The 1946 season
Notre Dame finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 8–0–1 under Frank Leahy. Army also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Army 0, No. 2 Notre Dame 0 (Nov 9, 1946). 29 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents. Share
Heisman Trophy: Glenn Davis, RB, Army.
The Heisman vote: Glenn Davis 792 points, Charley Trippi 435
| Player | Points | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glenn Davis RB, Army | 792 | ||||
| Charley Trippi RB, Georgia | 435 | ||||
| Johnny Lujack QB, Notre Dame | 379 | ||||
| Doc Blanchard FB, Army | 267 | ||||
| Arnold Tucker QB, Army | 257 | ||||
| Herman Wedemeyer RB, St. Mary’s (CA) | 101 | ||||
| Burr Baldwin E, UCLA | 49 | ||||
| Bobby Layne QB, Texas | 45 |
First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published. Two finishers show identical ballots in the source, which is likely a copying error there.
Scoreboards
Final AP poll
| 1 | Notre Dame | Independent |
| 2 | Army | Independent |
| 3 | Georgia | Southeastern Conference |
| 4 | UCLA | Pacific Coast Conference |
| 5 | Illinois | Western Conference |
| 6 | Michigan | Western Conference |
| 7 | Tennessee | Southeastern Conference |
| 8 | LSU | Southeastern Conference |
| 9 | North Carolina | Southern Conference |
| 10 | Rice | Southwest Conference |
| 11 | Georgia Tech | Southeastern Conference |
| 12 | Yale | Independent |
| 13 | Pennsylvania | Independent |
| 14 | Oklahoma | Big Six |
| 15 | Texas | Southwest Conference |
| 16 | Arkansas | Southwest Conference |
| 17 | Tulsa | Missouri Valley Conference |
| 18 | NC State | Southern Conference |
| 19 | Delaware | Mason-Dixon Conference |
| 20 | Indiana | Western Conference |
Biggest upsets
| Nov 2, 1946 | Princeton 17, 3Pennsylvania 14 |
| Oct 26, 1946 | Wake Forest 19, 4Tennessee 6 |
| Nov 9, 1946 | Arkansas 7, 5Rice 0 |
| Nov 2, 1946 | Ohio State 39, 6Northwestern 27 |
| Nov 16, 1946 | TCU 14, 6Texas 0 |
| Oct 26, 1946 | Illinois 13, 8Michigan 9 |
| Nov 28, 1946 | Tulsa 14, 10Arkansas 13 |
| Oct 12, 1946 | Indiana 14, 12Illinois 7 |
| Oct 19, 1946 | Georgia Tech 26, 12LSU 7 |
| Oct 26, 1946 | Virginia Tech 14, 12NC State 6 |
| Oct 26, 1946 | 16Rice 18, 3Texas 13 |
| Nov 9, 1946 | Duke 13, 13Wake Forest 0 |
Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.
The AP poll, week by week
Climbed
- North Carolinaunranked → No. 9
- Riceunranked → No. 10
- Georgia Techunranked → No. 11
- Oklahomaunranked → No. 14
- Tulsaunranked → No. 17
Fell
- AlabamaNo. 6 → unranked
- NorthwesternNo. 10 → unranked
- ColumbiaNo. 11 → unranked
- TexasNo. 1 → No. 15
- Ohio StateNo. 14 → unranked
From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.
