1947 Idaho Vandals football team

Coordinates: 46°43′34″N 117°01′05″W / 46.726°N 117.018°W / 46.726; -117.018

1947 Idaho Vandals football
Conference Pacific Coast Conference
1947 record 4–4 (1–4 PCC)
Head coach Dixie Howell (1st year)
Home stadium Neale Stadium
1947 PCC football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#8 USC $ 6 – 0 – 0     7 – 2 – 1
#15 California 5 – 1 – 0     9 – 1 – 0
Oregon 5 – 1 – 0     7 – 3 – 0
UCLA 4 – 2 – 0     5 – 4 – 0
Montana 2 – 1 – 0     7 – 4 – 0
Oregon State 3 – 4 – 0     5 – 5 – 0
Washington 2 – 5 – 0     3 – 6 – 0
Washington State 2 – 5 – 0     3 – 7 – 0
Idaho 1 – 4 – 0     4 – 4 – 0
Stanford 0 – 7 – 0     0 – 9 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1947 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1947 college football season. The Vandals were led by first-year head coach Dixie Howell,[1] and were members of the Pacific Coast Conference. Home games were played on campus in Moscow at Neale Stadium, with one game in Boise at Public School Field. The Vandals were 4–4 overall and 1–4 in conference play.

Howell, age 34, had been the head coach at Arizona State before the war and was a finalist for the Idaho job six years earlier in 1941,[2] which went to Francis Schmidt. He played with Don Hutson and Bear Bryant at Alabama, and was the passer and a consensus All-American on the undefeated 1934 team that won the Rose Bowl and the national title.[3][4]

Season

Led on the field by 26-year-old passing halfback Billy (The Rifle) Williams,[5] Idaho compiled a 4–4 overall record.

The Vandals opened the season at home with a 27–7 win over the Puget Sound Loggers of Tacoma,[6] then traveled to northern California and defeated Stanford 19–16,[7] their only win in the series, after five defeats.[8] After a 6–3–1 season the previous year, Stanford fielded one of its poorest teams in 1947 and went winless at 0–9. (They have met only once since, Stanford crushed Idaho 63–0 two years later in 1949.)[9]

At the time, it was thought to be the first Idaho football win over a California school in the PCC, and 5,000 greeted the team at the Moscow train station on Monday morning; classes were cancelled and the public schools were closed.[10] It was actually the second win, as first-year member UCLA lost in Moscow in 1928.[11][12] But it stands as the only road win and the most recent overall, as Idaho has not defeated any of the four California schools of the present-day Pac-12 in football since then, with winless all-time records against USC (0–9) and California (0–4).

The next week, the undefeated Vandals suffered a nineteenth straight loss in the Battle of the Palouse with neighbor Washington State, falling 7–0 at homecoming in Moscow.[13][14] With the excitement after the win at Stanford, the game at Neale Stadium drew an overflow attendance of 22,500, then a record gathering of any kind for the Palouse and the state of Idaho. The loss ran the winless streak against the Cougars to 21 games, a record of 0–20–1 since taking three straight in 1923–25; the Vandals tied again in 1950 and finally broke the streak in 1954 in Pullman.[15]

The road victory over Stanford was Idaho's only win in the PCC in 1947, and struggled on offense with just thirteen points scored in their four losses. That included a humbling 21–0 shutout at home to Montana for the Little Brown Stein on a Friday afternoon in November;[16] the Grizzlies had also won with a shutout the previous year, 19–0 in Missoula.[17] The season finale the next week in Boise was an improvement, with a 13–6 upset of Utah in the rain at Public School Field to finish at 4–4.[18] It was the first Vandal football game in Boise in five years and had a record overflow crowd;[5] Idaho improved its record in Boise games (southern homecoming) to 12–0–2[18] (they won the next three years, then only three of nine from 1951–59).

Following the war and the single-win seasons of the previous two years, the 1947 team had the best record since 1938. Despite the improvement, it was Howell's best season at Idaho and a winning football season was still sixteen years away; the 1963 team went 5–4 under Dee Andros (with the final game cancelled). In between, two seasons also had even .500 records: 1952 and 1957.

Schedule

Date Time Opponent Site Result Attendance
September 20 2:00 pm Puget Sound* Neale Stadium • Moscow, ID [6] W 27–7   7,500
September 27 2:30 pm at Stanford Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA [7] W 19–16   15,000
October 4 2:00 pm Washington Statedagger Neale Stadium • Moscow, ID [13][14] (Battle of the Palouse) L  0–7   22,500
October 11 2:00 pm at Oregon State Bell Field • Corvallis, OR [19] L  6–33   10,000
October 18 Portland* Neale Stadium • Moscow, ID [20] W 20–14   6,000
November 1 2:00 pm at Oregon Hayward Field • Eugene, OR [21] L  7–34   8,300
November 7 2:00 pm Montana Neale Stadium • Moscow, ID [16] (Little Brown Stein) L  0–21   5,000
November 15 Utah* Public School Field. • Boise, ID [18] W 13–6   8,000
*Non-conference game. daggerHomecoming. All times are in Pacific Time.

References

  1. ↑ "Howell signed by Idaho U.". Tuscaloosa News. (Alabama). Associated Press. February 27, 1947. p. 9.
  2. ↑ "Dixie Howell views Idaho". Prescott Evening Courier. (Arizona). Associated Press. March 14, 1941. p. 5.
  3. ↑ "New A-Day award will honor Howell". Tuscaloosa News. (Alabama). April 20, 1971. p. 6.
  4. ↑ Browning, Al (April 26, 1981). "Howell wasn't just whistling 'Dixie'". Tuscaloosa News. (Alabama). p. B1.
  5. 1 2 "Record crowd Idaho tilt". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. November 15, 1947. p. 9.
  6. 1 2 "Revitalized Vandals win opener over CPS, 27-7". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. September 21, 1947. p. 8.
  7. 1 2 "Honest, Mister, Idaho beat Stanford - 19 to 16!". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. September 28, 1947. p. 8.
  8. ↑ "Idaho scores upset win over Stanford Indians". Eugene Register-Guard. United Press. September 28, 1947. p. 22.
  9. ↑ "Stanford humbles Idaho, 63–0". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. November 13, 1949. p. 8.
  10. ↑ "Howell acclaimed hero for Idaho win". Tuscaloosa News. (Alabama). Associated Press. September 30, 1947. p. 6.
  11. ↑ "Tromple Bruins". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. October 28, 1928. p. 15.
  12. ↑ "Idaho is victor over UCLA, 20-6". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). October 28, 1928. p. 1, sports.
  13. 1 2 "Cougars claw Idaho Vandals 7-0". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). October 5, 1947. p. 1-sports.
  14. 1 2 "Grid fans pack Moscow stadium". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). October 4, 1947. p. 1.
  15. ↑ Boni, Bill (October 24, 1954). "Idaho thumps WSC, 10-0". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 1, sports.
  16. 1 2 Miller, Bob (November 8, 1947). "Montana Grizzlies defeat Idaho's Vandals, 21-0, at Moscow". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 10.
  17. ↑ "Montana shoves Vandals into loop cellar". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. November 3, 1946. p. 10.
  18. 1 2 3 "Idaho knocks Utah down, 13-6". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. November 16, 1947. p. 1, sports.
  19. ↑ "OSC drops Vandals 33-6". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). October 12, 1947. p. 8.
  20. ↑ "Prayer pass gives Vandals 20-14 win over Portland". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. October 19, 1947. p. 8.
  21. ↑ Love, Bill (November 3, 1947). "Oregon grabs easy tilt from Vandals, 34-7". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 1.

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