SWC75
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1943
This is the first of three years in a row featuring absolutely dominant teams. Notre Dame was a unanimous National Champion according to the 13 national championship selectors recognized by the NCAA, the first such year since 1917, (Georgia Tech, the year the Yellow Jackets stung Cumberland 222-0). The Irish played the toughest schedule in the country and ripped through it, outscoring their opponents by an average score of 34-7. They were the nation’s top scoring and ground gaining, (418 yards per game) team. They beat the #2 ranked team, Iowa Pre-Flight, 14-13. They beat the #3 ranked team, Michigan 35-12. They beat the #4 ranked team, Navy 33-6. They beat the #9 team, Northwestern, 25-6. They beat #11 team Army 26-0. They beat the #13 team Georgia Tech 55-13. But they did lose a game to Great Lakes Naval Training Station 14-19 on a 46 yard pass play with a minute left in the final game of the season. The writers still voted them #1, the only team in history to lose their last game but still be voted #1 in a poll conducted after that.
Their first eight games were against major college teams and ND outscored them 312-37 (39-5). Their PDR was a perfect 1.00. (Both they and Northwestern beat Illinois by 47 points.) They beat the other 7 college teams by more than anyone else did. That’s the lowest, (best) score we’ve had so far. They were also the only team to beat Iowa Pre-Flight. However three teams did better than they did vs. Great Lakes, including the one school that produced any sort of controversy here: Purdue, the only school with a perfect record: 9-0-0, including a 23-13 win over Great Lakes. Against the 7 majors colleges the Boilermakers played, they were 7-0, (172-42: 25-6) with a PDF of 3.29. They weren’t the best team any of those college opponents played. They had three common opponents with Notre Dame and were 3-0 against them while the Irish were only 2-1 but they outscored those opponents by only 95-34 while ND outscored them 113-19. Notre Dame’s opposition was a combined 66-33-1, (.656), 44-30-1 for the college teams (.595). Purdue’s opposition was 30-48-6 (.385), 20-60-4 among the college teams (.333)
The war screwed up college football, (and everything else). And football screwed up the war a bit, too. It’s strange that so many good football players were assigned to certain military bases. Iowa Pre-flight and Great lakes Naval training station had both former college and pro stars on their teams. (Yet, ridiculously they appeared in the AP Poll and other rankings as “college” teams even though they weren’t colleges). In addition, certain schools had V-12 Naval Training Programs on their campus. These programs also seem to have attracted a lot of star football players, who were allowed to play for the football team fielded by the host school. Thus most of the top college teams of the wartime era were also dipping into the suddenly enriched military talent base. Notre Dame had a V-12 program, which helped them improve from a 7-2-2 team in 1942 that outscored their opponents by an average of 17-9. Iowa Pre-Flight was #2. Michigan, ranked #3 had a V-12 program. Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch, star of Wisconsin’s 1942 NC contenders, had been drafted and assigned to the Michigan V-12 program and was a Wolverine instead of a Badger in 1943. Michigan’s other star, Bill Daley, had been similarly drafted from Minnesota. Purdue also had a V-12 program which allowed them to grow from 1-8 in 1942 to 9-0 in 1943. Another impact of the marriage between the military and college football was that teams would gain and lose players in mid-season, based upon their military commitments. Both Notre Dame and Purdue lost several players, including ND’s Heisman Trophy winner, Angelo Bertelli, November 1st because of military call-ups, (Bertelli was replaced by Johnny Lujack who would become a Heisman winner himself in 1947). Great Lakes star Steve Lach, who threw that 46 yard TD vs Notre Dame, joined their team the week after the Purdue loss from Duke, so the team that beat Notre Dame wasn’t quite the same team Purdue had beaten.
Richard Vautravers has an excellent article on Notre Dame and Purdue and the conditions of this season:
1943 College Football National Championship
It also talks about why Notre Dame wasn’t part of the Big Ten and why they have played Michigan so infrequently until recent years.
Among the non-NCAA selectors I linked in my last post in this series, (Who’s #1: 1942), there some idiosyncratic selections that may illustrate why they are non-NCAA selectors. Time Travel and Waits have Purdue #1. Sorenson and Wilson choose the military team representing March Field, which went 8-1 and was ranked #10 by the writers. Both ranked Southern California, who did not play Notre Dame and whose two losses were to military teams, ahead of Notre Dame. In fact Wilson has Notre Dame 6th behind USC, Purdue and three military teams. The AP writers didn’t rank USC at all. Vautravers has them 10th:
Fixing the 1943 AP Poll
Dolphin, Howell, Square Gear and Taylor all have Notre Dame #1 and I think it’s pretty obvious that that is the correct choice. Thus I’m not listing 1943 as a controversial year.
1944-1945
One of the military teams of the period was Sampson Naval Training Station on Seneca Lake. In 1944 they played a series of exhibitions games against NFL teams. They lost to the Boston Yanks 0-14, the Cleveland Rams 12-26, the Green Bay Packers 14-25 and the New York Giants 0-13. The only thing I’ve been able to find out about these games is that they took place in September at the training base. They were probably in the nature of pre-season scrimmages or fund raising exhibition games. Sampson Navy also played a limited collegiate schedule that year. One of their opponents was Villanova, who beat the sailors 7-6. On November 4th of that year, Villanova played Army and lost 0-83.
