The 1947 college football season finished with Notre Dame, Michigan, and Penn State all unbeaten and untied, but the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame were the first place choice for 107 of the 142 voters in the final regular season AP Poll in early December, and repeated as national champions.
[3] Michigan was selected for the top spot by six contemporary math systems.
[4] Second-ranked Michigan met #8 USC in the Rose Bowl and won 49–0, while fourth-ranked Penn State was tied 13–13 by #3 SMU in the Cotton Bowl; Notre Dame didn't participate in the postseason for over four decades (until the 1969 season).
[5] During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A".
The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of the Associated Press poll of sportswriters (the United Press Coaches Poll started in 1950).
The extent of that recognition came in the form of acknowledgment in the annual NCAA Football Guide of the "unofficial" national champions.
[6] The Associated Press did not poll the writers until after the games of October 4.
Among the five teams that had been ranked highest in 1946 (Notre Dame, Army, Georgia, UCLA and Illinois), Georgia opened on September 20 with a 34–7 win over Southern Mississippi and UCLA hosted Iowa the following Friday and won 22–7.
On October 4 Notre Dame won at Pittsburgh 40–6.
When the first poll came out that Monday, Notre Dame was the favorite of a bare majority (52 of 103) of the voters, followed by No.
Illinois was ranked 6th, Penn 7th, California 8th, Georgia 9th, and Vanderbilt 10th.
4 Georgia Tech beat VMI, 20–0, for its third shutout in three starts.
6 Illinois met at Yankee Stadium in New York, and played to a 0–0 tie.
In the next poll, Michigan and Notre Dame switched places at No.
California, which won at Wisconsin 48–7, rose from eighth to fourth, with Georgia Tech falling to No.
2 Notre Dame shut out visiting Nebraska, 31–0.
3 Texas met Arkansas at a neutral location in Memphis, Tennessee, and won 21–6.
5 Georgia Tech defeated Auburn 27–7 to stay unbeaten, but was voted out of the Top Five.
1 Notre Dame and Navy met in Cleveland, with the Fighting Irish registering their third straight shutout, 27–0.
8 Southern Methodist University, and the SMU Mustangs won 14–13.
1 Notre Dame had more points scored against it than at any other time in the season, but won at unranked Northwestern, 26–19.
9 Wisconsin in Madison and won 40–6, raising it back up to first place in the next poll.
1 Michigan closed its season at 9–0–0 with a 21–0 win over Ohio State, and accepted an invitation to meet No.
Both unbeaten, they accepted invitations to the Cotton Bowl Classic.
2 Notre Dame thrashed Tulane, 59–6 and yet again switched places with Michigan in the rankings.
The Irish were restored to the top spot by the AP voters, with 97 first place votes to Michigan's 81.
3 SMU was tied in a game at TCU, 19–19, and fell to fourth with USC moving up to No.
3 USC (7–0–1) met in Los Angeles, with the Irish cementing their hold on the No.
5 Penn State had completed their regular seasons, with bowls to come.
The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player Source: [11][12]