1948 college football season

1948 NCAA football season

Total # of teams

117^[1]

First AP #1 of season

Notre Dame Fighting Irish^[2]

Number of bowls

Champions

Michigan Wolverines

Heisman

Doak Walker, SMU HB

College football seasons
« 1947	1949 »

The 1948 NCAA football season finished with two unbeaten teams. The Michigan Wolverines and the Clemson Tigers were both unbeaten and untied. Ultimately, Michigan was the first place choice for the majority (192 of the 333) voters in the AP Poll, but didn’t play in the postseason because of a no-repeat rule for Big Nine schools. Notre Dame, which finished 2nd in the AP Poll and tied USC 14-14 at the end of the regular season, did not participate in any bowl per university policy at the time. The Northwestern Wildcats went to the Rose Bowl, and handed California a 20-14 loss. Clemson would defeat Missouri in the Gator Bowl.

Conference and program changes

After the Big Six Conference, still officially known as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association, added Colorado from the Mountain States Conference, the conference's unofficial name became the Big Seven Conference.
The Ohio Valley Conference began football play during the 1948 season with six teams from Kentucky and Indiana.

School	1947 Conference	1948 Conference
Bradley Braves	Independent	Missouri Valley
Colorado Buffaloes	Skyline (Mountain States)	Big Seven (MVIAA)
Eastern Kentucky State Colonels	KIAC	Ohio Valley
Evansville Purple Aces	Independent	Ohio Valley
Louisville Cardinals	KIAC	Ohio Valley
Morehead State Eagles	KIAC	Ohio Valley
Murray State Racers	KIAC	Ohio Valley
Western Kentucky State Hilltoppers	KIAC	Ohio Valley

September

The Associated Press did not poll the writers until the fourth week of the season. Among the five teams that had been ranked highest in 1947, Notre Dame, Michigan, SMU, Penn State, Texas began play on September 25. Notre Dame edged Purdue 28-27, Michigan won at Michigan State, 13-7, and SMU won at Pittsburgh, 33-14. The Texas Longhorns lost at North Carolina, 34-7. Northwestern beat UCLA, in Los Angeles, 19-0. In Baltimore, California beat Navy, 21-7. Army beat visiting Villanova 28-0.

October

On October 2 In Pittsburgh, Notre Dame shut out Pitt, 40-0, while in Dallas, SMU defeated Texas Tech 41-6. Penn State beat Bucknell 35-0, Michigan beat Oregon 14-0. North Carolina won at Georgia 21-14. Army beat Lafayette 54-7. Northwestern beat Prudue 21-0. When the first poll was issued, Notre Dame had fewer first place votes than North Carolina (50 vs. 55), but ten more points overall (1,200 to 1,190) Northwestern was third, followed by SMU and Army. Though unbeaten, Michigan was ranked 7th, after Georgia Tech.

On October 9 #1 Notre Dame beat Michigan State 26-7. #2 North Carolina won at Wake Forest, 28-6, and was ranked first in the next poll. #3 Northwestern beat #8 Minnesota 19-16. #4 SMU lost at Missouri, 20-14. #5 Army won at Illinois, 26-21. #7 Michigan, which had won at #15 Purdue, 40-0, rose to 4th.

October 16 #1 North Carolina beat N.C. State 14-0, but dropped to third in the next poll. #2 Notre Dame won at Nebraska 44-13. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, #3 Northwestern faced Big Nine rival #4 Michigan, and the home team Wolverines won 28-0. #5 Army defeated Harvard 20-7. Michigan moved up to first place in the next poll, and #6 California (which beat Oregon State 42-0) replaced Northwestern in the Top Five.

October 23 In Minneapolis, #1 Michigan beat #13 Minnesota 27-14, and #2 Notre Dame won at Iowa 27-12. #3 North Carolina beat visiting LSU 34-7. In Seattle, #4 California blanked Washington 21-0, and #5 Army won at #12 Cornell 27-6.

October 30 #1 Michigan beat Illinois 28-20, while in Baltimore, #2 Notre Dame beat Navy 41-7. #3 North Carolina won at Tennessee 14-7. In Los Angeles, #4 California beat USC, 13-7. #5 Army beat Virginia Tech 49-7. In the next poll, Notre Dame was ranked at the new number one.