The 1944 Army team is the highest scoring major college team of all time (56.0) and they won their games by the largest average margin (52.4) of all time. They beat #4 Navy 23-7 and #11 Duke 27-7. But the game that brought them into the conversation about the greatest teams ever was their game against Notre Dame, who wound up, even after this , as the #9 ranked team but were ranked #5 at the time of the game. Army won this game, 59-0. Army hadn’t beaten the Irish in 13 years. Frank Leahy was in the Navy, listening to the game, along with many of his best players on the radio. Still, Notre Dame had won its first five games by a combined 189-20 before Navy beat them 13-32. After the Army disaster, they would go on to win their last three games, including a 28-7 revenge match over Great Lakes. But they were no match for the Cadets. It was 33-0 at half time thanks to three scores set up by interceptions by Kenna, Blanchard and Davis. In the second half, the Cadets in the stands started chanting “More Yet”. They got what they wanted. A punt return for a score by Max Minor, a fumble that led to another score and a 64 yard run by Davis and a pick 6 on a screen pass push the final to 59-0, the worst defeat Notre Dame ever suffered.
Army wound up 9-0-0 against a schedule that was all major college teams with a combined winning percentage of 43-35-2 (.551). They out-scored those teams 504-35, (56-4). Navy and Duke were the only teams that lost by ‘normal’ scores. The other seven games averaged 65-3. Their PDR was 1.00. They were the best team each of their opponents faced. Not only that, the Cadets were an average of 29 points better than the next best team each of their opponents faced. They led the country in rushing yards, (299 per game) and were second to Tulsa, the passing champion, in total offense with 431ypg. They were fourth in rushing defense with 58ypg and in total defense (129). They, of course, led in scoring and scoring defense.
The next year Army was just as powerful, perhaps moreso, Coach Red Blaik said that the 1944 team “was the greater squad” but that the 1945 team “was the greater team”. Blanchard said “In ’44, we had two teams that played alternating quarters. In ’45 we had a conglomerate of what was left of those two teams.” The “conglomerate” played perhaps the hardest schedule ever and could not quite match the statistical dominancy of the previous year’s team but they came close. This team actually rushed for more yards: 360 a game, best in the country by 60 yards. They also led in total offense with 463, (a 41 yard edge on the #2 team. They were 7th in rushing defense (81) and 10th in total defense (170). They again led the country in scoring (47ppg) but got nipped by St. Mary’s in scoring defense. 4.0 to 5.1 Overall, they were 9-0-0 again against two military teams, (Louisville AFB and Melville PT Boats) and 7 major college teams that had a combined record of 42-17-3 (.712!). Their PDR was again 1.00. They out-performed the #2 teams by an average of 23 points. What makes this team special is their tour of the rankings: They beat 2nd ranked Navy 32-13, 6th ranked Michigan 28-7, 8th ranked Pennsylvania 61-0, 9th ranked Notre Dame 48-0, (their second worst defeat), 13th ranked Duke 48-13 and 19th ranked Wake Forest 54-0.
Per “Football’s Unforgettable Games” by Harold Claassen, Blaik had “a wealth of material” including ”elusive 175 speedster Glenn Davis…Felix “Doc” Blanchard, a remarkable 205 pound...fullback….The Cadet starting line was not huge by modern standards, though it was superior in it’s coordination …because of the wealth of material, Blaik made his own refinement on Knute Rockne’s Shock troops at Notre Dame…The Cadets had a probing unit headed by quarterback Doug Kenna…Dale Hall, later to be Cadet head coach, along with Max Minor and Bobby Dobbs filled out the quartet. When the enemy had been softened, Captain Tommy Lombardo trotted on the field with his electrifying brethren- Davis, Blanchard and Bob Chabot.“ The problem is how they acquired all of that talent.
Doc Blanchard had originally tried to join the Navy but failed his physical because of a problem with an eye, which had been injured as a child, and his weight. (It was said that the doctor who conducted that exam spent the war somewhere in Alaska). He enrolled at the University of North Carolina. Some sources say, as Wikipedia does, that “Blanchard decided to enlist in the United States Army in 1943. He was stationed in New Mexico with a chemical-warfare unit until enrolling at West Point in July 1944 in an appointment his father secured”. But other sources say that he was drafted off the UNC campus and assigned to be a cadet at West Point:
I have seen a quote, (it used to be on Wikipedia) where Davis admitted he went to Army, rather than Southern California, which had been his favorite team, because he figured the war would be over by the time he graduated. “Wake Up the Echoes” by Ken Rappoport retorts that Notre Dame fans, when Army took the field, jeered “You draft-dodging sons of….”
Some other sources:
“Who’s No. 1?” By Christopher Walsh: “meanwhile, essentially able to recruit players away from other colleges, Army and Navy became football powerhouses. “
“Champions of College Football” by Bill Libby: “By 1944 few could compete with the Army team. The West Point program was packed with outstanding athletes, many of them transfers from other colleges. The Naval Academy enjoyed equal benefits but it’s teams were not as successful.”
