1943 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
It had been 5 years since the Michigan Wolverines played in a Rose Bowl but they finally made it back with a perfect regular season in 1943. The Wolverines, who won the National Title with an 11-1 record in 1937 after beating Stanford in the Rose Bowl, were perfect this time around as they ran the table at 11-0. Despite the outstanding season the Wolverines had to be perfect to win the Western Conference title outright as Wisconsin was ranked second in the nation after a 10-1 season. The Badgers and Wolverines did not meet this year with Wisconsin's lone loss coming a late season tilt against Michigan State in a game that featured a pair of likely future NFL stars at quarterback in Spartans senior Otto Graham and Badgers senior Bob Waterfield.
Texas, which has finished in the top five three times in the last six years but was a disappointing 5-6 a year ago, had a bounce back season and was in the National Title hunt yet again after finishing with a 10-1 record. Despite the impressive totals the Longhorns did not win their conference, as their only loss came to a Baylor squad that finished the season ranked fourth in the nation and claimed the SWC title by virtue of a win over Texas.
Here are the top twenty-five from the end of the regular season
Here is a look at each conference for the 1943 season:
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE
Despite a losing record overall on the season the North Carolina Tar Heels won their first ACC title, edging out 12th ranked Virginia. The Cavaliers were ranked 12th in the nation in the final regular season poll but both of their losses came in conference including a 37-6 pasting from North Carolina.
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ACC CHAMPIONS BY YEAR
1937 North Carolina State
1938 Virginia
1939 Clemson
1940 Duke
1941 North Carolina State
1942 Duke
1943 North Carolina
ACC STANDINGS W L CW CL
North Carolina 5 6 4 2
#12 Virginia 9 2 4 2
#23 Maryland 7 4 3 3
North Carolina St 5 6 3 3
Duke 6 5 3 3
Clemson 4 7 3 3
Wake Forest 2 9 1 5
BIG EIGHT CONFERENCE
It was a three way tie for top spot in the Big Eight with 10-1 Kansas claiming the crown thanks to a tiebreaker with Oklahoma and Missouri that was decided on point differential. It was the first time the Jayhawks have won the conference title. Oklahoma will not repeat as National Champions but the Sooners had another strong year with sophomore running back Marion Motley leading the way. Motley, who would go on to be a Hall of Famer with the Cleveland Browns in real life, was second in the nation with 1,457 rushing yards.
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BIG EIGHT CHAMPIONS AND ORANGE BOWL RESULTS
1937 Nebraska Nebraska 52 Tennessee 12
1938 Oklahoma* Oklahoma 31 Notre Dame 13
1939 Oklahoma Texas A&M 23 Oklahoma 16
1940 Kansas State Texas A&M 34 Kansas State 14
1941 Missouri Missouri 37 Texas 20
1942 Oklahoma* Oklahoma 37 Wyoming 14
1943 Kansas
* National Champion
BIG EIGHT STANDINGS W L CW CL
#9 Kansas 10 1 6 1
#7 Oklahoma 9 2 6 1
#22 Missouri 7 4 6 1
Colorado 4 7 3 4
Nebraska 3 8 2 5
Oklahoma A&M 5 6 2 5
Kansas State 5 6 2 5
Iowa State 3 8 1 6
IVY GROUP
You can't ask for a much tighter race than the Ivy Group schools provided this year with Columbia, Yale, Princeton and defending champion Harvard all finishing 5-2 in conference. The Lions would be crowned conference champs for the first time in school history.
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IVY CHAMPIONS BY YEAR
1937 Dartmouth
1938 Yale
1939 Harvard
1940 Harvard
1941 Yale
1942 Harvard
1943 Columbia
IVY GROUP STANDINGS W L CW CL
Columbia 6 3 5 2
Yale 5 4 5 2
Princeton 5 4 5 2
Harvard 5 4 5 2
Cornell 3 6 3 4
Dartmouth 2 7 2 5
Brown 2 7 2 5
Penn 1 8 1 6
PACIFIC COAST CONFERENCE
The University of California's dominance in the PCC continued with a fourth straight title and their 5th trip to the Rose Bowl in the past 6 seasons. The 11th ranked Bears got another strong season out of junior quarterback Bruce Boatwright, despite the fact the fictional player missed the start of the season with hamstring problems. Sophomore back Eddie Prokop had a big year, rushing for 1,286 yards and an NCAA high 21 touchdowns.
