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The 50 greatest college football teams throughout history

By Nate Williamson

Ed Orgeron, Joe Burrow, Grant Delpit, LSU Tigers. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
Ed Orgeron, Joe Burrow, Grant Delpit, LSU Tigers. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images) /
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Best college football teams of all-time:
Penn tacklers reach for Doc Blanchard, Army fullback after he ripped the line for a short gain the second period of the Pennsylvania-Army game. /

12. Best college football teams of all-time: 1944 Army

Army finished 7-2-1 in 1943 during the height of World War II.

They then went on to have the greatest three-year run of any college football program in history, as the nation’s top prospects flooded to West Point and other military academies during World War II and many other universities and programs suspended or stopped play due to war-time conditions.

This was the first year of that run. Debuting the legendary dynamic duo of Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard, who were then sophomores (freshman still couldn’t play due to regulations at the time), they powered their offense to be one of the best ever, while on the defensive side of the ball never allowing more than a touchdown to be scored. A massive five times they only let up 7 points in a game and shut out four opponents on the season.

This 1944 team’s season included a 59-0 win over No. 5 Notre Dame (another program that flourished around this time period), an 83-0 win over Villanova and a 23-7 win over one of the best Navy teams ever fielded. The win over their Navy rivals secured the No. 1 ranking for Army, bringing the trophy home to West Point. The game was an instant classic and is a fun watch today

If updated to a modern sense, training and physicality, Blanchard and Davis (who finished 2nd and 3rd in Heisman voting) would be phenomenal to watch on the field.