Army was the unanimous No. 1 choice by all 116 voters in the final AP poll and was rated as national champion by all nine contemporary title selectors.[1] The undefeated 1945 Army team was one of the strongest of all time, as during World War II, loose player transfer rules allowed service academies to assemble many of the nation's best players.[2]
The year's statistical leaders included halfbackBob Fenimore of Oklahoma A&M with 1,641 yards of total offense and 1,048 rushing yards, quarterbackAl Dekdebrun ofCornell with 1,227 passing yards, and endReid Moseley ofGeorgia with 662 receiving yards.
The Associated Press did not poll the writers until the third week of the season. Among the teams that had been ranked in the top six at the end of 1944, only the two service academies (Army and Navy) as well as Ohio State, were still playing a regular schedule. 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.
OnSeptember 15, Michigan beat Great Lakes Navy, 27–2. OnSeptember 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.
OnOctober 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. The year's first AP Poll was led by No. 1 Army, No. 2 Navy, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 5 Minnesota.
October 13 At Yankee Stadium in New York,No. 1 Army beat No. 9 Michigan, 28–7.No. 2 Navy stayed unscored upon with a 28–0 win over Penn State.No. 3 Notre Dame beat Dartmouth, 34–0.No. 4 Ohio State beat Wisconsin, 12–0.No. 5 Minnesota beat Fort Warren, 14–0. The top five in the AP Poll remained the same.
October 20No. 1 Army beat Melville PT Boats 55–13.In Baltimore,No. 2 Navy beat Georgia Tech 20–6.No. 3 Notre Dame won at Pittsburgh, 39–9.No. 4 Ohio State lost to No. 9 Purdue, 35–13.No. 5 Minnesota defeated Northwestern, 30–7. The new top five was No. 1 Army, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Navy, No. 4 Purdue, and No. 5 Minnesota.
October 27 In New York,No. 1 Army beat No. 19 Duke 48–13.No. 2 Notre Dame beat Iowa 56–0. In Philadelphia,No. 3 Navy defeated No. 7 Penn, 14–7.No. 4 Purdue lost to unranked Northwestern, 26–14.No. 5 Minnesota lost to No. 12 Ohio State, 20–7. In Birmingham, No. 6 Alabama beat Georgia 28–14. No. 8 Indiana beat No. 14 Tulsa 7–2, to reach 5–0–1 and the No. 5 ranking behind Army, Notre Dame, Navy, and Alabama.
November 3No. 1 Army beat Villanova, 54–0.No. 2 Notre Dame andNo. 3 Navy, both 5–0–0, met in Cleveland, and played to a 6–6 tie. In Louisville,No. 4 Alabama defeated Kentucky, 60–19.No. 5 Indiana beat Cornell College of Iowa, 46–6, but dropped to sixth in the next poll. In Los Angeles, No. 8 St. Mary's beat No. 6 USC 26–0 and moved up to fifth place behind Army, Notre Dame, Alabama, and Navy.
November 10No. 1 Army (6–0–0) andNo. 2 Notre Dame (5–0–1) met for a showdown at Yankee Stadium, and it was no contest, with the Cadets winning 48–0.No. 3 Alabama was idle. In Baltimore,No. 4 Navy beat No. 7 Michigan 33–7.No. 5 St. Mary's beat Fresno State, 32–6. No. 6 Indiana won at No. 20 Minnesota, 49–0. The next poll was No. 1 Army, No. 2 Navy, No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 Indiana, and No. 5 St. Mary's.
November 17 In Philadelphia,No. 1 Army beat No. 6 Penn, 61–0.No. 2 Navy defeated Wisconsin 36–7 in Baltimore. In Nashville,No. 3 Alabama beat Vanderbilt, 71–0.No. 4 Indiana won at Pittsburgh, 19–0.No. 5 St. Mary's lost to UCLA, 13–7. No. 7 Notre Dame won at Northwestern 34–7 and moved back up to No. 5, with the top four remaining the same.
November 24No. 1 Army (8–0–0) andNo. 2 Navy (7–0–1), both unbeaten, were idle as they prepared for theArmy–Navy Game.No. 3 Alabama beat the Pensacola Naval Air Station, 55–6.No. 4 Indiana closed its season at 9–0–1 with a 26–0 win over No. 18 Purdue. In New Orleans,No. 5 Notre Dame beat Tulane, 32–6. The top five remained the same.
December 1 In the second No. 1 and No. 2 matchup of the year,No. 1 Army (8–0–0) andNo. 2 Navy (7–0–1) met at theArmy–Navy Game in Philadelphia, with Army winning 32–13 to close a perfect season and a wire-to-wire No. 1 ranking.No. 3 Alabama defeated Mississippi State 55–13 and moved to No. 2 in the final poll with Navy falling to No. 3.Indiana had finished its season and remained at No. 4.No. 5 Notre Dame lost to the Great Lakes Navy team, 39–7. No. 6 Oklahoma A&M, which had finished the season 9–0–0 and accepted an invitation to the Sugar Bowl, rose to fifth in the final poll.
