1945 college football season

1945 college football season
First AP No. 1 of season	Army
Number of bowls	8
Champion(s)	Army (AP) Oklahoma A&M (AFCA)
Heisman	Doc Blanchard, (fullback, Army)
football seasons

The 1945 college football season finished with the undefeated United States Military Academy, more popularly known as "Army", being the unanimous choice for the nation's number one team by the 116 voters in the Associated Press writers’ poll. The runner up was the undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide, followed by the United States Naval Academy, more popularly known as "Navy". In 2016, the American Football Coaches Association retroactively named the Oklahoma A&M Cowboys national champion for 1945.

During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A". The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of the Associated Press poll of sportswriters (the UPI Coaches Poll would not start until 1950). The extent of that recognition came in the form of acknowledgment in the annual NCAA Football Guide of the "unofficial" national champions.

Several new bowl games would debut at the end of the 1945 season, among them the Gator Bowl.

Conference and program changes

School	1944 Conference	1945 Conference
Wichita Shockers	Independent	Missouri Valley

September

The Associated Press did not poll the writers until the third week of the season. Among the teams that had been ranked highest at the end of 1944, the two service academies—Army and Navy, as well as Ohio State, USC and Michigan. Among the service teams that had ranked high in 1944, Randolph Field, Bainbridge Naval, and Iowa Pre-flight no longer played against college teams. Some service teams still remained in place, even after the end of World War II.

On September 15, Michigan beat Great Lakes Navy, 27-2. On September 22, Michigan lost to Indiana, 13-7. Minnesota beat Missouri, 34-0. In a Friday night game in Los Angeles, USC beat UCLA 13-6. September 29 Notre Dame beat Illinois 7-0, Army beat Louisville Field, 32-0, and Navy beat Villanova 49-0. USC won at California, 13-2, and Ohio State won at Missouri 47-6.

October

On October 6, Army beat Wake Forest, 54-0 and Navy beat Duke, 21-0. Ohio State beat Iowa 42-0. Minnesota won at Nebraska 61-7. Notre Dame won at Georgia Tech, 40-7. UCLA beat St. Mary's Pre-Flight, 26-14.

October 13 At Yankee Stadium in New York, #1 Army beat #9 Michigan, 28-7. #2 Navy stayed unscored upon with a 28-0 win over Penn State. #3 Notre Dame beat Dartmouth, 34-0. #4 Ohio State beat Wisconsin, 12-0. #5 Minnesota beat Fort Warren, 14-0.

October 20 #1 Army beat Melville PT Boats 55-13. In Baltimore, #2 Navy beat Georgia Tech 20-6. #3 Notre Dame won at Pittsburgh, 39-9. #4 Ohio State lost to #9 Purdue, 35-13. #5 Minnesota defeated Northwestern, 30-7.

October 27 In New York, #1 Army beat #19 Duke 48-13. #2 Notre Dame beat Iowa 56-0. In Philadelphia, #3 Navy defeated #7 Penn, 14-7. #4 Purdue lost to unranked Northwestern, 26-14. #5 Minnesota lost to #12 Ohio State, 20-7. In Birmingham, #6 Alabama beat Georgia 28-14. #8 Indiana beat #14 Tulsa 7-2, to reach 5-0-1.

November

November 3 #1 Army beat Villanova, 54-0. #2 Notre Dame and #3 Navy, both 5-0-0, met in Cleveland, and played to a 6-6 tie. In Louisville, #4 Alabama defeated Kentucky, 60-19. #5 Indiana beat Cornell College of Iowa, 46-6, but dropped to sixth in the next poll. In Los Angeles, #8 St. Mary's beat USC, 26-0.

November 10 #1 Army (6-0-0) and #2 Notre Dame (5-0-1) met for a contest at Yankee Stadium, and it was no contest, with the Cadets winning 48-0. #3 Alabama was idle. In Baltimore, #4 Navy beat #7 Michigan 33-7. #5 St. Mary's beat Fresno State, 32-6. #6 Indiana won at Minnesota, 49-0.

