1949 College Football Final Rankings

In 1949, three teams had undefeated, untied seasons. Our analysis agrees with the voters, however, who awarded the national championship overwhelmingly to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. In our analysis, it was a lot closer than the voters made it, however, with the Oklahoma Sooners giving a pretty good argument for their own national title.

1. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-0) - 1.4
2. Oklahoma Sooners (11-0) - 1.6
3. California Golden Bears (10-1) - 3.4
4. Army Black Knights (9-0) - 3.6
5. Rice Owls (10-1) - 5.9
6. Maryland Terrapins (9-1) - 6.1
7. Texas Longhorns (6-4) - 8.2
8. Baylor Bears (8-2) - 9.6
9. Santa Clara Broncos (8-2-1) - 10.1
10. Michigan State Spartans (6-3) - 10.2
11. Kentucky Wildcats (9-3) - 12.4
12. Ohio State Buckeyes (7-1-2) - 12.9
13. Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-2) - 13.1
14. Cornell Big Red (8-1) - 13.7
15. Villanova Wildcats (8-1) - 14.0
16. LSU Tigers (8-3) - 16.6
(tie) Stanford Cardinal (7-3-1) - 16.6
18. Michigan Wolverines (6-2-1) - 16.8
19. Wyoming Cowboys (9-1) - 17.5
20. USC Trojans (5-3-1) - 20.6
21. Tulane Green Wave (7-2-1) - 21.3
22. UCLA Bruins (6-3) - 22.1
23. Wisconsin Badgers (5-3-1) - 24.5
24. Pennsylvania Relays (4-4) - 26.0
25. North Carolina Tar Heels (7-4) - 26.1
26. Tennessee Volunteers (7-2-1) - 26.7
27. SMU Mustangs (5-4-1) - 28.4
28. Brown Bears (8-1) - 28.5
29. Dartmouth Big Green (6-2) - 28.9
30. TCU Horned Frogs (6-3-1) - 30.0
31. Princeton Tigers (6-3) - 30.7
32. Oregon State Beavers (7-3) - 30.8
33. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (7-3) - 31.4
34. Virginia Cavaliers (7-2) - 32.8
35. Missouri Tigers (7-4) - 34.0
36. Alabama Crimson Tide (6-3-1) - 35.2
37. Colorado State Rams (9-1) - 35.6
38. Illinois Fighting Illini (3-4-2) - 39.2
39. William & Mary Tribe (6-4) - 39.7
40. Duke Blue Devils (6-3) - 40.4
41. Pittsburgh Panthers (6-3) - 41.8
42. Fordham Rams (5-3) - 43.0
43. Arkansas Razorbacks (5-5) - 43.2
44. Miami Hurricanes (6-3) - 44.8
45. Penn State Nittany Lions (5-4) - 45.3
46. San Francisco Dons (7-3) - 45.9
47. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (6-3) - 47.0
48. Northwestern Wildcats (4-5) - 48.2
49. Georgia Bulldogs (4-6-1) - 48.5
50. Navy Midshipmen (3-5-1) - 48.6
51. Boston University Terriers (6-2) - 50.4
52. Oregon Ducks (4-6) - 51.0
53. UTEP Miners (8-2-1) - 51.3
54. Vanderbilt Commodores (5-5) - 53.4
55. Purdue Boilermakers (4-5) - 54.1
56. Oklahoma State Cowboys (4-4-2) - 54.3
57. Kansas Jayhawks (5-5) - 57.7
58. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (4-6) - 58.8
59. Loyola Marymount Lions (6-4) - 59.6
60. Iowa State Cyclones (5-3-1) - 61.3
61. Iowa Hawkeyes (4-5) - 62.4
62. Boston College Eagles (4-4-1) - 63.0
63. Ole Miss Rebels (4-5-1) - 63.4
64. Nebraska Cornhuskers (4-5) - 64.7
65. Texas Tech Red Raiders (7-5) - 65.0
66. Florida Gators (4-5-1) - 66.0
67. Hardin-Simmons Cowboys (6-4-1) - 67.7
68. Houston Cougars (5-4-1) - 67.9
69. Temple Owls (5-4) - 70.4
70. Detroit Mercy Titans (5-4) - 71.1
71. South Carolina Gamecocks (4-6) - 71.4
72. Drake Bulldogs (6-2-1) - 71.8
73. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (5-5-1) - 72.1
74. Arizona State Sun Devils (7-3) - 72.6
75. Montana Grizzlies (5-4) - 73.3
76. Yale Bulldogs (4-4) - 74.4
77. Washington Huskies (3-7) - 75.7
78. Auburn Tigers (2-4-3) - 78.7
79. Washington State Cougars (3-6) - 79.2
80. Marquette Golden Eagles (4-5) - 80.4
81. West Virginia Mountaineers (4-6-1) - 81.3
82. Georgetown Hoyas (5-5) - 81.5
83. Syracuse Orange (4-5) - 82.5
84. West Texas A&M Buffaloes (5-4) - 84.1
85. St. Mary's Gaels (3-6-1) - 84.3
86. George Washington Colonials (4-5) - 86.4
87. Nevada Wolf Pack (5-5) - 87.0
88. Clemson Tigers (4-4-2) - 87.9
(tie) Idaho Vandals (3-5) - 87.9
90. Texas A&M Aggies (1-8-1) - 89.3
91. Washington & Lee Generals (3-5-1) - 89.9
92. Indiana Hoosiers (1-8) - 92.5
93. NC State Wolfpack (3-7) - 92.7
94. VMI Keydets (3-5-1) - 94.5
95. Bradley Hilltops (5-5) - 94.6
96. Colorado Buffaloes (3-7) - 95.1
97. Citadel Bulldogs (4-5) - 98.9
98. New York University Violets (3-6) - 100.1
99. New Mexico State Aggies (4-6) - 100.2
100. Denver Pioneers (4-6) - 100.9
101. Columbia Lions (2-7) - 101.0
102. Wichita State Shockers (3-6-1) - 101.7
103. Utah Utes (2-7-1) - 103.3
104. Furman Paladins (3-6) - 103.4
(tie) Kansas State Wildcats (2-8) - 103.4
106. Duquesne Dukes (3-6) - 103.8
107. Utah State Aggies (3-7) - 104.8
108. Arizona Wildcats (2-7-1) - 108.4
109. St. Louis Billikens (2-6-1) - 109.1
110. Richmond Spiders (3-7) - 109.5
111. Virginia Tech Hokies (1-7-2) - 112.2
112. Colgate Raiders (1-8) - 113.3
113. New Mexico Lobos (2-8) - 114.3
114. Harvard Crimson (1-8) - 115.3
115. Mississippi State Bulldogs (0-8-1) - 115.6
116. Davidson Wildcats (2-8) - 116.2
117. Holy Cross Crusaders (1-9) - 117.6
118. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (1-6-1) - 119.0
119. BYU Cougars (0-11) - 120.0


Special thanks to James Howell's College Football Scores, which provided the data for our analysis