1946 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

1946 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
1946 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
National champion
Conference	Independent
Ranking
AP	No. 1
Record	8–0–1
Head coach	Frank Leahy (4th season);
Offensive scheme	T-Formation
Captain	game by game
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium (c. 59,075, grass)
	Seasons ← 1945 1947 →

1946 Midwestern major college football independents records
v t e	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 1 Notre Dame		–		8	–	0	–	1
Detroit		–		6	–	4	–	0
Michigan State		–		5	–	5	–	0
Marquette		–		4	–	5	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1946 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1946 college football season. The Irish, coached by Frank Leahy, ended the season with 8 wins and 1 tie, winning the national championship.^[1] The 1946 team became the fifth Irish team to win the national title and the second for Leahy. The 1946 is the first team in what is considered to be the Notre Dame Football dynasty, a stretch of games in which Notre Dame went 36-0-2 and won three national championships and two Heisman Trophies from 1946-1949.^[1] The 1946 team was cited by Sports Illustrated as the part of the second best sports dynasty (professional or collegiate) of the 20th century^[2] and second greatest college football dynasty.^[3] The season also produced one of college football's "games of the century", the famous 0-0 tie with Army at Yankee Stadium.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 28	at Illinois		Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 26–6	75,119
October 5	Pittsburgh		Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)	W 33–0	50,350
October 12	Purdue	No. 3	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)	W 49–6	55,452
October 26	at No. 17 Iowa	No. 2	Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA	W 41–6	52,311
November 2	vs. Navy	No. 2	Memorial Stadium Baltimore, MD (rivalry)	W 28–0	63,909
November 9	vs. No. 1 Army	No. 2	Yankee Stadium New York, NY (rivalry)	T 0–0	74,121
November 16	at Northwestern	No. 2	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)	W 27–0	56,000
November 23	at Tulane	No. 2	Tulane Stadium New Orleans, LA	W 41–0	65,841
November 30	No. 16 USC	No. 2	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN (rivalry)	W 26–6	55,298
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Post-season

Award winners

George Connor - Outland Trophy^[4]

All-Americans:

Name	AP	UP	NEA	INS	COL	AA	SN	L	FC
† John Lujack, QB	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
‡ George Connor, T	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1
John Monstrangelo, G	2	2		1	1		1
George Strohmeyer, C		2		1			1	1	3
†denotes unanimous selection ‡denotes consensus selection Source:^[1]

College Football Hall of Fame Inductees:

Name	Position	Year Inducted
George Connor	Tackle	1963
Zygmont "Ziggy" Czarobski	Tackle	1977
Bill Fischer	Tackle/Guard	1983
Leon Hart	End	1973
Frank Leahy	Coach	1970
Johnny Lujack	Quarterback	1960
Jim Martin	End/Tackle	1995
Emil "Red" Sitko	Halfback/Fullback	1984

Notre Dame leads all universities in players inducted.^[5]

1947 NFL Draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
John Mastrangelo	Guard	2(4)	11	Pittsburgh Steelers
George Sullivan	Defensive End	6(5)	29	Boston Yankees
Bob Skoglund	Defensive End	11(1)	43	Green Bay Packers
Source:^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "2007 Notre Dame Media Guide: History and Records (pages 131-175)". und.cstv.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-10. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
^ "SI's Top 20 Dynasties of the 20th Century". sportsillustrated.cnn.com. 1999-06-03. Archived from the original on 29 January 2009. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
^ "College Football's 12 Greatest Dynasties". sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
^ "ALL-TIME OUTLAND TROPHY WINNERS". Football Writers Association of America. Archived from the original on 2 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
^ "Hall of Fame: Select group by school". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
^ "NFL Draft History". NFL.com. Retrieved January 7, 2013.

This college football 1940s season article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[2007_ND_Guide_History-1] "2007 Notre Dame Media Guide: History and Records (pages 131-175)". und.cstv.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-10. Retrieved 2008-12-31.

