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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 2418626, member: 289"] Per the NCAA Record book, Billingsley, DeVold, Dunkel, Football Research and the National Championship Foundation chose Maryland as their national champion. Tennessee was the choice of AP, (the writer’s poll), UPI (the coaches), Litkenhous and Williamson. Helms and Poling preferred Michigan State. Boand had it a tie between Illinois and Georgia Tech. Berryman also liked Georgia Tech. Among the internet sources not on the NCAA’s list, Time Travel, Dolphin, Waits and Wilson chose Maryland, Howell chose Georgia Tech, Illinois picked Sorenson, Square Gear preferred Michigan State and Taylor picked Tennessee. As we’ve seen, Vautravers picks Maryland and thinks the AP would have, too, if they voted after the polls. Bill Libby, in his book “Champions of College Football, says Maryland won “it’s only football title in history” and “was recognized by selectors willing to wait for all the results.” That’s 11 sources for Maryland, 5 for Tennessee, 3 for Michigan State and Georgia Tech and 2 for Illinois. Let’s look at sources that listed actual rankings I could find: AP: Tennessee, Michigan State, Maryland, Illinois, Georgia Tech and Princeton were #1-6 and San Francisco #14. Vautravers’ Fixed AP poll: Maryland, Tennessee, Michigan State, Illinois, Georgia Tech and Princeton were #1-6 and San Francisco #15. UPI: Tennessee, Michigan State, Illinois, Maryland, Georgia Tech and Princeton were #1-6 and San Francisco #14. Time Travel: Maryland, Illinois, Georgia Tech, Tennessee and Michigan State were #1=5. San Francisco was #10 and Princeton #18. Dolphin: Maryland, Michigan State, Tennessee, Illinois and Georgia Tech #1-5. Princeton was #9 and San Francisco #10. Howell: Georgia Tech, Maryland, Illinois, Tennessee and Michigan State were #1-5. San Francisco was #12 and Princeton #15. Sorenson: Illinois, Maryland. Tennessee, Georgia Tech and Michigan State were #1-5. Princeton was #16 and San Francisco #24. Square Gear: Michigan State, Illinois, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Tennessee and Princeton were #1-6 and San Francisco #12. Waits: Maryland, Princeton, Tennessee, Michigan State, Illinois and Georgia Tech were #1-6 with San Francisco, (erroneously listed as San Francisco State) was #9 Wilson: Maryland, Illinois, Michigan State, Tennessee, Georgia Tech and Princeton were #1-6 and San Francisco #10. Using the 25 points for 1st, 24 for 2nd, etc. system these are the point totals: Maryland 240, Illinois and Tennessee 229, Michigan State 227, Georgia Tech 217, Princeton 170 and San Francisco 130. [I]Against Ranked Teams[/I] (using the higher ranking of the two polls; you get 25 points for playing #1, 24 for #2, 23 for #3, etc, and then apply the point differential to that number) Michigan State beat then AP#17 Michigan 25-0 = +34 points Michigan State beat then AP#7 Ohio State 24-20 = +23 points Tennessee beat then AP#16 Duke 26-0 = +36 points Georgia Tech beat then AP#17 Kentucky 13-7 = +15 points Illinois beat then UPI#19 Wisconsin 14-10 = +10 points Illinois beat then UPI#19 Washington 27-20 = +14 points Princeton beat then AP #11 Cornell 53-15 = +53 points Illinois beat then AP#15 Michigan 7-0 = +18 points Michigan State beat then #11 (both polls) Notre Dame 35-0= +50 points Tennessee beat then AP#9 Kentucky 28-0 = +45 points Maryland beat #1 (both polls) Tennessee 28-13 = +40 points Tennessee lost to AP#3 Maryland 13-28 = +8 points Illinois beat #7 (both polls) Stanford 40-7 = +52 points Georgia Tech beat #9 (both polls) Baylor 17-14 = +20 points That’s +107 points for Michigan State, +94 for Illinois, +89 for Tennessee, +53 for Princeton, +40 for Maryland, +35 for Georgia Tech and none for San Francisco, who never played a ranked team. [I]Point Differential Rankings:[/I] (using this: [URL="http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/byName.htm"]Historical Scores - Alphabetically by Team[/URL] - just games against major college teams) [B]Tennessee[/B] beat Mississippi State 14-0, the third beat performance by point differential against the Bulldogs. They beat Duke 26-0, the best performance against them. They beat Alabama 27-13, the