1947 college football season The 1947 college football season finished with Notre Dame , Michigan and Penn State all unbeaten and untied , but the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame were the first place choice for 107 of the 142 voters in the AP writers poll , and repeated as national champions . Michigan went on to meet USC in the Rose Bowl and won 49 - 0 , while Penn State was tied 13 - 13 by SMU in the Cotton Bowl Classic , and Notre Dame didn ’ t participate in the postseason . An unofficial post bowl AP poll was conducted with Michigan and Notre Dame as the only options and Michigan won by a vote of 226 to 119 . 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 . Under a point system of 10 points for first place , 9 for second , etc . , the " overall " ranking was determined . 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 , and a team with two or more defeats was unlikely to remain in the Top 20 . 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 Classic ( Dallas ) . September . The Associated Press did not poll the writers until after the games of October 4 . Among the five teams that had been ranked highest in 1946 ( Notre Dame , Army , Georgia , UCLA and Illinois ) . Georgia opened on September 20 with a 34 - 7 win over Southern Mississippi in ( site ) . UCLA hosted Iowa the following Friday and won 22 - 7 . The next day , September 27 , Army beat Villanova 13 - 0 , Illinois beat Pittsburgh 14 - 0 , and Georgia beat Tennessee , 27 - 0 . October . On October 4 Notre Dame won at Pittsburgh 40 - 6 . Army shut out visiting Colorado 47 - 0 . Georgia beat Tulane in New Orleans , 20 - 0 . UCLA lost at Northwestern 27 - 26 . Illinois won at Iowa 35 - 12 . When the first poll came out that Monday , Notre Dame was the favorite of a bare majority ( 52 of 103 ) of the voters , followed by Michigan , Texas , Georgia Tech and Army . Illinois was ranked 6th , Penn 7th , California 8th and Georgia was ranked 9th . On October 11 # 1 Notre Dame won at Purdue , 22 - 7 . # 2 Michigan beat Pittsburgh , 69 - 0 . In Dallas , # 3 Texas beat # 15 Oklahoma 34 - 14 . # 4 Georgia Tech beat VMI , 20 - 0 , for its third shutout in three starts . # 5 Army and # 6 Illinois met at Yankee Stadium in New York , and played to a 0 - 0 tie . # 8 California , which won at Wisconsin 48 - 7 , rose to fourth . October 18 # 1 Michigan won at Northwestern , 49 - 21 . # 2 Notre Dame shut out visiting Nebraska , 31 - 0 . # 3 Texas met Arkansas at a neutral location in Memphis , Tennessee , and won 21 - 6 . # 4 California beat Washington State , 21 - 6 . # 5 Georgia Tech defeated Auburn 27 - 7 to stay unbeaten , but was voted out of the Top Five . # 6 Illinois , which beat # 13 Minnesota 40 - 13 , rose to fifth . October 25 # 1 Michigan stayed unbeaten , with a 13 - 6 win over Minnesota , as did # 2 Notre Dame , which defeated Iowa , 21 - 0 . # 3 Texas beat Rice , 12 - 0 . # 4 California lost to # 10 USC , 39 - 14 . # 5 Illinois lost at Purdue , 14 - 7 . # 8 Penn beat Navy , 21 - 0 . The Irish rose to # 1 in the next poll , with a 78 - 69 lead in votes over Michigan . November . November 1 # 1 Notre Dame and Navy met in Cleveland , with the Fighting Irish registering their third straight shutout , 27 - 0 . # 2 Michigan won at # 11 Illinois , 14 - 7 . In Dallas , # 3 Texas ( 6 - 0 - 0 ) faced unbeaten ( 5 - 0 - 0 ) # 8 Southern Methodist University ( SMU ) , and the SMU Mustangs won 14 - 13 . # 4 Pennsylvania won at Princeton , 26 - 7 , to stay unbeaten . In Seattle , # 5 USC beat Washington 19 - 0 . November 8 # 1 Notre Dame hosted # 9 Army and won 27 - 7 . # 2 Michigan beat Indiana 35 - 0 . # 3 SMU won at Texas A & M , 13 - 0 . # 4 Pennsylvania beat Virginia , 19 - 7 . # 5 USC beat Stanford , 14 - 0 . November 15 # 1 Notre Dame had more points scored against it than at any other time in the season , but won at unranked Northwestern , 26 - 19 . Meanwhile , # 2 Michigan faced # 9 Wisconsin in Madison and won 40 - 6 , raising it to first place in the next poll . # 3 Pennsylvania and # 13 Army played to a 7 - 7 tie in Philadelphia . # 4 SMU stayed unbeaten with a 14 - 6 win over Arkansas . # 5 USC was idle . November 22 # 1 Michigan closed its season at 9 - 0 - 0 with a 21 - 0 win over Ohio State , and accepted an invitation to meet # 4 USC ( which beat # 18 UCLA 6 - 0 ) in the Rose Bowl . Meanwhile , # 3 SMU won 10 - 0 win at Baylor , and # 5 Penn State won at Pitt , 29 - 0 . Both unbeaten , they accepted invitations to the Cotton Bowl Classic . # 2 Notre Dame thrashed Tulane , 59 - 6 and was restored ot the top spot by the AP voters , with 97 first place votes to Michigan ’ s 81 . November 29 # 1 Notre Dame , # 2 Michigan , # 4 USC , and # 5 Penn State were idle . # 3 SMU was tied in a game at TCU , 19 - 19 . December 6 # 1 Notre Dame ( 8 - 0 - 0 ) and # 3 USC ( 7 - 0 - 1 ) met in Los Angeles , with the Irish cementing their hold on the # 1 ranking , 38 - 7 . # 2 Michigan , # 4 SMU and # 5 Penn State had completed their seasons . 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 . The final rankings were released December 1 , before the Notre Dame - USC game .