November 17 In Philadelphia, #1 Army beat #6 Penn, 61-0 #2 Navy defeated Wisconsin 36-7 in Baltimore. In Nashville, #3 Alabama beat Vanderbilt, 71-0. #4 Indiana won at Pittsburgh, 19-0. #5 St. Mary's lost to UCLA, 13-7. #7 Notre Dame won at Northwestern, 34-7.

November 24 #1 Army (8-0-0) and #2 Navy (7-0-1), both unbeaten, were idle as they prepared for the Army–Navy Game. #3 Alabama beat the Pensacola Naval Air Station, 55-6. #4 Indiana closed its season at 9-0-1 with a 26-0 win over #18 Purdue. In New Orleans, #5 Notre Dame beat Tulane, 32-6.

December 1 In the second #1 and #2 matchup of the year, #1 Army (8-0-0) and #2 Navy (7-0-1) met at the Army–Navy Game in Philadelphia, with Army winning 32-13 to close a perfect season. #3 Alabama defeated Mississippi State, 55-13. #4 Indiana had finished its season. #5 Notre Dame lost to the Great Lakes Navy team, 39-7. #6 Oklahoma State, which had finished the season 9-0-0 and accepted an invitation to the Sugar Bowl, rose to fifth in the final poll.

Conference standings

Major conference standings

1945 Big Six Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Missouri $ 5 – 0 – 0 6 – 4 – 0 Oklahoma 4 – 1 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 Iowa State 2 – 2 – 1 4 – 3 – 1 Nebraska 2 – 3 – 0 4 – 5 – 0 Kansas 1 – 3 – 1 4 – 5 – 1 Kansas State 0 – 5 – 0 1 – 7 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1945 Big Ten Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 4 Indiana $ 5 – 0 – 1 9 – 0 – 1 No. 6 Michigan 5 – 1 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 No. 12 Ohio State 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 2 – 0 Northwestern 3 – 3 – 1 4 – 4 – 1 Purdue 3 – 3 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 Wisconsin 2 – 3 – 1 3 – 4 – 2 Illinois 1 – 4 – 1 2 – 6 – 1 Minnesota 1 – 5 – 0 4 – 5 – 0 Iowa 1 – 5 – 0 2 – 7 – 0 $ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll	1945 Border Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T New Mexico 1 – 0 – 1 6 – 1 – 1 Texas Tech 1 – 0 – 1 3 – 5 – 2 West Texas State 0 – 2 – 0 2 – 6 – 0 Arizona 0 – 0 – 0 5 – 0 – 0 Arizona State–Flagstaff 0 – 0 – 0 2 – 3 – 0 $ – Conference champion