“College Football’s Greatest Teams” – the Sporting News, (article about Army by Ernie Palladino). “Opportunism? Army used that, too, without modesty. Because of World War II, Colonel Earl (Red) Blaik was able to recruit active servicemen with prior collegiate experience and offer three more years of eligibility. In exchange, athletes receiving appointments to the US Military Academy were required to compete a four-year education in three years to satisfy the country’s demand for officers…..While other colleges struggled to field competitive squads, Blaik stockpiled the country’s best football talent and constructed a power at West Point that would have dominated any year. “
“Navy Football” by Jack Clary: “With World War II raging, most college athletes, like others in their age group, had two choices: Be drafted or join the various officer training programs as civilian schools all over the country. In the latter, they would play football until their officer’s training was ended- usually one season or at least part of one season. Then they went on active duty. Annapolis and West Point offered a third route: an appointment where the student-athletes could spend their years in the accelerated curriculum then in effect for all midshipmen and cadets, plus an opportunity to play football for the entire time. Then they were commissioned as officers and went on active duty. This helped Navy attract some of the greatest players in its history and, for three seasons, beginning in 1943, contend for the national championship.” They still couldn’t beat Army, who was doing the same thing.
“College Football” by John Sayle Watterson: “The scramble for gate receipts and glory also embraced the most prestigious and powerful football school of the World War II era- the United States Military Academy at West Point, which had so aggressively pursued football talent during the war….During the war the US Military Academy had engaged in a recruiting racket that enabled its students who signed a contract with the military to become exempt from the draft. If a player went to West point, he could play for four years and, if he attended classes, he could graduate with a commission. By the time he graduated the war might well have ended and he could serve out his time as a commissioned officer” (in peacetime).
Both Davis and Blanchard requested furloughs when they graduated to pursue a career in pro football. Both had their requests denied. Both later did see war service in the Korea, (Davis) and Vietnam (Blanchard). Davis played for the LA Rams when he got out of the service and was, for a time, engaged to Elizabeth Taylor. Blanchard elected to stay in the service and was commended for bravery when he landed a burning plane in England in 1959 rather than ejecting over a village. During Vietnam, he flew 113 missions from Thailand and retired as an Air Force colonel.
Red Blaik continued to have enormous success even after he lost his wartime advantages. Army was undefeated in 1948 and 1949 and also in 1950 until upset by Navy in the last game of the season. Then came the “cribbing” scandal of 1951 in which 37 members of the football team, (among a total of 90 cadets), were dismissed from the academy for “cribbing” – receiving the answers to tests in advance from tutors assigned to help them meet academic standards. Blaik offered to resign but General MacArthur advised him not to because he shouldn’t do so while under fire. Blaik himself was not implicated, although his son Bob was. Blaik stayed on, rebuilding the football program until they again went undefeated, except for a tie with Pittsburgh, and were ranked #2 in 1958 behind LSU. At that point, he retired.
Each of these years there was a major college team from a perennial national power that won all its games and might have won the national title – except for Army
In 1944, it was Ohio State. Paul Brown, like Frank Leahy, was in the Navy, (in fact he was coaching Great lakes NTS) but some of the players from the 1942 national champions were still around, including Les Horvath, who won the Heisman Trophy over both Davis and Blanchard. Les was second in the nation in rushing with 924 yards, (Davis and Blanchard, who played only parts of games totaled only 1053 between them). The Buckeyes used both the T and the single wing and Les switched between quarterback and tailback and passed for another 344 yards. He scored 12 times and passed for 6 more. But his big calling card was that he was a 60 minute man – literally. He was on the field for 402 of the 540 minutes (74%), of Ohio State’s season, including all 60 of their season ending 18-14 win over Michigan, despite a leg injury that had had him limping all week. He played pro ball for a couple of years in the post war period for the Rams and the Browns. He studied dentistry and wound up being the LA Ram’s team dentist, (he probably worked on Glenn Davis’ teeth).
Carroll Widdoes, Brown’s long- time assistant, took over the team. Besides Horvath, he had all-time great tackle Bill Willis along with the other tackle Russ Thomas, end Jack Dugger and guards Bill Hackett and Warren Amling. Widdoes mixed in a bunch of 18 year old freshmen, including future NFLs Ollie Cline and Dick Flanaghan. Ohio State had no military training program on campus and laid claim to the tile of “national civilian champs”
They also went 9-0-0, out-scoring their opponents by a more modest but still impressive 287-79 (32-9). They played one service team: Paul Brown’s Great Lakes team, whom they beat 26-6. Great Lakes wound up #17. They also beat #15 Illinois 26-12 and #8 Michigan 18-14. Ohio State’s eight major college opponents had a combined record of 36-35-4, (.507). Their PDR was 1.75. The Michigan game was the only one they didn’t win by at least 2 touchdowns. In a normal year they would have been a very respectable national champion.