National leaders
| Passing yards | Bobby Layne (Texas) | 1,122 yds |
|---|---|---|
| Passing touchdowns | Bill Mackrides (Nevada) | 17 TD |
| Passer rating | Bill Mackrides (Nevada) | 176.9 |
| Rushing yards | Ruby Mobley (Hardin-Simmons) | 1,262 yds |
| Yards per carry | Roger Stephens (Cincinnati) | 7.7 |
| Receptions | Neill Armstrong (Arizona State) | 32 catches |
| Receiving yards | Broughton Williams (Florida) | 490 yds |
| Yards per catch | Broughton Williams (Florida) | 16.9 |
| Points | Gene Roberts (Chattanooga) | 117 pts |
| Total offense | Travis Tidwell (Auburn) | 1,715 yds |
| Total offense per game | Travis Tidwell (Auburn) | 171.5 |
| Punt return yards | Harry Gilmer (Alabama) | 436 yds |
| Punt return average | Harold Griffin (Florida) | 20.1 |
| Kickoff return yards | Forrest Hall (San Francisco) | 573 yds |
| Kickoff return average | Forrest Hall (San Francisco) | 38.2 |
The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.
Conference champions
Major college
- Missouri Valley Conference
- Tulsa
- Pacific Coast Conference
- UCLA
- Rocky Mountain Conference
- Montana State
- Skyline Conference
- Utah State
- Southern Conference
- North Carolina
- Western Conference
- Illinois
Small college
- California Collegiate Athletic Conference
- San José State
- Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
- Morgan State
- Lone Star Conference
- North Texas
- Louisiana Intercollegiate Conference
- SE Louisiana
- Mason-Dixon Conference
- Delaware
- Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
- Southeast Missouri State
- Midwestern Conference
- Tennessee State
- Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
- St. Thomas (MN)
- New England Conference
- UConn
- North Central Conference
- Northern Iowa
- Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
- Florida A&M
- Southwestern Athletic Conference
- Southern
- Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference
- Abilene Christian
From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.
Consensus All-Americans
- EBurr Baldwin, UCLA
- EHub Bechtol, Texas
- EHank Foldberg, Army
- RBGeorge Connor, Notre Dame
- OTDick Huffman, Tennessee
- OG/OTWarren Amling, Ohio State
- OGWeldon Humble, Rice
- OGAlex Agase, Illinois
- CPaul Duke, Georgia Tech
- QBJohnny Lujack, Notre Dame
- RBCharley Trippi, Georgia
- RBGlenn Davis, Army
- FBFelix Blanchard, Army
Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1946 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1946 All-America teams page.
The 1946 awards
Every awardFrom the newspapers
Read the text
Illinois Tramples Bruins Dazzling Display Of Power Proves Too Much For UCLA PASADENA, Calf, Jan. 1-(P)c Illinois, with a dazzling display Of strength that stopped everyone but a record-breaking UCLA halfback belted the favored Bruins all over the Rose Bowl today and walked of with a stunning 45–14 victory in the 33rd edition of the Tournament Of Roses. Inaugurating the Big Nine Pacific Coast conference five-year pact, with an amazed throng of more than go, 900 spectators packed into the big bowl under a c%loudless sky, the supposedly weak-on-offense Hi. nj Numbered along from the first and were never behind Or ever threatened after they got going ir the second quarter. The one-and only big thrill sup porters Of previously unbeater UCLA got came late in the second quarter when little Al Hoisch, 143’ pound mite, fielded a kickoff three yards back of his own goal ano bolted back up the field through the Ilini, racing On the full dis lance of the field for a touchdown, The run, the longest and the only one from a kickoff in Rose Bow history, was listed as 1903 yards. The first half told the story Coach Raw Eliot’s so-called little
Bowls and playoff
Scoreboard| Jan 1, 1947 | Cincinnati 18, Virginia Tech 6Sun Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1947 | 3Georgia 20, 11North Carolina 10Sugar Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1947 | 7Georgia Tech 41, Saint Mary’s (CA) 19Oil Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1947 | 5Illinois 45, 4UCLA 14Rose Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1947 | 9LSU 0, 10Arkansas 0Cotton Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1947 | New Mexico 13, Montana State 13Harbor Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1947 | 17Oklahoma 34, NC State 13Gator Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1947 | 13Rice 8, 8Tennessee 0Orange Bowl |
| Jan 4, 1947 | Hardin Simmons 20, Denver 0Alamo Bowl |