1940-1959

In the 1940's and 1950's we saw the effects of improved travel and of the bowl games. The title moved around outside of conference and geographical ties more than ever before. It spent more time in middle America than ever before.

This period presented the biggest challenge in figuring out who should be champion. Auburn won the title to close out 1942. In 1943, Auburn like a number of teams did not play because of World War II. So the question became, do you pass it on to the last team they beat? Or find the highest rated team of the period. My determination was that because it was a result of the war, that I would not penalize them. So there were no title games that year. This actually led to an error previously posted on here. I'd moved on to the next year in taking numbers down and didn't realize I was looking at 1944 games instead of 1943. It took less than a year for things to even out to having the same champion as how i'd figured it before noticing the error.

What was fascinating was that even though talent began to spread across the country more evenly, there were two of the most dominating periods in history. Army held the title for all but a few weeks between 1946 and 1950. Then, starting on January 1, 1954, Oklahoma began the most successful string of title defenses in the history of college football, with 38 successful defenses. What set this string apart from other dominant streaks of the past was there were no games in the string against non-major schools, and no tie games.

Something I find personally interesting is that on December 6, 1941, Texas A&M took the title. They lost it the very next game. What interested me in this fact is the fact that if you ask people what the best football states are, most people would mention Texas and Florida, and yet in the first 90 years of football, schools from those states have held the title for a total of 1 week.

In 1953, Alabama started the season with a loss to Southern Mississippi, who was not a Division 1 team at the time. For the second time, a team held on to the title despite a loss due to the fact the team that beat them did not qualify for the championship.