But this was not a normal year. The National Championship Foundation was the only NCAA selector that recognized Ohio State as national champion. They also recognized Army as “co-national champion”. The 11 other selectors all chose Army. Among the non-NCAA selectors, Time Travel, Dolphin, Howell and Taylor all chose Army. Sorenson chose Ohio State and had Randolph Field (third ranked by AP and 10-0-0, the best pure service team) ahead of Army. Ray Waits has Norman Naval Air Station, also undefeated but ranked #14 by AP, first, then Randolph Field, then Ohio State, Oklahoma State and Army. Square Gear also chose Norman but had Army #2. Robert Leckie, author of “The Story of Football”, has Army as the national champion, as does Bill Libby, who wrote “Champions of College Football”. Richard Vautravers respects Ohio State but chooses Army:
1944 College Football National Championship
In 1945 Alabama was the ‘civilian’ champion. Statistically, it was one of their greatest teams. They out-scored ten opponents 430-80. Two of them were military teams. They outscored the eight collegiate teams 354-74 (44-9). They beat #14 Tennessee 25-7, (the Vols only defeat), #15 LSU 26-7 and #19 Georgia 28-14. Then, for their 10th game, they traveled to the west coast to take on #11 Southern California in the Rose Bowl. This was an historical confrontation. The Tide had been to the Rose Bowl five times previously, winning 3, losing one and tying one, easily the best record for any visiting school. The three winners all claimed the national championship, (for the years 1925, 1930 and 1934), and were ranked with the best teams ever. The Trojans had been to the Rose Bowl 8 previous times and won all 8, including the last two over Washington and Tennessee by shut-outs, 29-0 and 25-0. But they had never played the Crimson Tide who swamped them, 34-14 outgaining them by an astonishing 351-41. The Trojans had a net loss of 24 yards in the first half, when they fell behind 0-27.
Bama’s star was Harry Gilmer, who ran for 116 yards and a score and passed for 59 more and another score in the Rose Bowl. Harry that year completed an astonishing 65% of his passes and led the nation with 13 TD passes. He also ran for 9 scores. The Tide was the third leading rushing team in the country with 298 yards and second to Army in yards gained with 421 per game. They led the nation in rushing defense with 34 yards per game and in total defense with 110 ypg. Their PDR against the 8 major college teams they played was 1.63. Those eight teams had a combined record of 44-30-3, (.595). They were in every respect a splendid candidate for a national championship in a normal year.
1946 Rose Bowl USC vs Alabama
And like Ohio State the year before, they had not been aided by the military. “The Crimson Tide: The Story of Alabama Football” by Clyde Bolton: “Collegiate football practically went out of business in 1943. Only those schools with Army and Navy programs maintained a schedule. Alabama’s team closed up shop that season.“ That is, like Syracuse and many other schools, Alabama did not field a team in 1943, cancelling all their games. They decided to make a comeback in 1944. “The squad that reported to (Coach Frank) Thomas was mostly frosh and 4-’s” One of the frosh was Gilmer, who didn’t even want to go to college. “I want to get a job and get married” he told Thomas, who convinced him to give college football a try anyway. Somehow the team was able to finish 5-2-1 and then was invited to the Sugar Bowl, where they lost a wild game to Duke,26-29. The freshman grew up a lot as they became sophomores and the result was a powerhouse team- a team of nothing but college students who had never played college football anywhere else.
But this was the era of Army and all the NCAA selectors except the indecisive National Championship Foundation chose Army as their national champion again. In fact the AP poll had Alabama #3 behind Navy, who had tied Notre Dame and lost to Army. The NCF again split the title, this time between Army and Alabama. The non-NCAA selectors mostly agreed: Time Travel, Dolphin, Howell, Sorenson, Square Gear, Taylor and Wilson all had Army #1. Ray Waits, ever the contrarian, chose Oklahoma A&M (State). The authors Leckie and Libby both chose Army. Vautravers thinks it’s much closer than in 1944 but still picks Army:
1945 College Football National Championship
He also discusses the other collegiate team with a perfect record, Oklahoma A&M(State), and concludes that they were more of a mid-major at the time, (they were in the Missouri Valley Conference), and not a real national title contender. Still a four team playoff between these three and Big Ten Champion Indiana, (yes, Indiana) who went 9-0-1, might have bene interesting.
Ordinarily, I would dismiss 1944 and 1945 as seasons that really didn’t produce a controversy. But I’m interested in this designation of “Civilian National Champion” that Ohio State claimed for the 1944 season. Army, unlike Randolph Field, Iowa Pre-Flight or Great Lakes Naval Training Center was an actual four year school, (even if they were rushing their cadets through in three years to try to get them into the war). But their means of acquiring players for their football team seems more comparable to the military camps than to normal four year colleges. I realize that, at times, schools like Ohio State’s and Alabama’s means of acquiring talent has also been questionable. But this seems an entirely different situation: West Point and Ananapolis had the federal government behind them. And ‘poor’ Ohio State and Alabama didn’t even have an on campus training program to get them other school’s All-Americans.
Both Richard Vautravers and I exclude “military” teams” from consideration because they are not four year schools. Should Army also be excluded because they were behaving more like a military camp whose CO wanted a good football team? Should we declare Ohio State and Alabama to be the “civilian” national champions for those years?
So…who’s #1 for 1944 and 1945?