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PCC CHAMPIONS BY YEAR
1937 Stanford
1938 California
1939 Oregon State
1940 California
1941 California
1942 California
1943 California
PCC STANDINGS W L CW CL
#11 Cal 9 2 7 0
#17 Stanford 8 3 5 2
#21 USC 7 4 5 2
Washington State 6 5 4 3
UCLA 5 6 3 4
Oregon State 3 8 2 5
Oregon 4 7 2 5
Washington 1 10 0 7
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE
LSU was a first time champion in the SEC as the Tigers rode the success of an early upset win over defending conference champion Kentucky. A loss to Alabama as well as the defeat at the hands of LSU prevented the Wildcats from repeating but Kentucky did finish the regular season with a 9-2 record and ranked 6th in the nation. As for LSU, their defense had some holes but the Tigers offense was unstoppable with sophomore QB Bob Hoernschemeyer throwing for nearly 1,400 yards and 11 touchdowns while only getting picked off twice. Hoernschmeyer was injured and missed the Kentucky game but backup Steve Nemeth did enough to lead LSU to a 21-10 victory. The Tigers also boasted the best running back tandem in the entire NCAA with junior Howard Maley rushing for an SEC best 1,172 yards and 19 touchdowns while freshman Buddy Young chipped in with 1,156 yards and 12 scores.
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SEC CHAMPIONS
1937 Tennessee
1938 Georgia
1939 Alabama
1940 Alabama
1941 Florida
1942 Kentucky
1943 LSU
SEC STANDINGS W L CW CL
#13 LSU 8 3 6 1
#6 Kentucky 9 2 5 2
#18 Georgia 7 4 5 2
#5 Florida 9 2 5 2
#15 Tennessee 7 4 4 3
#20 Alabama 7 4 4 3
Mississippi St 6 5 2 5
Vanderbilt 4 7 2 5
Alabama Poly(Aub) 5 6 2 5
Mississippi 2 9 0 7
SOUTHWESTERN CONFERENCE
Baylor was the surprise winner of the SWC crown as the Bears, after winning just 4 games a year ago went 9-2 including 6-1 in conference play. Freshman Bill Montgomery had a big season for Baylor, rushing for a conference best 1,296 yards and 17 touchdowns. Texas was also 6-1 in conference play but the Longhorns were upset 24-23 at Baylor in a game in which the Bears scored two touchdowns, both on passes from fictional QB Rico Brown to Al Olszewski, in the final 6 minutes to pull out the one point victory. Olszewski, who in real life played one NFL season for the Pittsburgh Steelers, led the nation in receiving yards this season.
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SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
1937 Texas Tech
1938 Texas
1939 Arkansas
1940 Texas A&M
1941 Texas
1942 Rice
1943 Baylor
SWC STANDINGS W L CW CL
#4 Baylor 9 2 6 1
#3 Texas 10 1 6 1
#8 TCU 9 2 5 2
#14 Rice 8 3 4 3
Arkansas 5 6 3 4
SMU 5 6 2 5
Texas A&M 5 6 2 5
Texas Tech 4 7 0 7
BORDER CONFERENCE
Wyoming fell mightily from it's shot at a National Title a year ago as the Cowboys, hit hard by graduation, went from 11-1 last season to winning just 4 games this time around.
