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1944 Purdue

5–⁠5 (4–⁠2 Western Conference), coached by Cecil Isbell.

Schedule and results

Purdue in 1944, game by game: lost at Great Lakes Navy 18–27; won vs. Marquette 40–7; won at Illinois 35–19; lost vs. No. 11 Iowa Pre-Flight 6–13; won at Iowa 26–7; lost at Michigan 14–40; won vs. Wisconsin 35–0; won at Northwestern 27–7; lost at No. 3 Navy 0–32; lost vs. Indiana 6–14+35−32Lost 18–27 at Great Lakes Navy-9Great Lakes NavyWon 40–7 vs. Marquette+33MarquetteWon 35–19 at Illinois+16IllinoisLost 6–13 vs. No. 11 Iowa Pre-Flight-7No. 11 Iowa Pre-FlightWon 26–7 at Iowa+19IowaLost 14–40 at Michigan-26MichiganWon 35–0 vs. Wisconsin+35WisconsinWon 27–7 at Northwestern+20NorthwesternLost 0–32 at No. 3 Navy-32No. 3 NavyLost 6–14 vs. Indiana-8Indiana
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 23atGreat Lakes NavyL 18–⁠2738%
Sep 30vsMarquetteW 40–⁠770%
Oct 7atIllinoisW 35–⁠1958%
Oct 14vs11Iowa Pre-FlightL 6–⁠1352%
Oct 21atIowaW 26–⁠768%
Oct 28atMichiganL 14–⁠4036%
Nov 4vsWisconsinW 35–⁠080%
Nov 11atNorthwesternW 27–⁠758%
Nov 18at3NavyL 0–⁠3231%
Nov 25vsIndianaL 6–⁠1462%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Indiana 14–⁠6; unranked in the final AP poll; 3rd in the Western Conference.

In program history: The 36th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 135 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 7
  2. Wk 2: 11
  3. Wk 3: 10
  4. Wk 6: 14

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1944.

Record
5–⁠5
Conference
4–⁠2 3rd in Western Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 7
Points
207–⁠166
Coach
Cecil Isbell
Elo
1577 −11 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
18.5 No. 15 of 95 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captain
Babe Dimancheff
Most valuable player
Babe Dimancheff

Drafted in 1945

The 1945 draft
Rd 6Dick Barwegan OGBrooklyn Tigers

All-Big Ten

2 first team, 1 second team

First team

Second team

  • Pat O’BrienOTUP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1944 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1944 Western Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Ohio State6–⁠09–⁠02
Michigan5–⁠28–⁠28
Purdue4–⁠25–⁠5
Minnesota3–⁠2–⁠15–⁠3–⁠1
Indiana4–⁠37–⁠3
Illinois3–⁠35–⁠4–⁠115
Wisconsin2–⁠43–⁠6
Northwestern0–⁠5–⁠11–⁠7–⁠1
Iowa0–⁠61–⁠7

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.