third best performance against them. They beat North Carolina 27-0, the second best performance against them. They beat Washington and Lee 60-14, the best performance against them. They beat Mississippi 46-21, the best performance against them. They beat Kentucky 28-0, the best performance against them. They beat Vanderbilt 35-27, the third best performance against them. They lost to Maryland 13-28, the second best performance against them. I’ll show that as: 3 + 1 + 3 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 3 + 2 = 17/ 9 games = 1.89, meaning that, on average they were slightly better than the second best team their opponent played. [B]Michigan State: [/B]5 + 1 + 3 + 5 +2 + 2 +1 + 6 + 2 =27/9 = 3.00 (You can see their consistency problem.) [B]Maryland: [/B]2 + 3+ 2 +1 +1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 13/9 = 1.44 (They were the best team their last six opponents faced) [B]Illinois [/B]1 + 1+ 1 +3 + 3 + 4 +1 + 4 + 3 + 1 = 22/10 = 2.20 (But remember that the Big Ten was considered the top conference in the country at the time.) [B]Georgia Tech [/B]2 + 1 + 2 +2 4+ 5+ 5+ 1+ 2+ 3 + 1 + 2 = 30/12 = 2.50 [B]Princeton [/B]5 + 6 + 4 + 1 +5 + 1 + 1 + 3 = 26/8 = 3.25 (Despite the weaker schedule, they didn’t dominate as much.) [B]San Francisco [/B]1 + 3 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 1 + 2 = 15/7 = 2.14 (They played San Jose State twice and were the best and second best team to play them.) [I]Wins, losses and points[/I] [B]Tennessee [/B]was 10-1-0 (386-116: 35.1-10.5) overall and 8-1 (276-103: 30.7-11.4) against major college teams, who had a combined record of 52-39-2, (.571). [B]Michigan State [/B]was 9-0-0 (270-114: 30.0-12.7), all against major college teams, who had a combined record of 40-43-4, (.482). [B]Maryland [/B]was 10-0-0 (381-75: 38.1-7.5), all against major college teams, who had a combined record of 44-53-3 (.454). [B]Illinois [/B]was 9-0-1 (220-83: 22.0-8.3), all against major college teams who had a combined record of 46-40-5 (.535). [B]Georgia Tech [/B]was 11-0-1 (295-90: 24.6-7.5), all against major college teams who had a combined record of 65-56-4 (.537). [B]Princeton [/B]was 9-0-0 (310-82: 34.4-9.1) overall and 8-0-0 (250-75: 31.25-9.4) against major college teams, who had a combined record of 25-42-2 (.373). [B]San Francisco [/B]was 9-0-0 (286-72: 31.8-8.0) overall and 7-0-0 (234-65: 33.4-9.3) against major college teams, who had a combined record of 23-41-3 (.359) [I]Common opponents:[/I] Alabama lost to Tennessee 13-27 and to Georgia Tech 7-27. Advantage [B]Georgia Tech [/B]+6 Duke lost to Tennessee 0-26 but tied Georgia Tech 14-14. Advantage [B]Tennessee[/B] +26 Georgia lost to Georgia Tech 6-48 and to Maryland 7-43. Advantage [B]Georgia Tech[/B] +6 Indiana lost to Michigan State 26-30 and to Illinois 0-21. Advantage [B]Illinois[/B] +21 Kentucky lost to Tennessee 0-28 and to Georgia Tech 7-13. Advantage [B]Tennessee[/B] +22 Louisiana State lost to Georgia Tech 7-25 and to Maryland 0-27. Advantage [B]Maryland [/B]+9 Michigan lost to Michigan State 0-25 and to Illinois 0-7. Advantage [B]Michigan State[/B] +18 North Carolina lost to Tennessee 0-27 and to Maryland 7-14. Advantage [B]Tennessee[/B] +20 Ohio State lost to Michigan State 20-24 but tied Illinois 0-0. Advantage [B]Michigan State[/B] +4 Vanderbilt lost to Tennessee 27-35 and to Georgia Tech 7-8. Advantage [B]Tennessee[/B] +7 Washington & Lee lost to Tennessee 14-60 and to Maryland 14-54. Advantage [B]Tennessee [/B]+6 Princeton and San Francisco had no common opponents with the others. That’s 81 “advantage points” for Tennessee, 22 for Michigan State, 21 for Illinois, 12 for Georgia Tech and 9 for Maryland The only direct confrontation between the contenders was Maryland’s 28-13 triumph over Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl, so you could give [B]Maryland [/B]another 15 points for that. [I]Streaks:[/I] [B]Tennessee [/B]had won 20 games in a row when Maryland beat them in the Sugar Bowl [B]Michigan State[/B] won 28 games in a row from 1950-53. [B]Maryland [/B]won 19 games in a row and was undefeated for 22 straight games from 1950-52. [B]Georgia Tech[/B] had a 31 game undefeated string from 1950-53 with an 18 game winning streak embedded