1948 college football season The 1948 college football season finished with several unbeaten teams . The Michigan Wolverines and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame were both unbeaten and untied , as were the California Golden Bears and the Clemson Tigers . Ultimately , Michigan was the first place choice for the majority ( 192 of the 333 ) voters in the AP writers poll , but didn ’ t play in the postseason because of a no - repeat rule for Big Nine schools . Northwestern went to the Rose Bowl instead , and handed California a 20 - 14 loss . 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 ( Dallas ) . September . The Associated Press did not poll the writers until the fourth week of the season . Among the five teams that had been ranked highest in 1947 , Notre Dame , Michigan , SMU , Penn State , Texas began play on September 25 . Notre Dame edged Purdue 28 - 27 , Michigan won at Michigan State , 13 - 7 , and SMU won at Pittsburgh , 33 - 14 . The Texas Longhorns lost at North Carolina , 34 - 7 . Northwestern beat UCLA , in Los Angeles , 19 - 0 . In Baltimore , California beat Navy , 21 - 7 . Army beat visiting Villanova 28 - 0 . October . On October 2 In Pittsburgh , Notre Dame shut out Pitt , 40 - 0 , while in Dallas , SMU defeated Texas Tech 41 - 6 . Penn State beat Bucknell 35 - 0 , Michigan beat Oregon 14 - 0 . North Carolina won at Georgia 21 - 14 . Army beat Lafayette 54 - 7 . Northwestern beat Prudue 21 - 0 . When the first poll was issued , Notre Dame had fewer first place votes than North Carolina ( 50 vs . 55 ) , but ten more points overall ( 1 , 200 to 1 , 190 ) Northewstern was third , followed by SMU and Army . Though unbeaten , Michigan was ranked 7th , after Georgia Tech . On October 9 # 1 Notre Dame beat Michigan State 26 - 7 . # 2 North Carolina won at Wake Forest , 28 - 6 , and was ranked first in the next poll . # 3 Northwestern beat # 8 Minnesota 19 - 16 . # 4 SMU lost at Missouri , 20 - 14 . # 5 Army won at Illinois , 26 - 21 . # 7 Michigan , which had won at # 15 Purdue , 40 - 0 , rose to 4th . October 16 # 1 North Carolina beat N . C . State 14 - 0 , but dropped to third in the next poll . # 2 Notre Dame won at Nebraska 44 - 13 . In Ann Arbor , MI , # 3 Northwestern faced Big Nine rival # 4 Michigan , and the home team Wolverines won 28 - 0 . # 5 Army defeated Harvard 20 - 7 . Michigan moved up to first place in the next poll , and # 6 California ( which beat Oregon State 42 - 0 ) replaced Northwestern in the Top Five . October 23 In Minneapolis , # 1 Michigan beat # 13 Minnesota 27 - 14 , and # 2 Notre Dame won at Iowa 27 - 12 . # 3 North Carolina beat visiting LSU 34 - 7 . In Seattle , # 4 California blanked Washington 21 - 0 , and # 5 Army won at # 12 Cornell 27 - 6 . October 30 # 1 Michigan beat Illinois 28 - 20 , while in Baltimore , # 2 Notre Dame beat Navy 41 - 7 . # 3 North Carolina won at Tennessee 14 - 7 . In Los Angeles , # 4 California beat USC , 13 - 7 . # 5 Army beat Virginia Tech 49 - 7 . In the next poll , Notre Dame was ranked at the new number one . November . November 6 # 1 Notre Dame won at Indiana 42 - 6 . # 2 Michigan beat visiting Navy 35 - 0 . # 3 North Carolina was tied by William & Mary , 7 - 7 . # 4 Army defeated Stanford at Yankee Stadium in New York , 43 - 0 , while # 5 California beat visiting UCLA 28 - 13 . Replacing North Carolina in the Top Five was # 14 Penn State , which had shut out Penn in Philadelphia , 13 - 0 . November 13 # 1 Michigan beat Indiana 54 - 0 . # 2 Notre Dame beat # 8 Northwestern 12 - 7 . # 3 Army won at Pennsylvania 26 - 20 . # 4 California beat Washington State 44 - 14 . # 5 Penn State beat Temple 47 - 0 , but still dropped in the next poll . It was replaced by # 6 North Carolina , which returned after a win at Maryland 49 - 20 . November 20 # 1 Michigan closed its season with a 13 - 3 win at # 18 Ohio State . # 2 Notre Dame and # 3 Army were both idle . # 4 California beat Stanford 7 - 6 . # 5 North Carolina beat Duke 20 - 0 . November 27 # 1 Michigan , which had completed its season , had 105 of 190 first place votes . # 2 Notre Dame defeated Washington 46 - 0 . The annual Army – Navy Game in Philadelphia pitted unbeaten ( 8 - 0 - 0 ) and # 3 Army against winless ( 0 - 8 - 0 ) Navy , and 102 , 000 fans turned out to watch the mismatch , including President Truman . It was a surprise when the Midshipmen scored first , but Army went ahead 21 - 14 after three quarters . In the fourth quarter , Navy pushed the Cadets back to their own goal line , and took the punt at midfield . In six plays , Navy drove down to the four yard line , and Bill Hawkins crashed into the end zone to make it 21 - 20 . Roger Drew added the point after to ruin Army ' s perfect record , 21 - 21 . # 4 North Carolina won at Virginia 34 - 12 , and # 5 California had finished its season . The final poll was released on November 29 , although some colleges had not completed their schedules . On December 4 , # 2 Notre Dame ‘ s perfect record was compromised in Los Angeles with a 14 - 14 tie against unranked USC . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Final Associated Press Poll . The final rankings were released November 29 even before the regular season had concluded , and without consideration of the postseason bowl games .