This is the first of three years in a row featuring absolutely dominant teams. Notre Dame was a unanimous National Champion according to the 13 national championship selectors recognized by the NCAA, the first such year since 1917, (Georgia Tech, the year the Yellow Jackets stung Cumberland 222-0). The Irish played the toughest schedule in the country and ripped through it, outscoring their opponents by an average score of 34-7. They were the nation’s top scoring and ground gaining, (418 yards per game) team. They beat the #2 ranked team, Iowa Pre-Flight, 14-13. They beat the #3 ranked team, Michigan 35-12. They beat the #4 ranked team, Navy 33-6. They beat the #9 team, Northwestern, 25-6. They beat #11 team Army 26-0. They beat the #13 team Georgia Tech 55-13. But they did lose a game to Great Lakes Naval Training Station 14-19 on a 46 yard pass play with a minute left in the final game of the season. The writers still voted them #1, the only team in history to lose their last game but still be voted #1 in a poll conducted after that.
Their first eight games were against major college teams and ND outscored them 312-37 (39-5). Their PDR was a perfect 1.00. (Both they and Northwestern beat Illinois by 47 points.) They beat the other 7 college teams by more than anyone else did. That’s the lowest, (best) score we’ve had so far. They were also the only team to beat Iowa Pre-Flight. However three teams did better than they did vs. Great Lakes, including the one school that produced any sort of controversy here: Purdue, the only school with a perfect record: 9-0-0, including a 23-13 win over Great Lakes. Against the 7 majors colleges the Boilermakers played, they were 7-0, (172-42: 25-6) with a PDF of 3.29. They weren’t the best team any of those college opponents played. They had three common opponents with Notre Dame and were 3-0 against them while the Irish were only 2-1 but they outscored those opponents by only 95-34 while ND outscored them 113-19. Notre Dame’s opposition was a combined 66-33-1, (.656), 44-30-1 for the college teams (.595). Purdue’s opposition was 30-48-6 (.385), 20-60-4 among the college teams (.333)
The war screwed up college football, (and everything else). And football screwed up the war a bit, too. It’s strange that so many good football players were assigned to certain military bases. Iowa Pre-flight and Great lakes Naval training station had both former college and pro stars on their teams. (Yet, ridiculously they appeared in the AP Poll and other rankings as “college” teams even though they weren’t colleges). In addition, certain schools had V-12 Naval Training Programs on their campus. These programs also seem to have attracted a lot of star football players, who were allowed to play for the football team fielded by the host school. Thus most of the top college teams of the wartime era were also dipping into the suddenly enriched military talent base. Notre Dame had a V-12 program, which helped them improve from a 7-2-2 team in 1942 that outscored their opponents by an average of 17-9. Iowa Pre-Flight was #2. Michigan, ranked #3 had a V-12 program. Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch, star of Wisconsin’s 1942 NC contenders, had been drafted and assigned to the Michigan V-12 program and was a Wolverine instead of a Badger in 1943. Michigan’s other star, Bill Daley, had been similarly drafted from Minnesota. Purdue also had a V-12 program which allowed them to grow from 1-8 in 1942 to 9-0 in 1943. Another impact of the marriage between the military and college football was that teams would gain and lose players in mid-season, based upon their military commitments. Both Notre Dame and Purdue lost several players, including ND’s Heisman Trophy winner, Angelo Bertelli, November 1st because of military call-ups, (Bertelli was replaced by Johnny Lujack who would become a Heisman winner himself in 1947). Great Lakes star Steve Lach, who threw that 46 yard TD vs Notre Dame, joined their team the week after the Purdue loss from Duke, so the team that beat Notre Dame wasn’t quite the same team Purdue had beaten.
Richard Vautravers has an excellent article on Notre Dame and Purdue and the conditions of this season:
1943 College Football National Championship
It also talks about why Notre Dame wasn’t part of the Big Ten and why they have played Michigan so infrequently until recent years.
Among the non-NCAA selectors I linked in my last post in this series, (Who’s #1: 1942), there some idiosyncratic selections that may illustrate why they are non-NCAA selectors. Time Travel and Waits have Purdue #1. Sorenson and Wilson choose the military team representing March Field, which went 8-1 and was ranked #10 by the writers. Both ranked Southern California, who did not play Notre Dame and whose two losses were to military teams, ahead of Notre Dame. In fact Wilson has Notre Dame 6th behind USC, Purdue and three military teams. The AP writers didn’t rank USC at all. Vautravers has them 10th:
Fixing the 1943 AP Poll
Dolphin, Howell, Square Gear and Taylor all have Notre Dame #1 and I think it’s pretty obvious that that is the correct choice. Thus I’m not listing 1943 as a controversial year.
1944-1945
One of the military teams of the period was Sampson Naval Training Station on Seneca Lake. In 1944 they played a series of exhibitions games against NFL teams. They lost to the Boston Yanks 0-14, the Cleveland Rams 12-26, the Green Bay Packers 14-25 and the New York Giants 0-13. The only thing I’ve been able to find out about these games is that they took place in September at the training base. They were probably in the nature of pre-season scrimmages or fund raising exhibition games. Sampson Navy also played a limited collegiate schedule that year. One of their opponents was Villanova, who beat the sailors 7-6. On November 4th of that year, Villanova played Army and lost 0-83.
