Notre Dame football: The Irish and the games of the century
When Notre Dame met Army in 1946 the two programs couldn’t be higher. Army was the best team in college football during World War II, having won National Championships in 1944 and 1945. They came into the game ranked 1st in the AP poll. Meanwhile, Notre Dame had been a premier program before the war and even won the 1943 National Championship. Now, they were back to full strength and ranked 2nd in the AP poll.
Whoever won the game, set in Yankee Stadium, would likely go on to be the National Champion in 1946.
Beyond their rankings in 1946, and success on the field during the first half of the 20th century, the Notre Dame-Army game has had a rich history. It was against Army that Notre Dame broke out the forward pass in 1913, the Four Horsemen were christened in 1924, and the Irish won one for the Gipper in 1928.
On the field would be four Heisman Trophy winners, though only one who had won it already. Army’s fullback Doc Blanchard won in 1945, and their halfback Glenn Davis would win in 1946. Notre Dame’s quarterback Johnny Lujack and end Leon Hart would win in 1947 and 1949 respectively. The Irish had been averaging 35.4 points per game, and Army was at 29.7 points per game leading into the match-up. It should have been a shootout.
Famously, that’s not what fans got to see though.
Instead, it was a hard-hitting defensive battle, in which neither team even had many opportunities to score. This wasn’t a game full of long drives, and missed opportunities. It was a physical battle in the trenches, where the defensive lines proved their worth over a handful of Heisman winners.
In short, it word bore the pants of a modern audience and remind us all of that awful to watch Alabama-LSU game in 2011. Still, it was littered with great moments.
Unsurprisingly, the greatest of those great moments was a defensive play made by Notre Dame’s Johnny Lujack. Blanchard of Army had broken past the linebackers and into the open field on a misdirection play. Lujack, who had been in at safety, came across to drag Blanchard down. No one was behind Lujack, and this tackle saved the day for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame would go onto win the 1946 National Championship with a record of 8-0-1. However, some polls had Army as the National Champion at 9-0-1. Call it a fairly split National Championship.