The 50 greatest college football teams throughout history

31. Best college football teams of all-time: 1945 Navy

Not surprisingly, we will see quite a few of these powerhouse teams arise from the post-WWII era, in which all of the nation’s top talents flocked to military academies and various other armed forces teams. Though this team would eventually look like a national champion-caliber team, they were no match for one of the all-time greats in the 1945 army team.

However, that fact definitely doesn’t disqualify them from some recognition on this list, as much as it does give credit to Army. The Midshipmen entered that fable contest ranked as the No. 2 team, before losing to Army 32-13. In the season, they tied then-No. 2 Notre Dame 6-6 and beat everyone else in a schedule that included two top-10 teams in Michigan and Penn.

This team didn’t give up more than a touchdown until the season finale against Army, which to me serves as rightfully one of the best matchups in college football history. This was also the last hurrah for the Midshipmen, who would only win 10 games in the next six seasons.

They were 7-1-1 against the 15th toughest schedule in college football history, with Dick Duden earning All-American honors, in one of the greatest seasons of all time. In most other years, this team could have proved fully capable of climbing even further up this list.