1945 college football season The 1945 college football season finished with the United States Military Academy , more popularly known as “ Army ” , being the unanimous choice for the nation ’ s number one team by the 116 voters in the Associated Press writers ’ poll . The runner up was the United States Naval Academy , more popularly known as “ Navy ” . 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 the Associated Press poll of sportswriters ( the UPI coaches poll would not start until 1950 ) . The extent of that recognition came in the form of acknowledgment in the annual " NCAA Football Guide " of the " unofficial " national champions . Though not all writers voted in every poll , each would give their opinion of the ten best teams . Each writer listed his choice for the top ten teams , and points were tallied based on 10 for first place , 9 for second , etc . , and the AP then ranked the twenty teams with the highest number of points . Although the rankings were based on the collective opinion of the representative sportswriters , the teams that remained " unbeaten and untied " were generally ranked higher than those that had not . A defeat , even against a strong opponent , tended to cause a team to drop in the rankings . 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 . The Associated Press did not poll the writers until the third week of the season . Among the teams that had been ranked highest at the end of 1944 , the two service academies — Army and Navy , as well as Ohio State , USC and Michigan . Among the service teams that had ranked high in 1944 , Randolph Field , Bainbridge Naval , and Iowa Pre - flight no longer played against college teams . Some service teams still remained in place , even after the end of World War II . On September 15 , Michigan beat Great Lakes Navy , 27 - 2 . On September 22 , Michigan lost to Indiana , 13 - 7 . Minnesota beat Missouri , 34 - 0 . In a Friday night game in Los Angeles , USC beat UCLA 13 - 6 . September 29 Notre Dame beat Illinois 7 - 0 , Army beat Louisville Field , 32 - 0 , and Navy beat Villanova 49 - 0 . USC won at California , 13 - 2 , and Ohio State won at Missouri 47 - 6 . October . On October 6 , Army beat Wake Forest , 54 - 0 and Navy beat Duke , 21 - 0 . Ohio State beat Iowa 42 - 0 . Minnesota won at Nebraska 61 - 7 . Notre Dame won at Georgia Tech , 40 - 7 . UCLA beat St . Mary ’ s Pre - Flight , 26 - 14 . October 13 At Yankee Stadium in New York , # 1 Army beat # 9 Michigan , 28 - 7 . # 2 Navy stayed unscored upon with a 28 - 0 win over Penn State . # 3 Notre Dame beat Dartmouth , 34 - 0 . # 4 Ohio State beat Wisconsin , 12 - 0 . # 5 Minnesota beat Fort Warren , 14 - 0 . October 20 # 1 Army beat Melville PT Boats 55 - 13 . In Baltimore , # 2 Navy beat Georgia Tech 20 - 6 . # 3 Notre Dame won at Pittsburgh , 39 - 9 . # 4 Ohio State lost to # 9 Purdue , 35 - 13 . # 5 Minnesota defeated Northwestern , 30 - 7 . October 27 In New York , # 1 Army beat # 19 Duke 48 - 13 . # 2 Notre Dame beat Iowa 56 - 0 . In Philadelphia , # 3 Navy defeated # 7 Penn , 14 - 7 . # 4 Purdue lost to unranked Northwestern , 26 - 14 . # 5 Minnesota lost to # 12 Ohio State , 20 - 7 . In Birmingham , # 6 Alabama beat Georgia 28 - 14 . # 8 Indiana beat # 14 Tulsa 7 - 2 , to reach 5 - 0 - 1 . November . November 3 # 1 Army beat Villanova , 54 - 0 . # 2 Notre Dame and # 3 Navy , both 5 - 0 - 0 , met in Cleveland , and played to a 6 - 6 tie . In Louisville , # 4 Alabama defeated Kentucky , 60 - 19 . # 5 Indiana beat Cornell College of Iowa , 46 - 6 , but dropped to sixth in the next poll . In Los Angeles , # 8 St . Mary ' s beat USC , 26 - 0 . November 10 # 1 Army ( 6 - 0 - 0 ) and # 2 Notre Dame ( 5 - 0 - 1 ) met for a contest at Yankee Stadium , and it was no contest , with the Cadets winning 48 - 0 . # 3 Alabama was idle . In Baltimore , # 4 Navy beat # 7 Michigan 33 - 7 . # 5 St . Mary ' s beat Fresno State , 32 - 6 . # 6 Indiana won at Minnesota , 49 - 0 . November 17 In Philadelphia , # 1 Army beat # 6 Penn , 61 - 0 # 2 Navy defeated Wisconsin 36 - 7 in Baltimore . In Nashville , # 3 Alabama beat Vanderbilt , 71 - 0 . # 4 Indiana won at Pittsburgh , 19 - 0 . # 5 St . Mary ' s lost to UCLA , 13 - 7 . # 7 Notre Dame won at Northwestern , 34 - 7 . November 24 # 1 Army ( 8 - 0 - 0 ) and # 2 Navy ( 7 - 0 - 1 ) , both unbeaten , were idle as they prepared for the Army – Navy Game . # 3 Alabama beat the Pensacola Naval Air Station , 55 - 6 . # 4 Indiana closed its season at 9 - 0 - 1 with a 26 - 0 win over # 18 Purdue . In New Orleans , # 5 Notre Dame beat Tulane , 32 - 6 . December 1 In the second # 1 and # 2 matchup of the year , # 1 Army ( 8 - 0 - 0 ) and # 2 Navy ( 7 - 0 - 1 ) met at the Army – Navy Game in Philadelphia , with Army winning 32 - 13 to close a perfect season . # 3 Alabama defeated Mississippi State , 55 - 13 . # 4 Indiana had finished its season . # 5 Notre Dame lost to the Great Lakes Navy team , 39 - 7 . # 6 Oklahoma State , which had finished the season 9 - 0 - 0 and accepted an invitation to the Sugar Bowl , rose to fifth in the final poll . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Final Associated Press Poll . Prior to 1968 the final AP Poll was released before the bowl games were played .