The 1944 Army team is the highest scoring major college team of all time (56.0) and they won their games by the largest average margin (52.4) of all time. They beat #4 Navy 23-7 and #11 Duke 27-7. But the game that brought them into the conversation about the greatest teams ever was their game against Notre Dame, who wound up, even after this , as the #9 ranked team but were ranked #5 at the time of the game. Army won this game, 59-0. Army hadn’t beaten the Irish in 13 years. Frank Leahy was in the Navy, listening to the game, along with many of his best players on the radio. Still, Notre Dame had won its first five games by a combined 189-20 before Navy beat them 13-32. After the Army disaster, they would go on to win their last three games, including a 28-7 revenge match over Great Lakes. But they were no match for the Cadets. It was 33-0 at half time thanks to three scores set up by interceptions by Kenna, Blanchard and Davis. In the second half, the Cadets in the stands started chanting “More Yet”. They got what they wanted. A punt return for a score by Max Minor, a fumble that led to another score and a 64 yard run by Davis and a pick 6 on a screen pass push the final to 59-0, the worst defeat Notre Dame ever suffered.
Army wound up 9-0-0 against a schedule that was all major college teams with a combined winning percentage of 43-35-2 (.551). They out-scored those teams 504-35, (56-4). Navy and Duke were the only teams that lost by ‘normal’ scores. The other seven games averaged 65-3. Their PDR was 1.00. They were the best team each of their opponents faced. Not only that, the Cadets were an average of 29 points better than the next best team each of their opponents faced. They led the country in rushing yards, (299 per game) and were second to Tulsa, the passing champion, in total offense with 431ypg. They were fourth in rushing defense with 58ypg and in total defense (129). They, of course, led in scoring and scoring defense.
The next year Army was just as powerful, perhaps moreso, Coach Red Blaik said that the 1944 team “was the greater squad” but that the 1945 team “was the greater team”. Blanchard said “In ’44, we had two teams that played alternating quarters. In ’45 we had a conglomerate of what was left of those two teams.” The “conglomerate” played perhaps the hardest schedule ever and could not quite match the statistical dominancy of the previous year’s team but they came close. This team actually rushed for more yards: 360 a game, best in the country by 60 yards. They also led in total offense with 463, (a 41 yard edge on the #2 team. They were 7th in rushing defense (81) and 10th in total defense (170). They again led the country in scoring (47ppg) but got nipped by St. Mary’s in scoring defense. 4.0 to 5.1 Overall, they were 9-0-0 again against two military teams, (Louisville AFB and Melville PT Boats) and 7 major college teams that had a combined record of 42-17-3 (.712!). Their PDR was again 1.00. They out-performed the #2 teams by an average of 23 points. What makes this team special is their tour of the rankings: They beat 2nd ranked Navy 32-13, 6th ranked Michigan 28-7, 8th ranked Pennsylvania 61-0, 9th ranked Notre Dame 48-0, (their second worst defeat), 13th ranked Duke 48-13 and 19th ranked Wake Forest 54-0.
Per “Football’s Unforgettable Games” by Harold Claassen, Blaik had “a wealth of material” including ”elusive 175 speedster Glenn Davis…Felix “Doc” Blanchard, a remarkable 205 pound...fullback….The Cadet starting line was not huge by modern standards, though it was superior in it’s coordination …because of the wealth of material, Blaik made his own refinement on Knute Rockne’s Shock troops at Notre Dame…The Cadets had a probing unit headed by quarterback Doug Kenna…Dale Hall, later to be Cadet head coach, along with Max Minor and Bobby Dobbs filled out the quartet. When the enemy had been softened, Captain Tommy Lombardo trotted on the field with his electrifying brethren- Davis, Blanchard and Bob Chabot.“ The problem is how they acquired all of that talent.
Doc Blanchard had originally tried to join the Navy but failed his physical because of a problem with an eye, which had been injured as a child, and his weight. (It was said that the doctor who conducted that exam spent the war somewhere in Alaska). He enrolled at the University of North Carolina. Some sources say, as Wikipedia does, that “Blanchard decided to enlist in the United States Army in 1943. He was stationed in New Mexico with a chemical-warfare unit until enrolling at West Point in July 1944 in an appointment his father secured”. But other sources say that he was drafted off the UNC campus and assigned to be a cadet at West Point:
I have seen a quote, (it used to be on Wikipedia) where Davis admitted he went to Army, rather than Southern California, which had been his favorite team, because he figured the war would be over by the time he graduated. “Wake Up the Echoes” by Ken Rappoport retorts that Notre Dame fans, when Army took the field, jeered “You draft-dodging sons of….”
Some other sources:
“Who’s No. 1?” By Christopher Walsh: “meanwhile, essentially able to recruit players away from other colleges, Army and Navy became football powerhouses. “
“Champions of College Football” by Bill Libby: “By 1944 few could compete with the Army team. The West Point program was packed with outstanding athletes, many of them transfers from other colleges. The Naval Academy enjoyed equal benefits but it’s teams were not as successful.”