within it. [B]Illinois[/B] had an 11 game unbeaten streak from 1951-52. [B]Princeton [/B]had a 24 game winning streak from 1949-52. [B]San Francisco [/B]lost their last game in 1950 so they went into oblivion with a 9 game winning streak. [I]Stats[/I] [B]Tennessee[/B] was 6th in the country in rushing offense with 306.8 yards per game and 8th in rushing defense with 107.1 ypg. [B]Michigan State[/B] was 8th in total offense with 403.0 ypg and in rushing offense with 292.2 ypg. [B]Maryland[/B] was second in total offense with 423.3 ypg, 3rd in rushing with 322.94th in rushing defense with 75.6. They led the nation in scoring with 39.2, (regular season only). [B]Illinois[/B] was 10th in rushing defense with 113.3 ypg. [B]Georgia Tech[/B] was 3rd in total defense with 199.1 ypg and 7th in rushing defense with 105.8. [B]Princeton[/B] was 3rd in total offense with 417.0 ypg and 9th in rushing offense with 289.3. They were second in total defense with 176.9 and 3rd in rushing defense with 74.3. [B]San Francisco[/B] was 10th in rushing offense with 282.7 ypg and led the country in rushing defense with 51.6. They were 5th in total defense with 209.4. [B]Tennessee’s[/B] Hank Lauricella was 9th in the country in rushing with 881 yards in 111 carries (7.9) 88.1ypg. Bill Blackstock was 9th in punt return yardage with 311 but had the best average in the top ten (25.9). Harold Payne was tied for 6th in scoring with 14TDs for 84 yards. [B]Maryland[/B]’s Ed Modzelewski was 13th in the country in rushing with 834 yards in 113 carries (7.4). [B]Princeton[/B]’s Dick Kazmaier was 11th in the country in rushing with 861 yards in 149 carriers (5.8). Dick led the nation in total offense with 1,827 yards in 272 plays which produced 22 touchdowns. [B]San Francisco’s[/B] Ollie Matson led the country in rushing with 1,566 yards on 245 carries (6.4) 174.0 ypg. He also led in scoring with 21 touchdowns for 126 points. The yards put him in 8th place in total offense. Apparently he never throw nor caught a pass. [I]Heisman Voting[/I] [B]Princeton[/B]’s Dick Kazmaier won the 1951 Heisman Trophy with 1,777 votes, the largest margin ever. [B]Tennessee[/B]’s Hank Lauricella was a distant second with 424 votes. Both were single-wing tailbacks. [B]Johnny Karras[/B], Illinois halfback, called by Street & Smith’s their “greatest back since Red Grange”, finished 6th with 223 points. [B]Ollie Matson[/B], who arguably greater than any of them, was 9th with 95 points. [B]Don Coleman[/B], Michigan State’s 185 pound tackle, was 10th with 93 votes. [B]Maryland[/B]’s QB Jack Scarbath was second in the 1952 Heisman voting with367 points. Don McAuliffe, [B]Michigan State[/B] halfback, was 9th in the 1952 vote with 164 points. Bernie Faloney, Scarbath’s backup at [B]Maryland[/B], was 4th in the 1953 voting with 258 points. [B]Maryland[/B]’ Dick Modzelewski would win the 1952 Outland Trophy as a tackle. The highlights of Kazmaier’s [B]Princeton[/B] career: [MEDIA=youtube]mrVCykdemYM[/MEDIA] [I]Al-Americans[/I] [B]Tennessee[/B] had one- TB Hank Lauricella. Guard John Michels would be a 1952AA. [B]Michigan State[/B] had two- Tackle Don Coleman and end Bob Carey. End Don Dohoney would be a 1953 AA. [B]Maryland[/B] had one – Bob Ward, like Coleman a pint-sized linemen at 5-9 187. He played guard. QB Jack Scarbath and tackle Dick Modzelewski would be 1952 AA’s and the other tackle Stan Jones, would make it in 1953. [B]Illinois[/B] had one- Halfback Johnny Karras [B]Georgia Tech[/B] had none but tackle Hal Miller made it in 1952 and center/linebacker Larry Morris made it in 1953. [B]Princeton[/B] had one in TB Dick Kazmaier and had another in 1953 with end Frank McPhee. [B]San Francisco[/B] hand none, not even Ollie Matson. [I]College Hall of Famers[/I] [B]Tennessee [/B]had tackle Doug Atkins and guard John Michels. [B]Michigan State[/B] had tackle Don Coleman. [B]Maryland [/B]had QB Jack Scarbath and tackles Dick Modzelewski and Stan Jones. [B]Illinois [/B]had not Johnny Karras but rather safety Al Brosky. [B]Georgia Tech [/B]had centers George and Larry Morris, (apparently not related), and guard Ray Beck [B]Princeton[/B] had TB Dick Kazmaier. [B]San Francisco[/B] had HB Ollie Matson. [I]Pro Football Players[/I] [B]Tennessee[/B]: Doug