1940	28-Sep	Southern California	14	Washington State	14	tie
	5-Oct	Southern California	0	Oregon State	0	tie
	12-Oct	Southern California	13	Illinois	7
	19-Oct	Southern California	13	Oregon	0
	26-Oct	Stanford	21	Southern California	7
	2-Nov	Stanford	21	UCLA	14
	9-Nov	Stanford	20	Washington	10
	16-Nov	Stanford	28	Oregon State	14
	30-Nov	Stanford	13	California	7
	1-Jan	Stanford	21	Nebraska	13
1941	27-Sep	Stanford	19	Oregon	15
	4-Oct	Stanford	33	UCLA	0
	11-Oct	Oregon State	10	Stanford	0
	25-Oct	Washington State	7	Oregon State	0
	1-Nov	Washington	13	Oregon	0
	8-Nov	Washington	26	Idaho	0
	15-Nov	Washington	14	Stanford	13
	22-Nov	Washington	59	Gonzaga	0
	6-Dec	Texas A&M	7	Washington State	0
	1-Jan	Alabama	29	Texas A&M	0
1942	25-Sep	Alabama	54	Louisiana Lafayette	0	Non-title
	3-Oct	Alabama	21	Mississippi State	6
	10-Oct	Alabama	27	Pensacola NAS	0	Non-title
	17-Oct	Alabama	8	Tennessee	0
	24-Oct	Alabama	14	Kentucky	0
	31-Oct	Georgia	21	Alabama	10
	7-Nov	Georgia	75	Florida	0
	14-Nov	Georgia	40	Tennessee-Chattanooga	0	Non-title
	21-Nov	Auburn	27	Georgia	13
	28-Nov	Auburn	41	Clemson	13
1943		Auburn did not play
1944	29-Sep	Auburn	32	Samford	0	Non-title
	7-Oct	Auburn	7	Fort Benning	0	Non-title
	14-Oct	Georgia Tech	27	Auburn	0
	21-Oct	Georgia Tech	17	Navy	15
	27-Oct	Georgia Tech	13	Georgia Pre-Flight	7
	4-Nov	Duke	19	Georgia Tech	13
	11-Nov	Duke	34	Wake Forest	0
	18-Nov	Duke	34	South Carolina	7
	25-Nov	Duke	33	North Carolina	0
	1-Jan	Duke	29	Alabama	26
1945	22-Sep	Duke	60	South Carolina	0	Non-title
	29-Sep	Duke	76	Bogue Field	0	Non-title
	6-Oct	Navy	21	Duke	0
	13-Oct	Navy	28	Penn State	0
	20-Oct	Navy	20	Georgia Tech	6
	27-Oct	Navy	14	Pennsylvania	7
	3-Nov	Navy	6	Notre Dame	6
	10-Nov	Navy	33	Michigan	7
	17-Nov	Navy	36	Wisconsin	7
	1-Dec	Army	32	Navy	13
1946	21-Sep	Army	35	Villanova	0
	28-Sep	Army	21	Oklahoma	7
	5-Oct	Army	46	Cornell	21
	12-Oct	Army	20	Michigan	13
	19-Oct	Army	48	Columbia	14
	26-Oct	Army	19	Duke	0
	2-Nov	Army	19	West Virginia	0
	9-Nov	Army	0	Notre Dame	0	tie
	16-Nov	Army	34	Pennsylvania	7
	30-Nov	Army	21	Navy	18
1947	27-Sep	Army	13	Villanova	0
	4-Oct	Army	47	Colorado	0
	11-Oct	Army	0	Illinois	0	tie
	18-Oct	Army	40	Virginia Tech	0
	25-Oct	Columbia	21	Army	20
	1-Nov	Columbia	22	Cornell	0
	8-Nov	Columbia	15	Dartmouth	0
	15-Nov	Columbia	10	Holy Cross	0
	22-Nov	Columbia	28	Syracuse	8
1948	25-Sep	Columbia	27	Rutgers	6
	2-Oct	Harvard	33	Columbia	24
	9-Oct	Cornell	40	Harvard	6
	16-Oct	Cornell	34	Syracuse	7
	23-Oct	Army	27	Cornell	6
	30-Oct	Army	49	Virginia Tech	7
	6-Nov	Army	43	Stanford	0
	13-Nov	Army	26	Pennsylvania	20
	27-Nov	Army	21	Navy	21	tie
1949	24-Sep	Army	47	Davidson	7
	1-Oct	Army	42	Penn State	7
	8-Oct	Army	21	Michigan	7
	15-Oct	Army	54	Harvard	14
	22-Oct	Army	63	Columbia	6
	29-Oct	Army	40	VMI	14
	5-Nov	Army	35	Fordham	0
	12-Nov	Army	14	Pennsylvania	13
	26-Nov	Army	38	Navy	0
1950	30-Sep	Army	28	Colgate	0
	7-Oct	Army	41	Penn State	7
	14-Oct	Army	27	Michigan	6
	21-Oct	Army	49	Harvard	0
	28-Oct	Army	34	Columbia	0
	4-Nov	Army	28	Pennsylvania	13
	11-Nov	Army	51	New Mexico	0
