The 1945 Saint Mary's Gaels football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Saint Mary's College of California Saint Mary's College of California is a Private college, private Catholic Church, Catholic college in Moraga, California. Established in 1863, it is affiliated with the Catholic Church and administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college of ...

during the

1945 college football season The 1945 college football season was the 77th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. Competition included schools from the Big Ten Conference, the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Big Six C ...

. In their fourth season under head coach and

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

inductee James Phelan, the Gaels compiled a 7–2 record, outscored their opponents by a combined total of 282 to 65, and were ranked No. 7 in the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

. The Gaels' victories included a 20–13 besting of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and a 26–0 victory over

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

. Their only loss during the regular season was to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

by a 13–7 score. The Gaels were invited to play in the 1946 Sugar Bowl where they lost to an undefeated No. 5-ranked Oklahoma A&M by a 33–13 score. The team led the nation in passing offense with an average of 161.3 passing yards per game. College Football Hall of Fame inductee

Herman Wedemeyer Herman John Wedemeyer (May 20, 1924 – January 25, 1999) was an American actor, football player, and politician. He is best known for portraying Sergeant/Detective "Duke" Lukela on the crime drama ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1972–1980). He also appear ...

ranked second nationally with 1,040 passing yards. Three Gaels received honors on the

1945 All-Pacific Coast football team The 1945 All-Pacific Coast football team consists of American football players chosen by various organizations for All-Pacific Coast teams for the 1945 college football season. The organizations selecting teams in 1945 included the Associated Press ...

: Wedemeyer at halfback (AP-1, UP-1); Charles Albert (Spike) Cordeiro, Jr. at halfback (UP-1); and Ed Ryan at end (AP-1, UP-1).

Schedule

References

{{Saint Mary's Gaels football navbox Saint Mary's Saint Mary's Gaels football seasons

Saint Mary's Gaels football : ''For information on all Saint Mary's College of California sports, see Saint Mary's Gaels'' The Saint Mary's Gaels football program was the intercollegiate American football team for Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, California. Th ...