion
Texas Collegiate Athletic ConferenceNo champion
Washington Intercollegiate ConferenceNo champion
Wisconsin State Teachers College ConferenceNo champion

Minor conference standings

Rankings

Main article: 1944 college football rankings

Awards and honors

All-Americans

Main article: 1944 College Football All-America Team

The consensus All-America team included:

PositionNameHeightWeight (lbs.)ClassHometownTeam
QBLes Horvath5'10"173Sr.Parma, OhioOhio State
HBGlenn Davis5'9"175So.Claremont, CaliforniaArmy
HBBob Jenkins6'1"195Jr.Talladega, AlabamaNavy
FBDoc Blanchard6'0"205Jr.Bishopville, South CarolinaArmy
EPhil Tinsley6'1"188Sr.Bessemer, AlabamaGeorgia Tech
EPaul Walker6'3"203Jr.Springfield, MissouriYale
TDon Whitmire5'11"215Sr.Giles Co., TennesseeAlabama
GBill Hackett5'9"191Jr.London, OhioOhio State
CJohn Tavener6'0"220Sr.Newark, OhioIndiana
GBen Chase6'1"195San Diego, CaliforniaNavy
TJohn Ferraro6'4"245So.Los Angeles, CaliforniaUSC
EJack Dugger6'3"210Sr.Canton, OhioOhio State

Heisman Trophy voting

The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player

PlayerSchoolPositionTotal
Les HorvathOhio StateHB/QB412
Glenn DavisArmyHB287
Doc BlanchardArmyFB237
Don WhitmireNavyOT115
Buddy YoungIllinoisHB105
Bob KellyNotre DameHB76
Bob JenkinsNavyHB60
Doug KennaArmyQB56
Bob FenimoreOklahoma A&MHB54
Shorty McWilliamsMississippi StateHB37

Statistical leaders

Team leaders

Total offense

RankTeamGames playedTotal playsYards gainedYards per game
1Tulsa95763912434.7
2Army95013877430.8
3Randolph Field105843770377.0
4Auburn6*3992191365.2
5Ohio State96353264362.7
6Illinois105213559355.9
7Notre Dame106903552355.2
8Georgia9*6803193354.8
9Navy96203159351.0
10Tulane74632381340.1
11Indiana106263381338.1
12Great Lakes Navy127333936328.0
13Minnesota95112928325.3
14Oklahoma A&M84352576322.0
15Texas A&M116563510319.1
16Virginia95582870318.8

(*) One game not reported (**) Two or more games not reported

Total defense

RankTeamGames playedTotal playsYards gainedYards per game
1Virginia939487296.8
2Randolph Field105161108110.8
3Michigan State6286692115.3
4Army94991162129.1
5Wake Forest7**303907129.6
6Navy94471227136.3
7Yale5**260707141.4
8Alabama7*3651008144.0
9USC94341385153.9
10Texas A&M116071754159.5
11Temple7*3301245177.9
12Tulsa94361628180.1
13TCU105891874187.4
14Tennessee8*3951526190.8
15South Carolina94811758195.3
16Penn State94801770196.7

(*) One game not reported (**) Two or more games not reported

Rushing offense

RankTeamGamesRushesYards gainedYards per game
1Army93812687298.6
2Tulane73852074296.3
3Illinois104492940294.0
4Auburn6*3191752292.0
5Ohio State95422506278.4
6Virginia94812468274.2
7Minnesota94522381264.6
8Randolph Field104242574257.4
9Michigan105282541254.1
10Navy94702166240.7
11Washington72891680240.0
12Iowa State6**2581436239.3
13Notre Dame105092323232.3
14Great Lakes Navy125532770230.8
15Tulsa93982055228.3
16Purdue105342277227.7
17USC94652024224.9

(*) One game not reported (**) Two or more games not reported

Rushing defense

RankTeamGamesRushesYards gainedYards per game
1Randolph Field1028929629.6
2Navy928248453.8
3Virginia927649955.4
4Army929851857.6
5Texas A&M1139084576.7
6Tulsa924973781.9
7Wake Forest7**20772881.9
8Yale5**18141482.8
9USC927775984.3
10Michigan State622053288.7

(*) One game not reported (**) Two or more games not reported

Passing offense

RankTeamGamesAtt.Compl.Int.Pct.
Compl.YardsYds/Game
1Tulsa917810211.5731857206.3
2Georgia Tech6**1255310.424852142.0
3Georgia9*1537313.4771244138.2
4Army9120648.5331190132.2
5Oklahoma A&M8110638.5731008126.0
6Pittsburgh92129728.4581117124.1
7Notre Dame101818116.4481229122.9
8Texas91668812.5301092121.3
9Randolph Field101606612.4131196119.6
10Texas A&M111778818.4971300118.2

(*) One game not reported (**) Two or more games not reported

Scoring

  1. Army - 56.0 points per game

  2. Randolph Field - 42.3 points per game

  3. Tulsa - 38.0 points per game

  4. Washington - 36.6 points per game

  5. Second Air Force - 34.2 points per game

  6. Ohio State - 31.9 points per game

  7. Alabama - 30.2 points per game

  8. Great Lakes - 29.0 points per game

  9. Iowa Pre-Flight - 28.5 points per game

Individual leaders

Total offense

RankPlayerTeamGamesPlaysRush YdsPass YdsTotal YdsAvg Gain
per Play
1Bob FenimoreOklahoma A&M82418978611758
2Wayne WilliamsMinnesota91769113781289
3Les HorvathOhio State91949053451250
4Frank DancewiczNotre Dame102318419891220
5Al DekdebrunCornell92583986481046

Rushing

RankPlayerTeamGamesRushesNet YdsAvg Gain
per Play
1Wayne WilliamsMinnesota91369116.70
2Les HorvathOhio State91639055.55
3Bob FenimoreOklahoma A&M81628975.54
4KuykendallAuburn7*1278416.62
5YoungIllinois10948408.94
6DimancheffPurdue101758304.74
7PattersonIllinois101317905.27
8DudaVirginia91257165.72
9JonesTulane71407005.00
10KellyNotre Dame101366815.01
11Glenn DavisArmy95866711.50

Passing

RankPlayerTeamGamesAtt.Compl.Int.Pct. Compl.Yds.
1Paul RickardsPittsburgh91788420.472997
2Frank DancewiczNotre Dame101536812.444989
3CashionTexas A&M111135912.522852
4Bob WaterfieldUCLA101365519.404901
5Al DekdebrunCornell91215313.438648

Receiving

RankPlayerTeamGamesReceptionsReceiving
Yards
1Reid MoseleyGeorgia932506
2ArmstrongOklahoma A&M826325
3WhiteTulsa925450
4HowellTexas A&M1124394
5FolsomSMU1021246

Scoring

RankPlayerTeamTouchdownsPATFGPoints
1Glenn DavisArmy2000120
2Charlie JusticeBainbridge140084
3KelleyNotre Dame136084
4McWilliamsMississippi State140084
5PerryCompton College140084

References

References

  1. “Navy Upset”, ''The Amarillo Sunday News-Globe'', Oct. 1, 1944, p17
  2. “Randolph Field Steamrolls Over Southern Methodist 41–0”, Amarillo Sunday Globe-Times, Oct. 15, 1944, pB-6
  3. (1945). "The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1945". A.S. Barnes and Company.
  4. (1945). "The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1945". A.S. Barnes and Company.
  5. (1945). "The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1945". A.S. Barnes and Company.
  6. (1945). "The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1945". A.S. Barnes and Company.
  7. (1945). "The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1945". A.S. Barnes and Company.
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