The 1944 Army Cadets 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 wi ...

team that represented the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

as an independent during the 1944 college football season. In their fourth season under head coach Earl Blaik, the Cadets compiled a perfect 9–0 record and outscored opponents by a total of 504 to 35. Army's 1944 season was part of a 32-game undefeated streak that included the entire 1944, 1945, and 1946 seasons. 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 br ...

released on December 5, Army was ranked No. 1 nationally with 1,165 points, more than 200 points ahead of No. 2

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. In retroactive analyses, Army has also been recognized as the 1944 national champion by most other selectors, including the

Billingsley Report The Billingsley Report is a college football rating system developed in the late 1960s to determine a national champion. Billingsley has actively rated college football teams on a current basis since 1970. Beginning in 1999, Billingsley's ratings ...

Boand System The Boand System was a system for determining the college football national championship. It was also known as the Azzi Ratem system (derived from "As I rate 'em"). The system was developed by William F. Boand. The rankings were based on mathemat ...

College Football Researchers Association The College Football Researchers Association (CFRA) was founded in 1982 by Anthony Cusher of Reeder, North Dakota, and Robert Kirlin of Spokane, Washington. The CFRA took a vote of its members from 1982 to 1992 to select an annual college football ...

Dunkel System The Dunkel System, also known as the Dunkel College Football Index, is a college football rating system developed in 1929 by Richard C. "Dick" Dunkel, Sr. (1906–1975), to determine a national champion. Dunkel rated college football teams from 19 ...

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owners ...

, Houlgate System, National Championship Foundation, Poling System, and Sagarin Ratings. Army also won the Lambert Trophy as the best football team in the east. Army halfback Glenn Davis received the

Maxwell Award The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the college football player judged by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and National Collegiate Athletic Association head coaches and the membership of the Maxwell Football Club to be the best al ...

as the best college football player of 1944. Davis and fullback Doc Blanchard were selected as consensus first-team players on the 1944 All-America college football team. Six persons affiliated with the 1944 Army team were later inducted into the

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 vo ...

: head coach Blaik (inducted 1964); Blanchard (inducted 1959); Davis (inducted 1961); end

Barney Poole George Barney Poole (October 29, 1923 – April 12, 2005) was an American football end in the National Football League for the New York Yanks, the Dallas Texans, the Baltimore Colts, and the New York Giants. Poole also played football in the All ...

(inducted 1974); quarterback

Doug Kenna Edgar Douglas Kenna II (June 11, 1924 – January 28, 2013) was an American football player and businessman. Biography College football Kenna played his freshman year at the University of Mississippi for the Ole Miss Rebels. However, following h ...

(inducted 1984); and guard

John Green John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author, YouTube content creator, podcaster, and philanthropist. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including '' The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012), which is ...

(inducted 1989). The team captain was Tom Lombardo. Other notable players included tackle

Tex Coulter DeWitt Echoles "Tex" Coulter (October 26, 1924 – October 2, 2007) was an American gridiron football player. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union f ...

, guard

Joe Stanowicz Joseph John Stanowicz (November 4, 1921 – September 21, 1999) was an American football player. He attended the United States Military Academy where he played at the guard position for the Army Black Knights football team. He was selected by ...

, and center Robert St. Onge.

Schedule

References

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Army Black Knights football seasons College football national champions College football undefeated seasons Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy seasons Army Cadets football {{collegefootball-1940s-season-stub