[CNN/SI_ND_Dynasty-2] "SI's Top 20 Dynasties of the 20th Century". sportsillustrated.cnn.com. 1999-06-03. Archived from the original on 29 January 2009. Retrieved 2008-12-31.

[CNN/SI_ND_Dynasty_2-3] "College Football's 12 Greatest Dynasties". sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Retrieved 2008-12-31.

[OT-4] "ALL-TIME OUTLAND TROPHY WINNERS". Football Writers Association of America. Archived from the original on 2 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-01.

[CFOB-5] "Hall of Fame: Select group by school". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved 2008-12-30.

[6] "NFL Draft History". NFL.com. Retrieved January 7, 2013.

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v t e Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Venues	Brownson Hall field (1892?–1899) Cartier Field (1899–1928) Soldier Field (1929) Notre Dame Stadium (1930–present)
Bowls and rivalries	Bowl games Emerald Isle Classic Army Boston College Michigan Michigan State Navy Northwestern Pittsburgh Purdue Stanford USC
Culture and lore	History Band of the Fighting Irish Irish Guard Notre Dame Box Notre Dame Leprechaun "Notre Dame, Our Mother" "Notre Dame Victory March" Play Like a Champion Today Subway Alumni T formation Tall Grass Game 1946 "Game of the Century" 1966 "Game of the Century" Catholics vs. Convicts 30 for 30 film 1993 "Game of the Century" Bush Push Navy ends the drought 2020 ACC Championship Game The Spirit of Notre Dame Knute Rockne, All American Notre Dame Football on NBC Rudy
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks Four Horsemen NFL draftees Statistical leaders Team captains
Seasons	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 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 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 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 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e College football national champions (poll era)
1936–1949	1936: Minnesota (AP) 1937: Pittsburgh 1938: TCU 1939: Texas A&M 1940: Minnesota 1941: Minnesota 1942: Ohio State 1943: Notre Dame 1944: Army 1945: Army (AP) / Oklahoma A&M (Coaches) 1946: Notre Dame 1947: Notre Dame 1948: Michigan 1949: Notre Dame
1950s	1950: Oklahoma (AP, Coaches) 1951: Tennessee 1952: Michigan State 1953: Maryland 1954: Ohio State (AP) / UCLA (FWAA, Coaches) 1955: Oklahoma 1956: Oklahoma 1957: Auburn (AP) / Ohio State (Coaches, FWAA) 1958: LSU (AP, Coaches) / Iowa (FWAA) 1959: Syracuse (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF)
1960s	1960: Minnesota (AP, Coaches, NFF) / Ole Miss (FWAA) 1961: Alabama (AP, Coaches, NFF) / Ohio State (FWAA) 1962: USC 1963: Texas 1964: Alabama (AP, Coaches) / Arkansas (FWAA) / Notre Dame (NFF) 1965: Alabama (AP, FWAA) / Michigan State (Coaches, FWAA, NFF) 1966: Notre Dame (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF) / Michigan State (NFF) 1967: USC 1968: Ohio State 1969: Texas
1970s	1970: Nebraska (AP, FWAA) / Texas (NFF, Coaches) / Ohio State (NFF) 1971: Nebraska 1972: USC 1973: Notre Dame (AP, FWAA, NFF) / Alabama (Coaches) 1974: Oklahoma (AP) / USC (FWAA, NFF, Coaches) 1975: Oklahoma 1976: Pittsburgh 1977: Notre Dame 1978: Alabama (AP, FWAA, NFF) / USC (Coaches) 1979: Alabama
1980–1991	1980: Georgia 1981: Clemson 1982: Penn State 1983: Miami (FL) 1984: BYU 1985: Oklahoma 1986: Penn State 1987: Miami (FL) 1988: Notre Dame 1989: Miami (FL) 1990: Colorado (AP, FWAA, NFF, USAT/CNN) / Georgia Tech (Coaches) 1991: Miami (FL) (AP) / Washington (Coaches, FWAA, UPI/NFF)