Atkins played from 1953-69 (17 years) for the Browns, Bears and Saints as a defensive end Jack Stroud played from 1953-64 (12 years) as an offensive guard and tackle. Bert Rechichar played from 1952-61 (10 years) for the Browns, Colts, Steelers and AFL New York Titans. He was a DB, an LB, He, OE and kicked a 59 yard field goal that was the league record for 14 years. Gordon Polofsky played from 1952-54 (3 years) for the Cardinals as a guard-linebacker Ted Daffer played from 1954-55 (2 years) for the bears and the CFL Ottawa Roughriders. John Michels played for the 1953 Eagles and the 1957 Winnipeg Blue Bombers, (2 years) of the BFL as a guard. Hank Lauricella was a halfback for the 1952 Dallas Texans. Ed Sherrod was one OE/DE for the 1952 Giants. That’s 8 players who played a total of 48 years, an average of 6 years per player. Doug Atkins is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. [B]Michigan State:[/B] Paul Dekker played from 1953-62, (10 years), for the Redskins and the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-cats as a wide receiver. Al Dorow played from 1954-62, (9 years), for the Redskins, Eagles, CFL’s British Columbia Lions, Saskatchewan oughriders and Toronto Argonauts and then for the AFL’s New York Titans and Buffalo Bills. He was a quarterback. Bob Carey played from 1952-56 and 1958, (6 years), for the Rams and Bears. He was an end. Tom Yewcic played baseball until 1959 then was a QB for the Patriots 1961-66 (6 years) Billy Wells played in 1954, 1956-58 and 1960, (5 years), for the Redskins, Steelers, Eagles and Patriots as a halfback. Marv McFadden played 1953-56, (4 years), for the Steelers as a guard. Bill Horrell played for the 1952 Eagles as a guard. Willie Thrower played for the 1953 Bears. He was the first African-American NFL quarterback. He’d been third string at MSU behind Dorow and Yewcic. That’s 8 players who played a total of 36 years, an average of 4.5 years per player. [B]Maryland:[/B] Bernie Faloney, QB played from 1954-67, (14 years), in the CFL for the Edmonton Eskimos, Hamilton Tigercats, Montreal Alouettes and BC Lions. Dick Modzelewski played from 1953-66, (14 years), for the Redskins, Steelers, Giants and Browns as a DT. Stan Jones played from 1954-66, (13 years), for the Bears and Redskins at a OG, OT and DT. Dick Bielski played from 1955-63, (9 years), for the Eagles, Cowboys and Colts as a FB. Ralph Felton played from 1954-62, (9 years), for the Redskins and Bills as a FB-LB-DB. Dick Nolan played from 1954-62, (9 years), for the Giants, Cardinals and Cowboys as a DB. Ed Modzelewski played in 1952 and 1955-59 (6 years) for the Steelers and Browns as a FB. Chet Hanulak played from 1954-57 (4 years), for the Browns as a HB. Pete Ladygo played from 1952-55, (4 years), for the Steelers and the CFL Ottawa Rough Riders Jack Scarbath played QB from 1953-56 (4 years), for the Redskins, CFL Ottawa Rough Riders and Steelers. Lloyd Colteryahn played end from 1954-56 (3 years), for the Colts. John Alderton played DE for the 1953 Steelers and 1956 CFL Calgary Stampeders, (2 years). Ed Fullerton played DB for the 1953 Steelers. Joe Moss played tackle for the 1952 Redskins. That’s 15 players who played a total of 93 years, an average of 6.2 years per player. I was astonished to find that Dick Modzelewski is not in the Pro Football HOF. But Bernie Faloney is in the CFL HOF. [B]Illinois:[/B] Stan Wallace was a DB/HB for the Bears and Toronto Argonauts 1954-61, (8 years). Tommy O’Connell played QB for the Bears, Browns and Bill in 1953, 56-57 and 60-61, (5 years). Chuck Ulrich played DT for the Cardinals from 1954-58, (5 years). Marv Berschet was a G/DE for the Redskins from 1954-55, (2 years). Don Stevens played halfback for the 1952 and 1954 Eagles (2 years). Chuck Boerio played LB for the 1952 Packers. Al Brosky played DB for the 1954 Cardinals. John Karras played HB for the 1952 Cardinals. Lou Levanti played C/LB for the 1952 Steelers. Eli Popa played LB for the 1952 Cardinals. That’s 10 players who played a total of 27 years, 2.7 yards per player. [B]Georgia Tech:[/B] Larry Morris played LB/FB/HB for the Rams, Bears and Falcons from 1955-66, (12 years). Lum Snyder played tackle for the Eagles 1952-58 (7 years). Ray Beck played guard for