1945 Middle Three Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Rutgers $ 2 – 0 – 0 5 – 2 – 0 Lafayette 1 – 1 – 0 1 – 7 – 1 Lehigh 0 – 2 – 0 2 – 4 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1945 Missouri Valley Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 5 Oklahoma A&M $ 1 – 0 – 0 9 – 0 – 0 No. 17 Tulsa 2 – 1 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 Wichita 1 – 1 – 0 6 – 4 – 0 Drake 1 – 2 – 0 5 – 4 – 1 Saint Louis 0 – 1 – 0 5 – 4 – 0 $ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll	1945 Mountain States Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Denver $ 4 – 1 – 0 4 – 5 – 1 Colorado 3 – 1 – 0 5 – 3 – 0 Utah 3 – 2 – 0 4 – 4 – 0 Utah State 1 – 3 – 0 4 – 3 – 0 Colorado A&M 0 – 4 – 0 2 – 5 – 1 $ – Conference champion
1945 Pacific Coast Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 11 USC $ 5 – 1 – 0 7 – 4 – 0 Washington State 6 – 2 – 1 6 – 2 – 1 Washington 6 – 3 – 0 6 – 3 – 0 Oregon State 4 – 4 – 0 4 – 4 – 1 UCLA 2 – 3 – 0 5 – 4 – 0 California 2 – 4 – 1 4 – 5 – 1 Oregon 3 – 6 – 0 3 – 6 – 0 Idaho 1 – 5 – 0 1 – 7 – 0 Montana 0 – 1 – 0 1 – 4 – 0 $ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll	1945 Southeastern Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 2 Alabama $ 6 – 0 – 0 10 – 0 – 0 No. 14 Tennessee 3 – 1 – 0 8 – 1 – 0 No. 15 LSU 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 2 – 0 No. 18 Georgia 4 – 2 – 0 9 – 2 – 0 Ole Miss 3 – 3 – 0 4 – 5 – 0 Georgia Tech 2 – 2 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 Mississippi State 2 – 3 – 0 6 – 3 – 0 Auburn 2 – 3 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 Vanderbilt 2 – 4 – 0 3 – 6 – 0 Florida 1 – 3 – 1 4 – 5 – 1 Tulane 1 – 3 – 1 2 – 6 – 1 Kentucky 0 – 5 – 0 2 – 8 – 0 $ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll	1945 Southern Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 13 Duke $ 4 – 0 – 0 6 – 2 – 0 No. 19 Wake Forest 4 – 1 – 1 5 – 3 – 1 William & Mary 4 – 2 – 0 6 – 3 – 0 Clemson 2 – 1 – 1 6 – 3 – 1 Maryland 3 – 2 – 0 6 – 2 – 1 VMI 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 4 – 0 North Carolina 2 – 2 – 0 5 – 4 – 0 NC State 2 – 4 – 0 3 – 6 – 0 VPI 2 – 5 – 0 2 – 6 – 0 South Carolina 0 – 3 – 2 2 – 4 – 3 Richmond 0 – 4 – 0 2 – 6 – 0 $ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll
1945 Southwest Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 10 Texas $ 5 – 1 – 0 10 – 1 – 0 SMU 4 – 2 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 TCU 3 – 3 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 Rice 3 – 3 – 0 5 – 6 – 0 Texas A&M 3 – 3 – 0 6 – 4 – 0 Baylor 2 – 4 – 0 5 – 5 – 1 Arkansas 1 – 5 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 $ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Independents