“College Football’s Greatest Teams” – the Sporting News, (article about Army by Ernie Palladino). “Opportunism? Army used that, too, without modesty. Because of World War II, Colonel Earl (Red) Blaik was able to recruit active servicemen with prior collegiate experience and offer three more years of eligibility. In exchange, athletes receiving appointments to the US Military Academy were required to compete a four-year education in three years to satisfy the country’s demand for officers…..While other colleges struggled to field competitive squads, Blaik stockpiled the country’s best football talent and constructed a power at West Point that would have dominated any year. “
“Navy Football” by Jack Clary: “With World War II raging, most college athletes, like others in their age group, had two choices: Be drafted or join the various officer training programs as civilian schools all over the country. In the latter, they would play football until their officer’s training was ended- usually one season or at least part of one season. Then they went on active duty. Annapolis and West Point offered a third route: an appointment where the student-athletes could spend their years in the accelerated curriculum then in effect for all midshipmen and cadets, plus an opportunity to play football for the entire time. Then they were commissioned as officers and went on active duty. This helped Navy attract some of the greatest players in its history and, for three seasons, beginning in 1943, contend for the national championship.” They still couldn’t beat Army, who was doing the same thing.
“College Football” by John Sayle Watterson: “The scramble for gate receipts and glory also embraced the most prestigious and powerful football school of the World War II era- the United States Military Academy at West Point, which had so aggressively pursued football talent during the war….During the war the US Military Academy had engaged in a recruiting racket that enabled its students who signed a contract with the military to become exempt from the draft. If a player went to West point, he could play for four years and, if he attended classes, he could graduate with a commission. By the time he graduated the war might well have ended and he could serve out his time as a commissioned officer” (in peacetime).
Both Davis and Blanchard requested furloughs when they graduated to pursue a career in pro football. Both had their requests denied. Both later did see war service in the Korea, (Davis) and Vietnam (Blanchard). Davis played for the LA Rams when he got out of the service and was, for a time, engaged to Elizabeth Taylor. Blanchard elected to stay in the service and was commended for bravery when he landed a burning plane in England in 1959 rather than ejecting over a village. During Vietnam, he flew 113 missions from Thailand and retired as an Air Force colonel.
Red Blaik continued to have enormous success even after he lost his wartime advantages. Army was undefeated in 1948 and 1949 and also in 1950 until upset by Navy in the last game of the season. Then came the “cribbing” scandal of 1951 in which 37 members of the football team, (among a total of 90 cadets), were dismissed from the academy for “cribbing” – receiving the answers to tests in advance from tutors assigned to help them meet academic standards. Blaik offered to resign but General MacArthur advised him not to because he shouldn’t do so while under fire. Blaik himself was not implicated, although his son Bob was. Blaik stayed on, rebuilding the football program until they again went undefeated, except for a tie with Pittsburgh, and were ranked #2 in 1958 behind LSU. At that point, he retired.
Each of these years there was a major college team from a perennial national power that won all its games and might have won the national title – except for Army
In 1944, it was Ohio State. Paul Brown, like Frank Leahy, was in the Navy, (in fact he was coaching Great lakes NTS) but some of the players from the 1942 national champions were still around, including Les Horvath, who won the Heisman Trophy over both Davis and Blanchard. Les was second in the nation in rushing with 924 yards, (Davis and Blanchard, who played only parts of games totaled only 1053 between them). The Buckeyes used both the T and the single wing and Les switched between quarterback and tailback and passed for another 344 yards. He scored 12 times and passed for 6 more. But his big calling card was that he was a 60 minute man – literally. He was on the field for 402 of the 540 minutes (74%), of Ohio State’s season, including all 60 of their season ending 18-14 win over Michigan, despite a leg injury that had had him limping all week. He played pro ball for a couple of years in the post war period for the Rams and the Browns. He studied dentistry and wound up being the LA Ram’s team dentist, (he probably worked on Glenn Davis’ teeth).
Carroll Widdoes, Brown’s long- time assistant, took over the team. Besides Horvath, he had all-time great tackle Bill Willis along with the other tackle Russ Thomas, end Jack Dugger and guards Bill Hackett and Warren Amling. Widdoes mixed in a bunch of 18 year old freshmen, including future NFLs Ollie Cline and Dick Flanaghan. Ohio State had no military training program on campus and laid claim to the tile of “national civilian champs”
They also went 9-0-0, out-scoring their opponents by a more modest but still impressive 287-79 (32-9). They played one service team: Paul Brown’s Great Lakes team, whom they beat 26-6. Great Lakes wound up #17. They also beat #15 Illinois 26-12 and #8 Michigan 18-14. Ohio State’s eight major college opponents had a combined record of 36-35-4, (.507). Their PDR was 1.75. The Michigan game was the only one they didn’t win by at least 2 touchdowns. In a normal year they would have been a very respectable national champion.