the 1952 and 1955-57 Giants (4 years). Pete Brown clayed C/LB for the 1953-54 49ers, (2 years). Hal Miller played tackle for the 1953 49ers. George Morris played C/LB for the 1956 49ers. That’s 6 players who played a total of 27 years, an average of 4.5 years per player. [B]Princeton:[/B] Frank McPhee played OE/DE for the 1955 Cardinals That’s one player who played for 1 year. [B]San Francisco:[/B] Ollie Matson played RB/FL for the Cardinals, Rams, Lions and eagles from 1952-66, (15 years). Gino Marchetti played DE/DT/OT Dallas Texans and Baltimore Colts from 1952-64 and 1966 (14 years). Ed Brown played QB for the bears, Steelers and Colts from 1954-65 (12 years). Bob St. Clair played OT for the 49ers from 1953-63 (11 years). Joe Scudero played DB/HB for the CFL Toronto Argonauts and Redskins from 1953-60 (8 years). Dick Stanfel played guard for the Lions and Redskins from 1952-58 (7 years). Red Stephens played guard for the Redskins from 1955-60 (6 years). Roy Barni played DB for the Cardinals, Eagles and Redskins from 1952-56 (5 years) Ralph Thomas played OE/DE for the Cardinals and Redskins in 1952 and 1955-56, (3 years). Mike Mergen played OT/DT for the Cardinals in 1952. That’s 10 players who played a total of 82 years, an average of 8.2 years per player. Incredibly, four of these players are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Matson, Marchetti, St. Clair and Stanfel. (Burl Toler might have been a fifth one but injured his knee in the College All-Star game, ending his playing career. Instead he became the first African American official in the NFL and had a long career in that capacity. The Don’s coach was future NFL, (Cardinals, Redskins and Eagles) and Notre Dame head coach Joe Kuharich. Their broadcaster, Bob Fouts, fathered a son named Dan. And their SID was a young man named Pete Rozelle.) So you have Tennessee, who was recognized as national champion by both polls and will be listed as champion for 1951 in any record book but who are the only one of these teams who wound up with a loss. Then you have Michigan State who was voted #1 in three different weeks, never lost and wound up #2. They did tend to play down to the level of their opposition. They couldn’t play in a bowl game through no fault of their own. What if they had gone to the Rose Bowl and blown out Stanford, as Illinois did? Shouldn’t the #2 team become #1 if #1 loses? Then there was Maryland, the most statistically dominant team and the one with the most future pros, who rose to #3/#4 in the polls and dominated the team that had been #1. But they played in a weaker conference, (the Southern, not the ACC). Should they jump the Spartans into 1st place? You have Illinois and Georgia Tech, both from strong conference, undefeated and major bowl game winners. But both have their records marred by ties to teams that didn’t make the final rankings. Then you have Princeton with the Heisman Trophy winner and the best team in the East. The Ivys hadn’t de-emphasized yet but they weren’t regarded as highly as they once were. They had only one pro player but Princeton graduates in that era had better things to do than to play pro football. And there’s San Francisco, a team whose ranking seems way too low and who had the most impressive roster of any of them. But you’d think with all those future Pro Hall of Famers they would have beaten the teams on their schedule by 50+ points. Instead their dominance over their opposition doesn’t seem any greater than teams that played better schedules. (One other factor that would become increasingly prominent in the coming years: The northern teams were starting to use black players but the southern teams refused to do so or play teams that did. That should impact any assessment of the team’s strength and their achievements.) So who was #1 for 1951? (I can only post four possible answers so I’ll combined Illinois, Georgia Tech, Princeton and San Francisco on the bottom line and if you chose one of those schools, please put in a “reply” post designating which of those teams you actually selected. Also, if you “like” this post, please vote. I’d like to get you view of what it takes to be a national champion. ) [/QUOTE]

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