1945 Eastern college football independents records Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 1 Army   –   9 – 0 – 0 Franklin & Marshall   –   4 – 0 – 1 No. 20 Columbia   –   8 – 1 – 0 Temple   –   7 – 1 – 0 No. 16 Holy Cross   –   8 – 2 – 0 Tufts   –   4 – 1 – 0 No. 8 Penn   –   6 – 2 – 0 Yale   –   6 – 3 – 0 Massachusetts State   –   2 – 1 – 1 Harvard   –   5 – 3 – 0 Penn State   –   5 – 3 – 0 Cornell   –   5 – 4 – 0 Villanova   –   4 – 4 – 0 Boston College   –   3 – 4 – 0 Brown   –   3 – 4 – 1 Colgate   –   3 – 4 – 1 Princeton   –   2 – 3 – 2 NYU   –   3 – 4 – 0 Pittsburgh   –   3 – 7 – 0 Bucknell   –   2 – 5 – 0 Drexel   –   2 – 5 – 0 Dartmouth   –   1 – 6 – 1 Syracuse   –   1 – 6 – 0 Boston University   –   0 – 5 – 0 CCNY   –   0 – 8 – 0 Rankings from AP Poll	1945 Midwestern college football independents records Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Michigan State Normal   –   5 – 0 – 1 Central Michigan   –   6 – 1 – 0 Miami (OH)   –   7 – 2 – 0 No. 9 Notre Dame   –   7 – 2 – 1 Detroit   –   6 – 3 – 0 Great Lakes Navy   –   6 – 4 – 1 Michigan State   –   5 – 3 – 1 Akron   –   5 – 4 – 0 Marquette   –   5 – 4 – 1 Bowling Green   –   4 – 3 – 0 Western Michigan   –   4 – 3 – 0 Cincinnati   –   4 – 4 – 0 Ohio   –   3 – 4 – 0 Ohio Wesleyan   –   3 – 4 – 0 Carthage   –   2 – 3 – 0 Wayne   –   2 – 5 – 1 Rankings from AP Poll	1945 Southern college football independents records Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Miami (FL)   –   9 – 1 – 1 No. 3 Navy   –   7 – 1 – 1 Virginia   –   7 – 2 – 0 Chattanooga   –   5 – 3 – 0 Jacksonville State   –   1 – 1 – 0 West Virginia   –   2 – 6 – 1 Tennessee Tech   –   1 – 8 – 0 Rankings from AP Poll
1945 Western college football independents records Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 7 Saint Mary's   –   7 – 2 – 0 Nevada   –   7 – 3 – 0 Cal Poly   –   1 – 5 – 1 Pacific (CA)   –   0 – 10 – 1 San Francisco State   –   0 – 2 – 0 Rankings from AP Poll	1945 military service football records Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Army Air Forces League Third Air Force + 4 – 1 – 1 7 – 2 – 1 AAF Training Command + 4 – 1 – 1 8 – 3 – 1 Fourth Air Force 3 – 2 – 1 6 – 3 – 1 First Air Force 2 – 2 – 2 3 – 2 – 3 Air Transport Command 2 – 3 – 1 6 – 3 – 2 Personnel Distribution Command 2 – 4 – 0 6 – 5 – 0 Second Air Force 1 – 5 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 Independents Hutchinson NAS   –   8 – 0 – 0 Fleet City   –   11 – 0 – 1 Corpus Christi NAS   –   7 – 1 – 0 North Camp Hood   –   7 – 1 – 0 Selman Field   –   7 – 1 – 0 Jacksonville NAS   –   9 – 2 – 0 El Toro Marines   –   8 – 2 – 0 Camp Beale   –   6 – 1 – 2 Little Creek   –   7 – 2 – 0 Amarillo AAF   –   3 – 1 – 0 Farragut NTS   –   6 – 2 – 0 South Camp Hood   –   5 – 2 – 0 Santa Barbara Marines   –   7 – 3 – 1 Fort McClellan   –   4 – 2 – 0 San Diego NTS   –   4 – 2 – 0 Eastern Flying Training Command   –   6 – 3 – 1 Atlantic City NAS   –   4 – 2 – 1 Minter Field   –   4 – 2 – 1 Camp Lee   –   7 – 4 – 0 Camp Peary   –   5 – 3 – 0 Olathe NAS   –   3 – 2 – 0 Great Lakes Navy   –   6 – 4 – 1 Hondo AAF   –   6 – 4 – 1 Bainbridge   –   5 – 4 – 0 Fort Benning   –   5 – 4 – 1 Albany Navy   –   3 – 3 – 1 Williams Field   –   4 – 4 – 0 Stockton AAF   –   4 – 5 – 2 Camp Detrick   –   3 – 4 – 0 Kearney AAF   –   3 – 4 – 0 Fort Warren   –   5 – 7 – 0 Bergstrom Field   –   3 – 5 – 1 Barksdale Field   –   4 – 7 – 0 Saint Mary's Pre-Flight   –   2 – 4 – 1 Keesler Field   –   3 – 6 – 1 Camp Blanding   –   1 – 2 – 0 Great Bend AAF   –   2 – 4 – 0 Luke Field   –   1 – 2 – 0 Miami NAS   –   1 – 2 – 0 Fort Pierce   –   4 – 9 – 0 Gulfport AAF   –   2 – 5 – 0 Ellington Field   –   1 – 4 – 1 Miami NTC   –   1 – 3 – 0 Oceana NAS   –   1 – 3 – 0 Fort Riley   –   1 – 4 – 0 Lake Charles AAF   –   1 – 4 – 0 Pensacola NAS   –   2 – 7 – 1 Cherry Point Marines   –   1 – 8 – 0 Dalhart AAF   –   0 – 3 – 0 Homestead AAB   –   0 – 3 – 0 Fort Monroe   –   0 – 7 – 0 + – Conference co-champions

