1944 NCAA Division I-A football season

1944 NCAA football season
First AP #1 of season	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Number of bowls	5
Champion	Army (AP)
Heisman	Les Horvath, Ohio State QB/FB
← 1943 College football seasons 1945 →

1944 Big 6 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Oklahoma $	4	–	0	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
Iowa State	3	–	1	–	1			6	–	1	–	1
Missouri	2	–	1	–	2			3	–	5	–	2
Nebraska	2	–	3	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
Kansas	1	–	4	–	0			3	–	6	–	1
Kansas State	1	–	4	–	0			2	–	5	–	2
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1944 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 Ohio State $	6	–	0	–	0			9	–	0	–	0
No. 8 Michigan	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
Purdue	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Minnesota	3	–	2	–	1			5	–	3	–	1
Indiana	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
No. 15 Illinois	3	–	3	–	0			5	–	4	–	1
Wisconsin	2	–	4	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Northwestern	0	–	5	–	1			1	–	7	–	1
Iowa	0	–	6	–	0			1	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1944 IIAC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Northern Illinois State	3	–	0	–	0			7	–	0	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1944 NCAA independents football records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Army			–					9	–	0	–	0
Yale			–					7	–	0	–	1
Miami (OH)			–					8	–	1	–	0
Michigan State			–					6	–	1	–	0
No. 9 Notre Dame			–					8	–	2	–	0
Central Michigan			–					5	–	2	–	0
No. 4 Navy			–					6	–	3	–	0
Penn State			–					6	–	3	–	0
West Virginia			–					5	–	3	–	1
Western Michigan			–					4	–	3	–	0
Villanova			–					4	–	4	–	0
Drexel			–					2	–	2	–	0
Pittsburgh			–					4	–	5	–	0
Miami (FL)			–					1	–	7	–	1
Rankings from AP Poll

1944 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Oklahoma A&M $	1	–	0	–	0			8	–	1	–	0
Tulsa	0	–	1	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
Drake	0	–	0	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
$ – Conference champion

1944 MSC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Colorado $	2	–	0	–	0			6	–	2	–	0
Utah	1	–	2	–	1			5	–	2	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1944 New England Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
New Hampshire $		1	–	1					1	–	3
Maine $		1	–	1					2	–	2
Connecticut		0	–	0					7	–	1
$ – Conference champion

1944 PCC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 7 USC $	3	–	0	–	2			8	–	0	–	2
Washington	1	–	1	–	0			5	–	3	–	0
UCLA	1	–	2	–	1			4	–	5	–	1
California	1	–	3	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1944 SEC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 13 Georgia Tech $	4	–	0	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
No. 12 Tennessee	5	–	0	–	1			7	–	1	–	1
Georgia	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Alabama	3	–	1	–	2			5	–	2	–	2
Mississippi State	3	–	2	–	0			6	–	2	–	0
LSU	2	–	3	–	1			2	–	5	–	1
Ole Miss	2	–	3	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
Tulane	1	–	2	–	0			4	–	3	–	0
Kentucky	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Florida	0	–	3	–	0			4	–	3	–	0
Auburn	0	–	4	–	0			4	–	4	–	0
Vanderbilt	0	–	0	–	0			3	–	0	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1944 NCAA football season was played during the Second World War. The football team of the United States Military Academy, more popularly known as Army, was crowned as the nation’s #1 team by 95 of the 121 writers who participated in the AP Poll. As in 1943, the AP poll included service teams, drawn from flight schools and training centers which were preparing men for fighting in World War II, and the teams played against the colleges as part of their schedules. Half of the final Top 20 teams were composed of service teams, in addition to the two service academies at West Point and Annapolis. Most colleges that had suspended their programs in 1943 were back in 1944, including the entire Southeastern Conference.

In the AP poll, each participating writer listed his choice for the top ten teams, and points were tallied based on 10 for first place, 9 for second, etc., and the AP then ranked the top twenty results.

On September 16 the Great Lakes Naval Training Center team defeated Fort Sheridan, 62–0, before a crowd of 25,000 at its base north of Chicago. Michigan beat Iowa Pre-Flight, 12–7 before a crowd of 22,000 in Ann Arbor.

September 23 Great Lakes won at Purdue, 27–18. In Milwaukee, Michigan beat Marquette 14–0. At San Antonio, Randolph Field defeated Abilene Field, 67–0.

September 30 Notre Dame won at Pittsburgh 58–0. Great Lakes and Illinois played to a 26-26 tie. Michigan lost to Indiana, 20–0. In Houston, Randolph Field beat Rice 59–0. Army beat North Carolina, 46–0. North Carolina Pre-Flight, quarterbacked by Otto Graham (formerly of Northwestern, and a future Cleveland Browns star) upset Navy, 21–14.

October 7 Notre Dame beat Tulane 26-0 and Army defeated Brown 59-7. In games between service teams and colleges, the servicemen triumphed, as N.C. Pre-Flight won at Duke, 13-6, Great Lakes won at Northwestern 25-0, and Randolph Field won at Texas 42-6. In the poll that followed, Notre Dame was first, and Army third, with the service teams occupying the other spots.

October 14 In Boston, #1 Notre Dame beat Dartmouth, 64-0. #2 North Carolina Pre-Flight was tied by Virginia, 13-13. #3 Army beat Pittsburgh, 69-7. #4 Randolph Field, quarterbacked by “Bullet Bill” Dudley, beat SMU at home in San Antonio, 41-0.#5 Great Lakes beat Western Michigan 38-0. #8 Ohio State won at Wisconsin, 20-7 and #11 Iowa Pre-Flight won at Purdue, 13-6. N.C. Pre-Flight and Great Lakes fell out of the top five: 1.Notre Dame 2.Army 3.Randolph Field 4.Ohio State 5.Iowa Pre-Flight.

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Wikipedia