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BORDER CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
1937 Arizona
1938 Utah
1939 Arizona
1940 Arizona
1941 Arizona State
1942 Wyoming
1943 Utah
BORDER STANDINGS W L CW CL
Utah 7 4 5 2
Texas Western 7 4 5 2
Arizona State 6 5 4 2
New Mexico 4 7 3 3
Colorado A&M 4 7 3 2
Arizona 4 7 3 4
Wyoming 4 7 3 4
Brigham Young 1 10 0 7
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Teams in the Western Conference usually end up knocking each other off but for the first time in conference history a school ran the table. The Michigan Wolverines won all 8 of their conference games, something no one has done - not even the 1937 National Champion Wolverines squad. Not having to play Wisconsin, which did suffer one loss in conference play in a game at Michigan State, certainly helped the Wolverines run this time around.
Michigan's strength was it's running game led by sophomore Bus Mertes, who led the nation with 1,640 yards rushing. The real life Mertes played his college ball at Iowa before a 4 year NFL career. He also coached at Bradley, Kansas State and Drake as well as spell in the NFL as an assistant.
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WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
1937 Michigan
1938 Minnesota
1939 Michigan State
1940 Minnesota
1941 Iowa
1942 Wisconsin
1943 Michigan
WESTERN CONFERENCE W L CW CL
#1 Michigan 11 0 8 0
#2 Wisconsin 10 1 7 1
#25 Michigan State 6 5 5 3
Minnesota 6 5 5 3
Purdue 6 5 5 3
Iowa 6 5 3 5
Ohio State 6 5 3 5
Indiana 2 9 2 6
Illinois 4 7 2 6
Northwestern 0 11 0 8
INDEPENDENTS
Notre Dame had an outstanding defense led by senior defensive back Bill Reinhard but the Irish's hopes of winning their first National title were tripped up by losses to Michigan State (23-3) and TCU (28-21). The Spartans in particular have given Notre Dame fits through the years, knocking off Notre Dame 3 times in their five career meetings. The only team to beat Notre Dame more often are the Pitt Panthers, who lost 23-17 to the Irish this time around but have won 4 of the 7 meetings between the schools.
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INDY SCHOOLS W L
#10 Notre Dame 9 2
#16 Pittsburgh 8 3
#19 Georgia Tech 7 4
#24 Syracuse 7 4
West Virginia 7 4
Rutgers 7 4
Florida State 5 6
Navy 5 6
Penn State 5 6
Boston College 4 7
South Carolina 3 8
Virginia Tech 3 8
Miami(Fl) 2 9
Army 2 9
Utah State 0 11
RECRUITING
QUARTERBACKS HIGHLIGHT 1943 HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS
It was very good year for quarterbacks as a pair of future Hall of Famers led the class of incoming freshman. Bobby Layne has committed to Texas while Y.A. Tittle will be playing for the Oklahoma Sooners for the next four seasons. Michigan State also added a top twenty QB to replace the graduating Otto Graham as Charlie Conerly will take over in Lansing. Here are the top twenty recruits with Notre Dame in particular landing a huge class.
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TOP TWENTY RECRUITS
1 Arnie Weinmeister OT Notre Dame
2 Joe Abbey WR Texas
3 Bobby Layne QB Texas
4 Y.A. Tittle QB Oklahoma
5 Bill Gompers RB Minnesota
6 Emlen Tunnell FS Michigan
7 Michael Robinson WR Notre Dame (fictional)
8 Ray Coates WR LSU
9 Fred Enke QB Arkansas
10 Jim Cason CB Arkansas
11 George Savitsky OT UCLA
12 Jug Girard WR Ohio State
13 Bob Mike OT Iowa
14 Jack Myers FB Ohio State
15 Charlie Conerly QB Michigan State
16 Samuel Small CB Notre Dame (fictional)
17 Rex Bumgardner RB Notre Dame
18 John Clowes OT Notre Dame
19 John Wozniak DT Wisconsin
20 Dick Flanagan LB Duke
The strong quarterback classes continue next season with George Blanda and Norm Van Brocklin highlighting the recruiting class.