November

November 6 #1 Notre Dame won at Indiana 42-6. #2 Michigan beat visiting Navy 35-0. #3 North Carolina was tied by William & Mary, 7-7. #4 Army defeated Stanford at Yankee Stadium in New York, 43-0, while #5 California beat visiting UCLA 28-13. Replacing North Carolina in the Top Five was #14 Penn State, which had shut out Penn in Philadelphia, 13-0.

November 13 #1 Michigan beat Indiana 54-0. #2 Notre Dame beat #8 Northwestern 12-7. #3 Army won at Pennsylvania 26-20. #4 California beat Washington State 44-14. #5 Penn State beat Temple 47-0, but still dropped in the next poll. It was replaced by #6 North Carolina, which returned after a win at Maryland 49-20.

November 20 #1 Michigan closed its season with a 13-3 win at #18 Ohio State. #2 Notre Dame and #3 Army were both idle. #4 California beat Stanford 7-6. #5 North Carolina beat Duke 20-0.

November 27 #1 Michigan, which had completed its season, had 105 of 190 first place votes. #2 Notre Dame defeated Washington 46-0. The annual Army–Navy Game in Philadelphia pitted unbeaten (8-0-0) and #3 Army against winless (0-8-0) Navy, and 102,000 fans turned out to watch the mismatch, including President Truman. It was a surprise when the Midshipmen scored first, but Army went ahead 21-14 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter, Navy pushed the Cadets back to their own goal line, and took the punt at midfield. In six plays, Navy drove down to the four yard line, and Bill Hawkins crashed into the end zone to make it 21-20. Roger Drew added the point after to ruin Army's perfect record, 21-21.^[3] #4 North Carolina won at Virginia 34-12, and #5 California had finished its season. The final poll was released on November 29, although some colleges had not completed their schedules.

On December 4, #2 Notre Dame‘s perfect record was compromised in Los Angeles with a 14-14 tie against unranked USC.

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1948 Big 7 football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#5 Oklahoma $	5	–	0	–	0	10	–	1	–	0
Missouri	5	–	1	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Kansas	4	–	2	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Colorado	2	–	3	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Iowa State	2	–	4	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Nebraska	2	–	4	–	0	2	–	8	–	0
Kansas State	0	–	6	–	0	1	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1948 Big Ten football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#1 Michigan $	6	–	0	–	0	9	–	0	–	0
#7 Northwestern	5	–	1	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
#16 Minnesota	5	–	2	–	0	7	–	2	–	0
Ohio State	3	–	3	–	0	6	–	3	–	0
Iowa	2	–	4	–	0	4	–	5	–	0
Purdue	2	–	4	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Indiana	2	–	4	–	0	2	–	7	–	0
Illinois	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Wisconsin	1	–	5	–	0	2	–	7	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1948 Lone Star Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Southwest Texas State †	6	–	0	–	0	8	–	1	–	0
North Texas State	4	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Stephen F. Austin	3	–	2	–	1	7	–	2	–	1
Trinity	2	–	2	–	2	6	–	2	–	2
Houston	3	–	3	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
East Texas State	1	–	4	–	1	3	–	6	–	1
Sam Houston State	0	–	6	–	0	0	–	9	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1948 MSC football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Utah $	5	–	0	–	0	8	–	1	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1948 PCC football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#4 California * +	6	–	0	–	0	10	–	1	–	0
#9 Oregon +	7	–	0	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
USC	4	–	2	–	0	6	–	3	–	1
Washington State	4	–	3	–	1	4	–	5	–	1
Stanford	3	–	4	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Oregon State	2	–	3	–	2	5	–	4	–	3
Washington	2	–	5	–	1	2	–	7	–	1
UCLA	2	–	6	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Idaho	1	–	5	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Montana	0	–	3	–	0	3	–	7	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions * – Selected as Rose Bowl representative

