Phil C
09-22-2008, 11:42 AM
This should be another great thriller like the one two years ago when the Aggies won 28 to 24. Both teams have had hard luck the past few years but at one time they were powerhouses.
The Aggies once had a national championship in 1939.
Army has had it rough losing to their big rival Navy for six straight years. There were times when they had great teams such as in 1916 when they were perfect and in 1949 when they were 9 - 0 and in 1950 when they were 8 - 1. They had many great teams that had just one or two loses. Their most succesful era was in 1944 to 1946 when they were 27 - 1 and had two National Championships and two Heisman Trophy winners. They had a 25 game winning streak then too.
In 1946 Army played Notre Dame in what was then billed as the game of the century with No. 2 Notre Dame vs No. 1 Army. Tickets were on sale as high as $200 each which today would be well over $2000! Army had a future Heisman Trophy winner in Johnny Lujak who was also great on defense while Army had Doc Blanchard and Glen Davis who each had a Hesiman Trophy. Army had beaten ND bad the prior two years but in 1946 Notre Dame had many of its' players back from serving in WW2.
This was to be a great game. In the first quarter Notre Dame came closests to scoring when they got to the Army two with a fourth and two. Notre Dame went for the first down but the runner back tried to go for the corner where Army's Doc Blanchard and Hank Folberg stopped him short. Folberg had gone to A&M in 1943 but transferred to Army and was on the great Army teams of 1944 -46 and went on to Coach at Texas A&M for a while and almost stopped UT from getting the National Championship in 1963. Army almost broke away once with Johnny Lujak stopping a td run. Army did reach the Notre Dame 15 but were stopped when they went for a first down. Both teams had field goal opportunities but remember this was in 1946 and field goals were much less of a sure thing then just like extra points. Notre Dame was the one who should have gone for a field goal at the four when they had the opportunity. Their coach is later been quoted as regretting this. The game ended 0 - 0.
The main National Championship Poll (the Associated Press) awarded it to Notre Dame even though the statistics were even but they probably didn't want to have a 3 peat National Champion plus Notre Dame beat Navy that year 28 to 0 and Army barely beat Navy 21 to 18 and had to hold Navy off near its' goal line as the game was ending. Both teamswere 9 - 0 -1 for the year.
There was a team that had a perfect record that year that got third place and perhaps an argument should be made for them. Notre Dame won the main poll but Army also won a few polls while one poll award the team ranked No. 3 their National Championship and ironically they have never claimed the National Championship unlike USC who makes bogus claims for the 1939 NC and you can bet if they had been perfect in 1946 they would claim that year.
That year Georgia had the only perfect record in college going 11-0. Their closest game was a 20 to 10 win over North Carolina in the 1-1-47 Sugar Bowl. No team scored over 14 points on them during the season and they didn't score less than 20 points except for a 14 to 0 win over Alabama. Unfortunately it was the glamour of Notre Dame and Army meeting that overshadowed them because any other year they probably would have won the AP national championship.
The Aggies once had a national championship in 1939.
Army has had it rough losing to their big rival Navy for six straight years. There were times when they had great teams such as in 1916 when they were perfect and in 1949 when they were 9 - 0 and in 1950 when they were 8 - 1. They had many great teams that had just one or two loses. Their most succesful era was in 1944 to 1946 when they were 27 - 1 and had two National Championships and two Heisman Trophy winners. They had a 25 game winning streak then too.
In 1946 Army played Notre Dame in what was then billed as the game of the century with No. 2 Notre Dame vs No. 1 Army. Tickets were on sale as high as $200 each which today would be well over $2000! Army had a future Heisman Trophy winner in Johnny Lujak who was also great on defense while Army had Doc Blanchard and Glen Davis who each had a Hesiman Trophy. Army had beaten ND bad the prior two years but in 1946 Notre Dame had many of its' players back from serving in WW2.
This was to be a great game. In the first quarter Notre Dame came closests to scoring when they got to the Army two with a fourth and two. Notre Dame went for the first down but the runner back tried to go for the corner where Army's Doc Blanchard and Hank Folberg stopped him short. Folberg had gone to A&M in 1943 but transferred to Army and was on the great Army teams of 1944 -46 and went on to Coach at Texas A&M for a while and almost stopped UT from getting the National Championship in 1963. Army almost broke away once with Johnny Lujak stopping a td run. Army did reach the Notre Dame 15 but were stopped when they went for a first down. Both teams had field goal opportunities but remember this was in 1946 and field goals were much less of a sure thing then just like extra points. Notre Dame was the one who should have gone for a field goal at the four when they had the opportunity. Their coach is later been quoted as regretting this. The game ended 0 - 0.
The main National Championship Poll (the Associated Press) awarded it to Notre Dame even though the statistics were even but they probably didn't want to have a 3 peat National Champion plus Notre Dame beat Navy that year 28 to 0 and Army barely beat Navy 21 to 18 and had to hold Navy off near its' goal line as the game was ending. Both teamswere 9 - 0 -1 for the year.
There was a team that had a perfect record that year that got third place and perhaps an argument should be made for them. Notre Dame won the main poll but Army also won a few polls while one poll award the team ranked No. 3 their National Championship and ironically they have never claimed the National Championship unlike USC who makes bogus claims for the 1939 NC and you can bet if they had been perfect in 1946 they would claim that year.
That year Georgia had the only perfect record in college going 11-0. Their closest game was a 20 to 10 win over North Carolina in the 1-1-47 Sugar Bowl. No team scored over 14 points on them during the season and they didn't score less than 20 points except for a 14 to 0 win over Alabama. Unfortunately it was the glamour of Notre Dame and Army meeting that overshadowed them because any other year they probably would have won the AP national championship.