The 1947 season
Notre Dame finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 9–0 under Frank Leahy. Michigan also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Notre Dame 38, No. 3 USC 7 (Dec 6, 1947). 27 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents. Share
Heisman Trophy: Johnny Lujack, QB/DB, Notre Dame.
The Heisman vote: Johnny Lujack 742 points, Bob Chappuis 555
| Player | Points | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Lujack QB, Notre Dame | 742 | ||||
| Bob Chappuis RB, Michigan | 555 | ||||
| Doak Walker RB, SMU | 196 | ||||
| Charlie Conerly RB/QB, Ole Miss | 186 | ||||
| Harry Gilmer RB, Alabama | 115 | ||||
| Bobby Layne QB, Texas | 75 | ||||
| Chuck Bednarik C, Penn | 65 | ||||
| Bill Swiacki E, Columbia | 61 |
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 | Michigan | Western Conference |
| 3 | SMU | Southwest Conference |
| 4 | Penn State | Independent |
| 5 | Texas | Southwest Conference |
| 6 | Alabama | Southeastern Conference |
| 7 | Pennsylvania | Independent |
| 8 | USC | Pacific Coast Conference |
| 9 | North Carolina | Southern Conference |
| 10 | Georgia Tech | Southeastern Conference |
| 11 | Army | Independent |
| 12 | Kansas | Big Six |
| 13 | Ole Miss | Southeastern Conference |
| 14 | William & Mary | Southern Conference |
| 15 | California | Pacific Coast Conference |
| 16 | Oklahoma | Big Six |
| 17 | NC State | Southern Conference |
| 18 | Rice | Southwest Conference |
| 19 | Duke | Southern Conference |
| 20 | Columbia | Independent |
Biggest upsets
| Oct 25, 1947 | Purdue 14, 5Illinois 7 |
| Oct 25, 1947 | Columbia 21, 6Army 20 |
| Oct 11, 1947 | Kentucky 26, 9Georgia 0 |
| Oct 18, 1947 | Wisconsin 9, 12Yale 0 |
| Nov 22, 1947 | Northwestern 28, 12Illinois 13 |
| Nov 8, 1947 | Missouri 28, 13Duke 7 |
| Jan 1, 1948 | Arkansas 21, 13William & Mary 19 |
| Nov 8, 1947 | Minnesota 26, 14Purdue 21 |
| Oct 18, 1947 | SMU 14, 15Rice 0 |
| Nov 1, 1947 | William & Mary 21, 15Wake Forest 0 |
| Oct 18, 1947 | 20Kentucky 14, 10Vanderbilt 0 |
| Nov 22, 1947 | NC State 7, 16Virginia 2 |
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
- SMUunranked → No. 3
- Alabamaunranked → No. 6
- Kansasunranked → No. 12
- USCNo. 20 → No. 8
- William & Maryunranked → No. 14
Fell
- IllinoisNo. 6 → unranked
- GeorgiaNo. 9 → unranked
- VanderbiltNo. 10 → unranked
- YaleNo. 14 → unranked
From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.
National leaders
| Passing yards | Fred Enke (Arizona) | 1,406 yds |
|---|---|---|
| Passing touchdowns | Charlie Conerly (Ole Miss) | 18 TD |
| Passer rating | Bobby Layne (Texas) | 138.9 |
| Rushing yards | Wilton Davis (Hardin-Simmons) | 1,173 yds |
| Yards per carry | Jack Kurkowski (Detroit Mercy) | 10.1 |
| Receptions | Barney Poole (Ole Miss) | 52 catches |
| Receiving yards | John Smith (Arizona) | 568 yds |
| Yards per catch | John Smith (Arizona) | 18.3 |
| Points | Lu Gambino (Maryland) | 96 pts |
| Total offense | Fred Enke (Arizona) | 1,941 yds |
| Total offense per game | Fred Enke (Arizona) | 194.1 |
| Punt return yards | Lindy Berry (TCU) | 493 yds |
| Punt return average | Gene Derricotte (Michigan) | 24.8 |
| Kickoff return yards | Doak Walker (SMU) | 387 yds |
| Kickoff return average | Skip Minisi (Pennsylvania) | 28.8 |
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
- Border Conference
- Texas Tech
- Mid-American Conference
- Cincinnati
- Missouri Valley Conference
- Tulsa
- Pacific Coast Conference
- USC
- Rocky Mountain Conference
- Montana State
- Skyline Conference
- Utah
- Southeastern Conference
- Ole Miss
- Southern Conference
- William & Mary
- Southwest Conference
- SMU
- Western Conference
- Michigan
Small college
- Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
- Southern Illinois
- Lone Star Conference
- North Texas
- Louisiana Intercollegiate Conference
- Louisiana Tech
- Midwestern Conference
- Tennessee State
- Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
- St. Thomas (MN)
- North Central Conference
- Northern Iowa and South Dakota (shared)
- Northern California Athletic Conference
- UC Davis
- Southeastern Athletic Conference
- Bethune-Cookman
- Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
- Florida A&M
- Southwestern Athletic Conference
- Southern
- Washington Intercollegiate Conference
- Eastern Washington
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
- EPaul Cleary, USC
- EBill Swiacki, Columbia
- OTBobby Davis, Georgia Tech
- RBGeorge Connor, Notre Dame
- OGWilliam Fischer, Notre Dame
- OGJoe Steffy, Army
- CChuck Bednarik, Pennsylvania
- QBJohnny Lujack, Notre Dame
- QBBobby Layne, Texas
- RBCharlie Conerly, Mississippi
- RBBob Chappuis, Michigan
- RBDoak Walker, SMU
Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1947 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1947 All-America teams page.
The 1947 awards
Every awardFrom the newspapers
Read the text
New Poll 10 Be Taken On Irish, Wolverines NEW YORK, Jan. 3.-The Asso. eiated Press is polling sports ed. tors OF It’s member papers through out the country to help settle the argument as to which Is the better football team-Michigan or Notre Dame The APPS final poll Of the TOP 10 teams, released December 8 at the conclusion of the regulation season, resulted in Notre Dame win ming first place with 1,410 points Michigan was second with 1929 While the latest poll-which will be released to afternoon papers OF next Tuesday-will not supersede the regular season-end poll, it is intended to serve as a final summing up of opinion on the two teams. Each paper is to ballot on which team it likes-as of now-Michigan or Notre Dame-as result of Mich igan’s 49–0 Rose Bowl victory over Southern California. Notre Dame beat U. S. c., 38–7. in the final game of the regulation season on which the last previous AP poll was taken. Returns so far received indicate that voting in this latest poll Is likely to be the heaviest ever recorded
Bowls and playoff
Scoreboard| Dec 6, 1947 | Kentucky 24, Villanova 14Great Lakes Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1948 | Arkansas 21, 13William & Mary 19Dixie Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1948 | 9Georgia Tech 20, 13Kansas 14Orange Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1948 | Maryland 20, Georgia 20Gator Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1948 | Miami (OH) 13, Texas Tech 12Sun Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1948 | 2Michigan 49, 3USC 0Rose Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1948 | 12Ole Miss 13, TCU 9Delta Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1948 | 5Penn State 13, 4SMU 13Cotton Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1948 | 6Texas 27, 7Alabama 7Sugar Bowl |