BOWL GAMES
MICHIGAN CAPS PERFECT SEASON WITH ROSE BOWL WIN
The Michigan Wolverines completed a 12-0 season with a convincing 40-7 victory over Cal in the Rose Bowl, earning the Wolverines their second National Title. Michigan rolled out to a 27-0 half time lead thanks in part to a pair of touchdown runs by Heisman Trophy winning running back Bus Mertes. Mertes would run for a game high 144 yards. It was just another in a series of misadventures in the Rose Bowl for the Bears, who would have been whitewashed in the game had not Eddie Prokop caught a 6 yard touchdown with just over 2 minutes remaining for the only Cal score. It marked the 4th year in a row the Bears have reached the Rose Bowl only to suffer a lobsided loss.
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ROSE BOWL RESULTS
1943 Michigan 40 Cal 7
1942 Wisconsin 48 Cal 14
1941 Iowa 31 Cal 10
1940 Minnesota 42 Cal 7
1939 Michigan State 32 Oregon State 17
1938 Cal 30 Minnesota 23
1937 Michigan 20 Stanford 12
Despite a 227 yard passing day from senior quarterback Bob Waterfield, the Wisconsin Badgers came up on the shortend of a 24-17 score against Big Eight champion Kansas in the Orange Bowl. The 11-1 Jayhawks finish 5th in the final AP poll while Wisconsin, 10-2, ends up 7th.
Bob Cifers ran for 110 yards and Mickey Colmer gained 105 and scored two touchdowns to lead Texas to a 26-13 win over LSU in the Sugar Bowl. The Southwest Conference also got the best of the SEC in the Cotton Bowl as Baylor dumped Kentucky 45-21 behind a 214 yard rushing, 3 touchdown day from Bears freshman Bill Montgomery. The two victories left Texas second and Baylor 3rd in the AP Poll.
Elsewhere, Florida claimed the #4 spot in the polls as the 10-2 Gators knocked off defending National Champion Oklahoma 38-14 in the Sun Bowl. Notre Dame avenged an early season loss to TCU by beating the Frogs 31-9 in the Gator Bowl behind a 199 yard, two touchdown passing day from Irish sophomore QB Boley Dancewicz. Otto Graham's Michigan State career came to an end in the Spartans 40-24 loss to Duke in the Peach Bowl. Virginia downed Rice 27-10 in the Tangerine Bowl while Syracuse and Stanford both finish with 8-4 records after the Orangemen prevailed 37-9 in the Bluebonnet Bowl.
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL NATIONAL TITLE HISTORY
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS BY YEAR
1937 Michigan 11-1
1938 Oklahoma 12-0
1939 Texas A&M 10-2
1940 Texas A&M 11-1
1941 Florida 11-1
1942 Oklahoma 11-1
1943 Michigan 12-0
FINAL 1943 TOP TEN RANKINGS
1 Michigan 12-0
2 Texas 11-1
3 Baylor 10-2
4 Florida 10-2
5 Kansas 11-1
6 Notre Dame 10-2
7 Wisconsin 10-2
8 Virginia 10-2
9 Kentucky 9-3
10 TCU 9-3
BOWL RESULTS
ORANGE Kansas 24 Wisconsin 17
ROSE Michigan 40 California 7
SUGAR Texas 26 LSU 14
COTTON Baylor 45 Kentucky 21
SUN Florida 38 Oklahoma 14
GATOR Notre Dame 31 TCU 9
PEACH Duke 40 Michigan State 24
TANGERINE Virginia 27 Rice 10
BLUEBONNET Syracuse 37 Stanford 9
AWARDS
Running back Bus Mertes of the National Champion Michigan Wolverines was named the winner of the 1943 Heisman Trophy. The sophomore rushed for an NCAA leading 1,784 yards including 144 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Michigan's 40-7 Rose Bowl win over California.
The top quarterback award went to Wisconsin senior signal caller Bob Waterfield despite the fact that Waterfield was nosed out for first team All-America status by USC's George Ratterman.