But this was not a normal year. The National Championship Foundation was the only NCAA selector that recognized Ohio State as national champion. They also recognized Army as “co-national champion”. The 11 other selectors all chose Army. Among the non-NCAA selectors, Time Travel, Dolphin, Howell and Taylor all chose Army. Sorenson chose Ohio State and had Randolph Field (third ranked by AP and 10-0-0, the best pure service team) ahead of Army. Ray Waits has Norman Naval Air Station, also undefeated but ranked #14 by AP, first, then Randolph Field, then Ohio State, Oklahoma State and Army. Square Gear also chose Norman but had Army #2. Robert Leckie, author of “The Story of Football”, has Army as the national champion, as does Bill Libby, who wrote “Champions of College Football”. Richard Vautravers respects Ohio State but chooses Army:
1944 College Football National Championship
In 1945 Alabama was the ‘civilian’ champion. Statistically, it was one of their greatest teams. They out-scored ten opponents 430-80. Two of them were military teams. They outscored the eight collegiate teams 354-74 (44-9). They beat #14 Tennessee 25-7, (the Vols only defeat), #15 LSU 26-7 and #19 Georgia 28-14. Then, for their 10th game, they traveled to the west coast to take on #11 Southern California in the Rose Bowl. This was an historical confrontation. The Tide had been to the Rose Bowl five times previously, winning 3, losing one and tying one, easily the best record for any visiting school. The three winners all claimed the national championship, (for the years 1925, 1930 and 1934), and were ranked with the best teams ever. The Trojans had been to the Rose Bowl 8 previous times and won all 8, including the last two over Washington and Tennessee by shut-outs, 29-0 and 25-0. But they had never played the Crimson Tide who swamped them, 34-14 outgaining them by an astonishing 351-41. The Trojans had a net loss of 24 yards in the first half, when they fell behind 0-27.
Bama’s star was Harry Gilmer, who ran for 116 yards and a score and passed for 59 more and another score in the Rose Bowl. Harry that year completed an astonishing 65% of his passes and led the nation with 13 TD passes. He also ran for 9 scores. The Tide was the third leading rushing team in the country with 298 yards and second to Army in yards gained with 421 per game. They led the nation in rushing defense with 34 yards per game and in total defense with 110 ypg. Their PDR against the 8 major college teams they played was 1.63. Those eight teams had a combined record of 44-30-3, (.595). They were in every respect a splendid candidate for a national championship in a normal year.
1946 Rose Bowl USC vs Alabama
And like Ohio State the year before, they had not been aided by the military. “The Crimson Tide: The Story of Alabama Football” by Clyde Bolton: “Collegiate football practically went out of business in 1943. Only those schools with Army and Navy programs maintained a schedule. Alabama’s team closed up shop that season.“ That is, like Syracuse and many other schools, Alabama did not field a team in 1943, cancelling all their games. They decided to make a comeback in 1944. “The squad that reported to (Coach Frank) Thomas was mostly frosh and 4-’s” One of the frosh was Gilmer, who didn’t even want to go to college. “I want to get a job and get married” he told Thomas, who convinced him to give college football a try anyway. Somehow the team was able to finish 5-2-1 and then was invited to the Sugar Bowl, where they lost a wild game to Duke,26-29. The freshman grew up a lot as they became sophomores and the result was a powerhouse team- a team of nothing but college students who had never played college football anywhere else.
But this was the era of Army and all the NCAA selectors except the indecisive National Championship Foundation chose Army as their national champion again. In fact the AP poll had Alabama #3 behind Navy, who had tied Notre Dame and lost to Army. The NCF again split the title, this time between Army and Alabama. The non-NCAA selectors mostly agreed: Time Travel, Dolphin, Howell, Sorenson, Square Gear, Taylor and Wilson all had Army #1. Ray Waits, ever the contrarian, chose Oklahoma A&M (State). The authors Leckie and Libby both chose Army. Vautravers thinks it’s much closer than in 1944 but still picks Army:
1945 College Football National Championship
He also discusses the other collegiate team with a perfect record, Oklahoma A&M(State), and concludes that they were more of a mid-major at the time, (they were in the Missouri Valley Conference), and not a real national title contender. Still a four team playoff between these three and Big Ten Champion Indiana, (yes, Indiana) who went 9-0-1, might have bene interesting.
Ordinarily, I would dismiss 1944 and 1945 as seasons that really didn’t produce a controversy. But I’m interested in this designation of “Civilian National Champion” that Ohio State claimed for the 1944 season. Army, unlike Randolph Field, Iowa Pre-Flight or Great Lakes Naval Training Center was an actual four year school, (even if they were rushing their cadets through in three years to try to get them into the war). But their means of acquiring players for their football team seems more comparable to the military camps than to normal four year colleges. I realize that, at times, schools like Ohio State’s and Alabama’s means of acquiring talent has also been questionable. But this seems an entirely different situation: West Point and Ananapolis had the federal government behind them. And ‘poor’ Ohio State and Alabama didn’t even have an on campus training program to get them other school’s All-Americans.
Both Richard Vautravers and I exclude “military” teams” from consideration because they are not four year schools. Should Army also be excluded because they were behaving more like a military camp whose CO wanted a good football team? Should we declare Ohio State and Alabama to be the “civilian” national champions for those years?
So…who’s #1 for 1944 and 1945?
