1949 college football season The 1949 college football season finished with four teams that were unbeaten and untied - - Notre Dame , Oklahoma , # 3 California and Army had won all their games at season ’ s end . Notre Dame , however , was the overwhelming choice for national champion , with 172 of 208 first place votes . The Fighting Irish did not participate in the New Year ’ s Day bowl games , which were played on January 2 , 1950 . 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 third week of the season . Among the five teams that had been ranked highest in 1948 , California opened play on September 17 with a 21 - 7 win over Santa Clara . By September 24 , most teams were in action . Defending champion Michigan beat visiting Michigan State , 7 - 3 . Notre Dame beat Indiana 49 - 6 . North Carolina beat N . C . State 26 - 6 . California beat St . Mary ’ s 29 - 7 . The night before , Oklahoma had won at Boston College , 46 - 0 . October . On October 1 in Seattle , Notre Dame beat Washington 27 - 7 . Oklahoma beat Texas A & M 33 - 13 , North Carolina beat Georgia 21 - 14 , and Michigan won at Stanford , 27 - 7 . When the first poll was issued , Michigan had 34 of the 80 votes cast , followed by Notre Dame and Oklahoma . Tulane University , which had beaten Alabama 28 - 14 and Georgia Tech 18 - 0 , placed fourth . Minnesota , which had victories over Washington ( 48 - 20 ) and at Nebraska ( 28 - 6 ) was fifth . North Carolina , which had been in the final top five in 1948 , was at sixth place . October 8 # 1 Michigan was beaten at home by # 7 Army . # 2 Notre Dame won at Purdue 35 - 12 . # 3 Oklahoma beat Texas in Dallas , 20 - 14 . # 4 Tulane beat Southeastern Louisiana 40 - 0 . # 5 Minnesota beat Northwestern 21 - 7 . October 15 In South Bend , # 1 Notre Dame beat # 4 Tulane 46 - 7 . # 2 Army won at Harvard , 54 - 14 . # 3 Oklahoma beat Kansas 48 - 26 . # 9 California , which beat USC 16 - 10 , was fifth in the next poll . # 5 Minnesota stayed unbeaten with a win in Columbus over Ohio State , 27 - 0 . October 22 # 1 Notre Dame was idle . # 2 Army beat Columbia 63 - 6 . # 3 Minnesota lost at Michigan , 14 - 7 . # 4 Oklahoma won at Nebraska 48 - 0 . # 5 California beat Washington 21 - 7 . # 9 Rice won at Texas , 17 - 15 , and was fifth in the next poll . October 29 In Baltimore , # 1 Notre Dame defeated Navy , 40 - 0 . # 2 Army ( the United States Military Academy ) defeated the VMI ( the Virginia Military Institute ) 40 - 14 . # 3 Oklahoma beat Iowa State 34 - 7 . In Los Angeles , # 4 California beat UCLA 35 - 21 . # 5 Rice beat Texas Tech 28 - 0 to extend its record to 5 - 1 - 0 . # 6 Michigan , which won at Illinois 13 - 0 , returned to the Top Five with a 4 - 2 - 0 record . November . November 5 # 1 Notre Dame won at Michigan State , 34 - 21 . # 2 Army defeated Fordham , 35 - 0 . # 3 Oklahoma won at Kansas State 39 - 0 . # 4 California beat Washington State 33 - 14 . # 5 Michigan beat Purdue 20 - 12 . The top five stayed unchanged . November 12 At Yankee Stadium , # 1 Notre Dame beat North Carolina , 42 - 6 . # 2 Army had a scare in Philadelphia , edging Penn 14 - 13 . # 3 Oklahoma won at Missouri , 27 - 7 . # 4 California beat Oregon 41 - 14 . # 5 Michigan beat Indiana 20 - 7 . November 19 # 1 Notre Dame defeated Iowa 28 - 7 . # 2 Oklahoma beat Santa Clara 28 - 21 . # 3 California defeated Stanford 33 - 14 to finish its season unbeaten . # 4 Army was idle as it prepared for the Army – Navy Game . # 5 Michigan was tied by # 7 Ohio State , 7 - 7 . November 26 # 1 Notre Dame defeated visiting USC , 32 - 0 . # 3 Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State 41 - 0 . # 4 Army returned to Philadelphia for the Army – Navy Game and defeated Navy 38 - 0 . # 2 California at 10 - 0 - 0 , and # 5 Ohio State , at 6 - 1 - 2 , accepted bids to play in the Rose Bowl . The final poll was released on November 28 , although some colleges had not completed their schedules . On December 3 , the national champs , # 1 Notre Dame closed a perfect season in Dallas with a 27 - 20 win over Southern Methodist University ( SMU ) . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Final Associated Press Poll . The final rankings were released November 27 even before the regular season had concluded , and without consideration of the postseason bowl games .