The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-12-20
NOTRE DAME AND BIC TEN
 OUTSTANDING
By EDWARD P. (SLCP) MADIGAN Nationally Known Football COach)
 Written for United PreSS)

Written for United PresS)
 The Big Ten and Notre Dame played the best intercollegiate foot ball during the 1945 season and each of the seasons during the war period
 The brand of football played by the two academies, military and Naval was so far superior to the brand played by other colleges and universities during the war era that these two teams stood out eminently if we are to classify them as college teams.
 The fact is West Point and An napolis should be classified with the service teams during the war period, such as Great Lakes, 1943; Iowa pre- flight, 1943; Fleet City, 1945; Fl Toro Marines, 1945.
 In peace times the Army and Navy Academies would rightfully be classified as college teams because the material available during nor nal times is about on the same level as other colleges and univer- sites. But during the war both academies, because of the continuity of their curricula, and the necessity of developing future officers, pos sessed older and more mature play CTS with vastly more gr1dlron ex- perience. The other colleges were faced with academic interruptions by Selective Service and enlistments which in most cases cut their age and experience brackets down to the minimum.
 Therefore, in making this evalua- tion, I have to distinguish between college teams and service teams.
 Credit should be given to the midwest and particularly to the Big Ten conference and Notre Dame for carrying on the great game of in tercollegiate football during the war era.
 Many eastern teams gave up the game of football. The same was true on the Pacific slope. The Southeast ern Conference abandoned football for a year. It remained for the Big Ten to be the bell-wetther Of Am erican football.
 It is the concensus of coaches and writers that if football had tolded in the Big Ten there would not have been any football during the war, and it was in the Big Ten and Notre Dame that the best brand if intercollegiate football was play ed during these trying years.
 Navy Commended
 The United States Navy, as a whole, should be commended TOT the manner in which it fought for football and athletics as a whole. In each of the war years several Naval stations produced the na- tion's outstanding football teams, and to the officers and personnel of the Navy should be extended a grateful hand by all lovers of the sport.
 The Indiana team of 145, Big Ten champions, the Ohio State team of 1944, Big Ten champions and the Notre Dame team of 1943 are teams that would compare fav- orably with the best of pre-war years.
 While comparative scores mean little, they do give an index to the comparative strength of various sections of the country. This is evi- fenced by the successive high point victories that Notre Dame ran up against Dartmouth, Tulane and Georgia Tech; by the success Big Ten teams like Indiana, Ohio State and Minnesota scored against teams of the Big Six conference; victories of Illinois over Pittsburgh and Michigan over Pennsylvania.
 feel that there were more repre- sentative teams throughout the midwest than in any section of the country.
 Pacific Dips to Low
 Alabama's rejuvenation after dropping football in 1943 produced 8 fine team this year. However, that is more or less singular in stance in the whole South.
 The Pacific coast, Amous for her great football teams in pre-War days, slipped to an all-time low. Four of its 10 Pacific coast confer ence teams, and St. Mary's of the independents, remained to make the courageous fight. California, USC UCLA and Washington kept the ball rolling. St. Mary's was hand somely rewarded for her perserver- ance by producing the best football team on the Pacific coast during the past season.
 Intersectional games were held to 2 minimum during the war period, which makes comparison very diffi- cult. However, coached Iowa in the Big Ten for two war seasons, and this year I watched the great Army team run dyer Notre Dame in New York, mad have seen many or all the Intercollegiate, as well as service teams, on the Pacific coast.
 Tn my humble opinion the palm