	18-Nov	Army	7	Stanford	0
	2-Dec	Navy	14	Army	2
1951	29-Sep	Navy	7	Yale	7	tie
	6-Oct	Princeton	24	Navy	20
	13-Oct	Princeton	13	Pennsylvania	7
	20-Oct	Princeton	60	Lafayette	7	Non-title
	27-Oct	Princeton	53	Cornell	15
	3-Nov	Princeton	12	Brown	0
	10-Nov	Princeton	54	Harvard	13
	17-Nov	Princeton	27	Yale	0
	24-Nov	Princeton	13	Dartmouth	0
1952	27-Sep	Princeton	14	Columbia	0
	4-Oct	Princeton	61	Rutgers	19
	11-Oct	Pennsylvania	13	Princeton	7
	18-Oct	Pennsylvania	27	Columbia	17
	25-Oct	Pennsylvania	7	Navy	7	tie
	1-Nov	Penn State	14	Pennsylvania	7
	8-Nov	Syracuse	25	Penn State	7
	15-Nov	Syracuse	20	Colgate	14
	22-Nov	Syracuse	26	Fordham	13
	1-Jan	Alabama	61	Syracuse	6
1953	18-Sep	Southern Mississippi	25	Alabama	19	Non-title
	26-Sep	Alabama	7	Louisiana State	7	tie
	3-Oct	Alabama	21	Vanderbilt	12
	17-Oct	Alabama	0	Tennessee	0	tie
	24-Oct	Alabama	7	Mississippi State	7	tie
	31-Oct	Alabama	33	Georgia	12
	7-Nov	Alabama	21	Tennessee-Chattanooga	14	Non-title
	14-Nov	Alabama	13	Georgia Tech	6
	21-Nov	Maryland	21	Alabama	0
	1-Jan	Oklahoma	7	Maryland	0
1954	18-Sep	Oklahoma	27	California	13
	25-Sep	Oklahoma	21	Texas Christian	16
	9-Oct	Oklahoma	14	Texas	7
	16-Oct	Oklahoma	65	Kansas	0
	23-Oct	Oklahoma	21	Kansas State	0
	30-Oct	Oklahoma	13	Colorado	6
	6-Nov	Oklahoma	40	Iowa State	0
	13-Nov	Oklahoma	34	Missouri	13
	20-Nov	Oklahoma	55	Nebraska	7
	27-Nov	Oklahoma	14	Oklahoma State	0
1955	24-Sep	Oklahoma	13	North Carolina	6
	1-Oct	Oklahoma	26	Pittsburgh	14
	8-Oct	Oklahoma	20	Texas	0
	15-Oct	Oklahoma	44	Kansas	6
	22-Oct	Oklahoma	56	Colorado	21
	29-Oct	Oklahoma	40	Kansas State	7
	5-Nov	Oklahoma	20	Missouri	0
	12-Nov	Oklahoma	52	Iowa State	0
	19-Nov	Oklahoma	41	Nebraska	0
	26-Nov	Oklahoma	53	Oklahoma State	0
	2-Jan	Oklahoma	20	Maryland	6
1956	29-Sep	Oklahoma	36	North Carolina	0
	6-Oct	Oklahoma	66	Kansas State	0
	13-Oct	Oklahoma	45	Texas	0
	20-Oct	Oklahoma	34	Kansas	12
	27-Oct	Oklahoma	40	Notre Dame	0
	3-Nov	Oklahoma	27	Colorado	19
	10-Nov	Oklahoma	44	Iowa State	0
	17-Nov	Oklahoma	67	Missouri	14
	24-Nov	Oklahoma	54	Nebraska	6
	1-Dec	Oklahoma	53	Oklahoma State	0
1957	21-Sep	Oklahoma	26	Pittsburgh	0
	5-Oct	Oklahoma	40	Iowa State	14
	12-Oct	Oklahoma	21	Texas	7
	19-Oct	Oklahoma	47	Kansas	0
	26-Oct	Oklahoma	14	Colorado	13
	2-Nov	Oklahoma	13	Kansas State	0
	9-Nov	Oklahoma	39	Missouri	14
	16-Nov	Notre Dame	7	Oklahoma	0
	23-Nov	Iowa	21	Notre Dame	13
1958	27-Sep	Iowa	17	Texas Christian	0
	4-Oct	Iowa	13	Air Force	13	tie
	11-Oct	Iowa	34	Indiana	13
	18-Oct	Iowa	20	Wisconsin	9
	25-Oct	Iowa	26	Northwestern	20
	1-Nov	Iowa	37	Michigan	14
	8-Nov	Iowa	28	Minnesota	6
	15-Nov	Ohio State	38	Iowa	28
	22-Nov	Ohio State	20	Michigan	14
1959	26-Sep	Ohio State	14	Duke	13
	2-Oct	Southern California	17	Ohio State	0
	17-Oct	Southern California	22	Washington	15
	24-Oct	Southern California	30	Stanford	28
	31-Oct	Southern California	14	California	7
	7-Nov	Southern California	36	West Virginia	0
	14-Nov	Southern California	17	Baylor	8
	21-Nov	UCLA	10	Southern California	3
	28-Nov	UCLA	21	Utah	6
	5-Dec	Syracuse	36	UCLA	8
	1-Jan	Syracuse	23	Texas	14