1948 SEC football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#8 Georgia $	6	–	0	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
#15 Ole Miss	6	–	1	–	0	8	–	1	–	0
#13 Tulane	5	–	1	–	0	9	–	1	–	0
#12 Vanderbilt	4	–	2	–	1	8	–	2	–	1
Georgia Tech	4	–	3	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Alabama	4	–	4	–	1	6	–	4	–	1
Mississippi State	3	–	3	–	0	4	–	4	–	1
Tennessee	2	–	3	–	1	4	–	4	–	2
Kentucky	1	–	3	–	1	5	–	3	–	2
Florida	1	–	5	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
LSU	1	–	5	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Auburn	0	–	7	–	0	1	–	8	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1948 Southern Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#11 Clemson $	5	–	0	–	0	11	–	0	–	0
#3 North Carolina	4	–	0	–	1	9	–	1	–	1
VMI	5	–	1	–	0	6	–	3	–	0
#17 William & Mary	5	–	1	–	1	7	–	2	–	2
#20 Wake Forest	5	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Maryland	4	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Duke	3	–	2	–	1	4	–	3	–	2
Richmond	3	–	3	–	1	5	–	3	–	2
Washington and Lee	2	–	2	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Furman	2	–	4	–	0	2	–	6	–	1
George Washington	2	–	4	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Davidson	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	5	–	1
South Carolina	1	–	3	–	0	3	–	5	–	0
NC State	1	–	4	–	1	3	–	6	–	1
VPI	0	–	6	–	1	0	–	8	–	1
The Citadel	0	–	5	–	0	2	–	7	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1948 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#10 SMU $	5	–	0	–	1	9	–	1	–	1
Texas	4	–	1	–	1	7	–	3	–	1
Baylor	3	–	2	–	1	6	–	3	–	2
Rice	3	–	2	–	1	5	–	4	–	1
Arkansas	2	–	4	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
TCU	1	–	4	–	1	4	–	5	–	1
Texas A&M	0	–	5	–	1	0	–	9	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1948 Yankee Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
New Hampshire $	3	–	1	–	0	5	–	3	–	0
Connecticut	2	–	1	–	0	3	–	5	–	0
Vermont	1	–	1	–	0	4	–	3	–	1
UMass	1	–	1	–	1	3	–	4	–	1
Maine	1	–	2	–	0	4	–	3	–	0
Rhode Island	1	–	3	–	0	2	–	4	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Final polls

Main article: 1948 NCAA football rankings

Bowl games

Bowl		points		points
Rose Bowl	#7 Northwestern Wildcats	20	#4 California Golden Bears	14
Sugar Bowl	#5 Oklahoma Sooners	14	#3 North Carolina Tar Heels	6
Orange Bowl	Texas Longhorns	41	#8 Georgia Bulldogs	28
Cotton Bowl	#10 SMU Mustangs	21	#9 Oregon Ducks	13
Sun Bowl	West Virginia	21	Texas School of Mines (UTEP)	12
Gator Bowl	#11 Clemson Tigers	24	Missouri Tigers	23
Tangerine Bowl	Murray State Racers	21	Sul Ross State Lobos	21
Dixie Bowl	Baylor Bears	20	#20 Wake Forest Demon Deacons	7
Raisin Bowl	Occidental Tigers	21	Colorado State Rams	20
Harbor Bowl	Villanova Wildcats	27	Nevada Wolfpack	7
Salad Bowl	Drake Bulldogs	14	Arizona Wildcats	13
Delta Bowl	#17 William & Mary Indians	20	Oklahoma A&M Cowboys	0
Shrine Bowl	Hardin–Simmons Cowboys	40	Ouachita Baptist Tigers	12
Camellia Bowl	Hardin–Simmons Cowboys	49	Wichita State Shockers	12

Other champions

Minor conferences

Conference	Champion(s)	Record
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Alma	5–0–0

References

↑ http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf1948.htm
↑ http://www.appollarchive.com/football/ap/seasons.cfm?appollid=102
↑ "Navy Deadlocks Mighty Army Eleven, 21 to 21", The Charleston (WV) Gazette, Nov. 28, 1948, p19

NCAA football seasons

Pre-regulation	1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905

IAAUS/NCAA	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

NCAA University Division/ Division I	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

NCAA Division I-A/FBS	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

NCAA Division I-AA/FCS	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

NCAA Division II	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

NCAA Division III	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

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