Outscored opponents, 412 to 46. Unanimous No. 1 choice by all 116 voters in the AP poll. Led country intotal offense (462.7 yards per game). FullbackDoc Blanchard won 1945Heisman Trophy. Four consensus All-Americans: Blanchard; halfbackGlenn Davis; tackleTex Coulter; and guardJohn Green. Part of 32-game undefeated streak covering entire 1944, 1945, and 1946 seasons.
SEC champion. DefeatedUSC in1946 Rose Bowl. Led nation intotal defense (109.9 yards per game) and ranked second in total offense (462.7 yards per game).Harry Gilmer had 905 passing yards. CenterVaughn Mancha was a consensus All-American.
Big Ten champion. Outscored opponents, 279 to 56. HalfbackGeorge Taliaferro was first African-American Big Ten rushing leader. EndBob Ravensberg was a consensus All-American.
Longest punts (including roll) 1. Witherspoon, Florida N&I vs. Knoxville - 82 yards 2. Stabler, Charleston Teachers vs. Macomb Teachers - 80 yards 3. Lewis, Texas College vs. Wiley - 76 yards 4. Pattee, Kansas vs. Marquette - 75 yards 4. Perry, Southern vs. Langston - 75 yards 4. Pass, Johnson C. Smith vs. North Carolina College - 75 yards
Longest rushing plays 1. Fleming, Montana State vs. Faragut Navy - 95 yards 1. Engraham, Florida A&M vs. Tuskegee - 95 yards 3. Montgomery, Florida A&M vs. Moorhouse - 92 yards 4. Aschenbrenner, Great Lakes vs. Michigan State - 90 yards 4. Faunce, Minot Teachers vs. Winnipeg Bombers - 90 yards
Longest forward-pass plays 1. Green to Robinson, West Virginia State vs. Virginia State - 100 yards 2. Gray to Fuqua, Vanderbilt vs. LSU - 87 yards 3. Corlett to Fisher, Johnson C. Smith vs. Shaw - 85 yards 4. Powell to Edmonston, California vs. St. Mary's - 83 yards 5. Wieche to Hoover, Miami (OH) vs. Bowling Green - 82 yards
Longest interception runbacks 1. Needs, Oklahoma vs. Kansas State - 100 yards 1. Joiner, Baylor vs. TCU - 100 yards 1. Howard, Iowa State vs. Kansas State - 100 yards 1. Turner, NC State vs. Duke - 100 yards 1. Pfohl, Merchant Marine vs. Ursinus - 100 yards
Longest punt runbacks 1. Goode, Texas A&M vs. Ellington Field - 98 yards 2. Morris, Colorado vs. Utah - 95 yards 3. Robinson, Pittsburgh vs. Michigan State - 87 yards 4. Welch, SMU vs. Blackland AFB - 85 yards 5. Robinson, Pittsburgh vs. Penn State - 84 yards
Longest kickoff runbacks 1. McCandless, Marin JC vs. Santa Rosa - 100 yards 2. Howard, Iowa State vs. Kansas State - 96 yards 3. Talliaferro, Indiana vs. Minnesota - 95 yards 4. Miller, Indiana vs. Nebraska - 94 yards 5. Kishbaugh, Bloomsburg Teachers vs. East Stroudsburg Teachers - 92 yards [13]
^Connelly, Bill (December 10, 2016)."What made 1945 Army the greatest college football team of all time".SBNation. Vox Media, LLC. RetrievedJuly 7, 2022.World War II gave the service academies competitive edges, and the Cadets took maximum advantage, producing perhaps the most dominant season of college football possible.
^Fornelli, Tom (October 13, 2016)."Why Oklahoma State has been named college football's 1945 national champion".CBS Sports. RetrievedDecember 4, 2018.After gathering all the pertinent information and doing our due diligence, it is the pleasure of our Blue Ribbon Commission of coaches to officially recognize Oklahoma State's 1945 championship season with the AFCA Coaches' Trophy.
^Tramel, Berry (August 23, 2017)."Why is Oklahoma State on an island with the retroactive titles?".Daily Oklahoman. RetrievedDecember 4, 2018.The AFCA did not convene a panel of historians ... Instead, the AFCA opened the process up for proposals. It invited schools to nominate teams they felt were deserving. Then a committee would vote yea or nay on said team – the AFCA acknowledged it could hand out multiple awards for the same season [from 1922 to 1949].
^abcdW.J. Bingham, ed. (1946).The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1946. A.S. Barnes and Company. p. 30.
^W.J. Bingham, ed. (1947).The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1946. A.S. Barnes and Company. p. 31.
^abW.J. Bingham, ed. (1946).The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1946. A.S. Barnes and Company.
^W.J. Bingham, ed. (1946).The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1946. A.S. Barnes and Company. p. 34.
^W.J. Bingham, ed. (1946).The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1946. A.S. Barnes and Company. p. 35.
^W.J. Bingham, ed. (1946). The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1946. A.S. Barnes and Company. p. 39.
^W.J. Bingham, ed. (1946). The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1946. A.S. Barnes and Company. pp. 39-40.