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HEISMAN TROPHY WINNERS
1937 Willie Seal RB Alabama
1938 Bill *Dudley RB Texas
1939 Ben Guiterrez RB Cal
1940 Noah *Mullins RB Kansas State
1941 Noah *Mullins RB Kansas State
1942 Rocky Franks RB Oklahoma
1943 Bus *Mertes RB Michigan
QUARTERBACK OF THE YEAR
1937 George *Cafego Tennessee
1938 George *Cafego Tennessee
1939 Dean *McAdams Washington
1940 Charlie *O'Rourke Boston College
1941 Cesar Coker North Carolina State
1942 Irv *Comp Duke
1943 Bob *Waterfield Wisconsin
1943 ALL-AMERICAN TEAM
QB George *Ratterman - USC Trojans (122/225, 1349 yds, 8 TD)
RB Bus *Mertes - Michigan Wolverines (399 att, 1784 yds, 13 TD, 16 rec, 126 yds, 0 TD)
FB Damien Kohler - Washington Huskies (106 att, 374 yds, 4 TD, 4 rec, 34 yds, 1 TD)
TE Cody Smith - Arizona State Sun Devils (33 rec, 285 yds, 4 TD)
WR Al *Olszewski - Baylor Bears (45 rec, 732 yds, 5 TD)
WR Nicholas Beauchamp - Virginia Cavaliers (42 rec, 656 yds, 8 TD)
C Lou *Sossamon - California Golden Bears (59 Pancakes)
G John Gatewood - Wisconsin Badgers (66 Pancakes)
G Al *Lolotai - Duke Blue Devils (64 Pancakes)
T Dick *Huffman - Texas Longhorns (73 Pancakes)
T Quentin *Klenk - Michigan Wolverines (62 Pancakes)
DT Rudy *Sikich - Texas Longhorns (58 Tck, 7 Sck, 1 FR)
DT Daniel Fortier - Baylor Bears (47 Tck, 6 Sck, 1 Sfty, 1 FR)
DE Lake *Roberson - Rice Owls (64 Tck, 5 Sck)
DE Archie *Milano - Virginia Cavaliers (56 Tck, 2 Sck, 1 Sfty, 2 FR)
LB George Larsen - Army Black Knights (101 Tck, 3 Sck, 1 Int, 1 Def TD, 1 FR)
LB Spiro *Dellerba - Oklahoma Sooners (86 Tck, 5 Sck, 1 Sfty, 1 FR)
LB Timothy Tran - Texas AM Aggies (84 Tck, 4 Sck, 1 Int, 3 FR)
CB Robert Mitchell - Tennessee Volunteers (29 Tck, 2 Sck, 5 Int, 1 FR)
CB Micheal Ballard - Rutgers Scarlet Knights (28 Tck, 2 Sck, 3 Int, 1 Def TD, 1 FR)
SS Doyle Sauls - Virginia Cavaliers (85 Tck, 8 Sck, 1 Sfty)
FS Leo Giles - Kansas Jayhawks (60 Tck, 2 Sck, 3 Int, 1 Sfty, 3 FR)
K Carlton Lambert - Michigan Wolverines (38/40 FG)
P Kevin Moore - Rice Owls (5616 yards, 47.6 avg, 29 inside 20)
*indicates historic (non-fictional) player
SOUTH STARS DOMINATE SENIOR BOWL
Alabama Poly quarterback Donald Kilpatrick threw for 158 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead the South to a 30-12 victory over the North in the 1943 Senior Bowl. Kilpatrick, a fictional player who started each of the past two seasons for the Tigers, was a perfect 10-for-10 on pass attempts in helping his side to a 14-3 first quarter lead. Texas back Bud Cifers, who rushed for 1,398 yards for the Longhorns this season, led all rushers with 98 yards as he carried the ball 38 times. Wisconsin quarterback Bob Waterfield struggled during his time under center for the North team, completing just 1 of 5 pass attempts for 22 yards.
Next up the 1943-44 National Hockey League season.