Minor conferences

Conference	Champion(s)	Record
California Collegiate Athletic Association	No champion	—
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association	Virginia State College	7–0–1
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	No champion	—
Far Western Conference	No champion	—
Indiana Intercollegiate Conference	Valparaiso	4–0
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Central (IA)	5–0
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference	No champion	—
Lone Star Conference	No champion	—
Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference	No champion	—
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Gustavus Adolphus	4–0
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association	No champion	—
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association	No champion	—
Nebraska College Athletic Conference	Nebraska Wesleyan	2–0
New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference	No champion	—
North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	No champion	—
North Dakota College Athletic Conference	No champion	—
Ohio Athletic Conference	Oberlin	2–0
Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference	No champion	—
Pacific Northwest Conference	No champion	—
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference	No champion	—
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Colorado College	1–0
South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference	No champion	—
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Redlands	4–0
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Florida A&M College	6–0
Southwestern Athletic Conference	Wiley (TX)	6–0
State Teacher's College Conference of Minnesota	No champion	—
Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference	No champion	—
Washington Intercollegiate Conference	No champion	—
Wisconsin State Teachers College Conference	No champion	—

Minor conference standings

1945 California Collegiate Athletic Association football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T San Diego State 1 – 0 – 0 2 – 5 – 0 Fresno State 0 – 1 – 0 4 – 6 – 2 No champion named for the 1945 season	1945 Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Illinois State Normal $ 3 – 1 – 0 4 – 3 – 0 Southern Illinois 2 – 1 – 1 4 – 1 – 2 Northern Illinois State 2 – 2 – 0 4 – 3 – 0 Eastern Illinois 1 – 1 – 2 2 – 3 – 2 Western Illinois 0 – 3 – 1 1 – 5 – 1 $ – Conference champion	1945 Indiana Intercollegiate Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Valparaiso $ 4 – 0 – 0 6 – 1 – 0 DePauw 1 – 0 – 0 3 – 2 – 0 Ball State 4 – 1 – 1 4 – 1 – 1 Butler 3 – 2 – 0 3 – 3 – 0 Earlham 3 – 3 – 0 3 – 3 – 0 Wabash 1 – 1 – 1 2 – 3 – 1 Central Normal 2 – 3 – 0 2 – 4 – 0 Indiana State 1 – 2 – 0 2 – 4 – 0 Manchester 0 – 2 – 0 0 – 2 – 0 Franklin (IN) 0 – 5 – 0 0 – 5 – 0 $ – Conference champion
1945 Iowa Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Central (IA) $ 5 – 0 – 0 7 – 1 – 0 Iowa Wesleyan 1 – 0 – 0 3 – 2 – 0 Wartburg 3 – 2 – 1 3 – 2 – 1 Loras 0 – 0 – 0 5 – 2 – 0 Dubuque 2 – 2 – 0 4 – 2 – 0 Simpson 1 – 2 – 0 2 – 5 – 0 Luther 1 – 3 – 0 2 – 5 – 0 Upper Iowa 1 – 4 – 1 1 – 4 – 1 Parsons 0 – 1 – 0 1 – 5 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1945 New England Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Connecticut + 2 – 0 – 0 7 – 1 – 0 Rhode Island State + 1 – 0 – 0 2 – 1 – 0 Maine 0 – 3 – 0 0 – 5 – 0 + – Conference co-champions	1945 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Wiley $ 6 – 0 – 0 10 – 0 – 0 Southern 5 – 1 – 0 6 – 3 – 1 Texas College 3 – 2 – 1 7 – 3 – 1 Langston 3 – 3 – 0 5 – 3 – 0 Samuel Huston 1 – 3 – 2 ? – ? – ? Prairie View 1 – 4 – 1 3 – 5 – 1 Arkansas AM&N 1 – 5 – 0 2 – 6 – 0 $ – Conference champion

Rankings

Main article: 1945 NCAA football rankings

Bowl games

Bowl game	Winning team		Losing team
Rose Bowl	No. 2 Alabama	34	No. 11 USC	14
Sugar Bowl	No. 5 Oklahoma A&M	33	No. 7 Saint Mary's	13
Orange Bowl	Miami (FL)	13	No. 16 Holy Cross	6
Cotton Bowl Classic	No. 10 Texas	40	Missouri	27
Sun Bowl	New Mexico Lobos	34	Denver	24
Gator Bowl	No. 19 Wake Forest	26	South Carolina	14
Oil Bowl	No. 18 Georgia	20	No. 17 Tulsa	6
Raisin Bowl	Drake	13	Fresno State	12

See also

• 1945 College Football All-America Team