1950 college football season The 1950 college football season finished with the unbeaten and untied Oklahoma Sooners being the overwhelming choice for national champion . On New Year ’ s Day , the 9 - 0 - 0 Sooners were upset by the 10 - 1 - 0 Kentucky Wildcats in the Sugar Bowl . The # 2 team , the United States Military Academy ( Army ) had been defeated in its final regular season game by 2 - 6 - 0 Navy , 14 - 2 . However , the final poll had been issued on November 27 , and the bowl games had no effect on Oklahoma ’ s status as the # 1 team . During the 20th century , the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as " Division I - A " . The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of " wire service " ( AP and UPI ) polls . The extent of that recognition came in the form of acknowledgment in the annual " NCAA Football Guide " of the " unofficial " national champions . The AP poll in 1950 consisted of the votes of as many as 317 sportswriters . Though not all writers voted in every poll , each would give their opinion of the ten best teams . Under a point system of 10 points for first place , 9 for second , etc . , the " overall " ranking was determined , and the top twenty colleges were ranked based on their overall points . Starting in 1950 , the United Press ( later UPI ) began the " coaches ' poll " . " Thirty - five of the nation ' s foremost football coaches will rate the country ' s top collegiate football teams each week for the United Press this coming season , " an announcement stated , with " five coaches from each section of the country - - the east , midlands , midwest , Pacific coast , the Rockies , south and southwest " . The UP added , referring to the AP writers ' poll , " The nature of the board giving each section of the country equal representation avoids the sectional bias and ballot box stuffing for which other football polls have been criticized . " . The coaches named Notre Dame as the # 1 team in the first UP poll , with 25 of the 35 first place votes . Generally , the top teams played on New Year ' s Day in the four major postseason bowl games : the Rose Bowl ( near Los Angeles at Pasadena ) , the Sugar Bowl ( New Orleans ) , the Orange Bowl ( Miami ) , and the Cotton Bowl ( Dallas ) . September . For the first time , the Associated Press issued a " preseason poll " , before most teams played their first games . In the poll released on September 25 , 1950 , the defending champion Fighting Irish of Notre Dame were the overwhelming choice for first , with 101 of 123 first place votes . Far behind were # 2 Army , # 3 Michigan , # 4 Tennessee and # 5 Texas ( which had won at Texas Tech 28 - 14 ) . As the regular season progressed , a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend ' s games . On September 30 # 1 Notre Dame beat # 20 North Carolina 14 - 7 . # 2 Army beat Colgate 28 - 0 , # 3 Michigan lost to # 10 Michigan State 14 - 7 . # 4 Tennessee lost at Mississippi State , 7 - 0 . # 5 Texas beat Purdue , 34 - 26 , but fell to 7th . # 6 Oklahoma beat Boston College 28 - 0 . # 10 SMU , which had beaten Georgia Tech 33 - 13 , and Ohio State 32 - 27 , rose to 3rd . October . October 7 # 1 Notre Dame lost to Purdue , 28 - 14 , and eventually finished with a 4 - 4 - 1 record . # 2 Michigan State lost to Maryland , 34 - 7 . # 3 SMU won at Missouri 21 - 0 . # 4 Army beat Penn State 41 - 7 . # 5 Oklahoma beat Texas A & M 34 - 28 . # 6 Kentucky registered a fourth shutout and a 4 - 0 record , with a 40 - 0 win against Dayton . # 7 Texas , which was idle , rose to 4th place . October 14 # 1 Army beat # 18 Michigan 27 - 6 at Yankee Stadium . # 2 SMU beat Oklahoma State 56 - 0 . # 3 Oklahoma and # 4 Texas met in Dallas , with Oklahoma winning narrowly , 14 - 13 . # 5 Kentucky beat Cincinnati 41 - 7 . # 7 California , which had beaten USC 13 - 7 , rose to 5th in the next poll . October 21 # 1 Army won at Harvard 49 - 0 . # 2 Oklahoma beat Kansas State 58 - 0 . In Houston , # 3 SMU beat # 15 Rice 42 - 21 . In Philadelphia , # 4 Kentucky beat Villanova 34 - 7 . # 5 California beat Oregon State in Portland 27 - 0 October 28 # 1 SMU was idle . # 2 Army won at Columbia 34 - 0 . # 3 Oklahoma won at Iowa State 20 - 7 . In Atlanta , # 4 Kentucky beat Georgia Tech 28 - 14 . # 5 California beat St . Mary ’ s 40 - 25 and dropped in the polls . # 6 Ohio State beat Iowa 83 - 21 November . November 4 # 1 SMU lost at # 7 Texas , 23 - 20 . # 2 Army won at # 15 Pennsylvania 28 - 13 . # 3 Oklahoma won at Colorado 27 - 18 . # 4 Ohio State won at Northwestern 32 - 0 . # 5 Kentucky beat # 17 Florida 40 - 6 . # 7 Texas beat SMU 23 - 20 , and returned to the top five . November 11 # 1 Army beat New Mexico 51 - 0 . # 2 Ohio State beat # 15 Wisconsin 19 - 14 . # 3 Oklahoma won at # 19 Kansas , 33 - 13 . # 4 Kentucky won at Mississippi State , 48 - 21 . # 5 Texas beat Baylor 27 - 20 . # 6 California , which was 7 - 0 - 0 after a 35 - 0 win against # 19 UCLA , rose to 4th . November 18 # 1 Ohio State lost at # 8 Illinois , 14 - 7 . # 2 Oklahoma beat Missouri 41 - 7 . # 3 Army won at Stanford 7 - 0 . # 4 California defeated San Francisco 13 - 7 . # 5 Kentucky handed visiting North Dakota an 83 - 0 defeat to extend its record to 9 - 0 - 0 , but still faced a final game was against 8 - 1 - 0 Tennessee . # 6 Texas won at TCU 21 - 7 . November 25 # 1 Oklahoma beat # 16 Nebraska 49 - 35 . # 2 Army was idle as it prepared for the Army – Navy Game . # 3 Kentucky lost at # 9 Tennessee , 7 - 0 . # 4 California and unranked Stanford played to a 7 - 7 tie in Berkeley . # 5 Texas beat Texas A & M 21 - 6 . Michigan beat Ohio State in the famous Snow Bowl 9 - 3 . The final poll was released on November 27 , although some colleges had not completed their schedules . On December 2 , with its champion status assured , # 1 Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State 41 - 14 . # 2 Army ( 9 - 0 - 0 ) was heavily favored to beat unranked , and 2 - 6 - 0 , Navy . Instead , the Philadelphia game turned into a 14 - 2 win for the Midshipmen . # 3 Texas played a game on December 9 , beating LSU 21 - 6 . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Final AP Poll . The final rankings were released November 27 even before the regular season had concluded , and without consideration of the postseason bowl games : Final Coaches Poll . The final rankings were released November 27 even before the regular season had concluded , and without consideration of the postseason bowl games :