OPPapers.com

Football

College Football
1950Notre Dame began the 1950s as the nation's number one team and owner of a 38–game unbeaten streak.The Irish labored to beat North Carolina in their opener, then lost for the first time in five years to visiting Purdue 28–14. The streak lasted from Sept. 28, 1946 to Oct. 7, 1950. Notre Dame's record over that span was 37–0–2,.ND lost three more times before the end of the season, finished at 4–4–1 and failed to make the final Top 20 for the first time in 10 years.Two other lengthy streaks were snapped, Oklahoma and Army. Top-ranked Oklahoma swept through the regular season with 10 wins to run its unbeaten string to 31. The Sooners then met Bear Bryant's No.7 Kentucky team in the Sugar Bowl. The Wildcats took a 13–0 halftime lead and held on for the 13–7 upset. Army's unbeaten streak of 28 games also came to an abrupt halt against Navy in Philadelphia, with a 14-2 loss. No.3 Texas and 4th-ranked Tennessee squared off in the Cotton Bowl, where the Vols came from behind to win 20–14 in the last three minutes. Out in Pasadena, No.5 California, undefeated for the third regular season in a row (overall record: 29–0–1), lost its third straight Rose Bowl.
1951Any shot Army might have had at regaining the top spot in the AP rankings disappeared on Aug.3, 1951 when 90 Cadets (37 of them football players) were dismissed from West Point in the wake of a cheating scandal. Defending national champ Oklahoma slipped to 8–2 and Texas to 7–3, leaving the way clear for unbeaten Tennessee to move up and claim the title. Coach Bob Neyland's bunch had been the only team in the Top 5 to win a bowl game, however, so they felt deserving of the national title. This year the opposite happened. Tennessee got the nod from AP in December then lost the Sugar Bowl to No.3 Maryland.Despite the nearly wholesale changeover to the T-formation in college ball, it was a good year for the single wing. The top two vote-getters in the Heisman balloting, Dick...

Please login to view the full essay...