It concluded with the top four teams undefeated and untied at the end of the regular season: Other notable teams with undefeated records included Pacific (11–0, AP No.
Morgan State (8–0) and Southern (10–0–1) were each recognized as black college national champion by at least one selector.
The major college individual statistical leaders for 1949 included Drake fullback Johnny Bright with 1,950 yards of total offense; Ole Miss fullback Kayo Dottley with 1,312 rushing yards; North Carolina end Art Weiner with 52 pass receptions; and Oklahoma halfback George Thomas with 114 points scored.
[3] The Associated Press did not poll the writers until the third week of the season.
Among the five teams that had been ranked highest in 1948, California was the first to open play, with a 21–7 win over Santa Clara on September 17.
North Carolina beat N.C. State 26–6.
The night before, Oklahoma had won at Boston College, 46–0.
On October 1 in Seattle, Notre Dame beat Washington 27–7.
Oklahoma beat Texas A&M 33–13, North Carolina beat Georgia 21–14, and Michigan won at Stanford, 27–7.
When the first poll was issued, Michigan had 34 of the 80 votes cast, followed by Notre Dame and Oklahoma.
Tulane University, which had beaten Alabama 28–14 and Georgia Tech 18–0, placed fourth.
Minnesota, which had victories over Washington (48–20) and at Nebraska (28–6) was fifth.
North Carolina, which had been in the final top five in 1948, was at sixth place.
4 Tulane beat Southeastern Louisiana 40–0.
5 Minnesota stayed unbeaten with a win in Columbus over No.
10 Texas, 17–15, and was fifth in the next poll behind Notre Dame, Army, Oklahoma, and California.
2 Army defeated VMI (the Virginia Military Institute) 40–14.
5 Rice beat Texas Tech 28–0 to extend its record to 5–1–0.
6 Michigan, which won at Illinois 13–0, returned to the Top Five with a 4–2–0 record, moving up ahead of Rice.
4 California beat Washington State 33–14.
1 Notre Dame beat North Carolina, 42–6.
2 Army had a scare in Philadelphia, edging Penn 14–13.
4 Army returned to Philadelphia for the Army–Navy Game and defeated Navy 38–0.
5 Ohio State, at 6–1–2, accepted bids to play in the Rose Bowl.
The final poll was released on November 28, although some colleges had not completed their schedules; the top five were No.
1 Notre Dame closed a perfect season in Dallas with a 27–20 win over Southern Methodist University (SMU).
The final AP poll was released in late November with Notre Dame receiving 172 of 248 first-place votes.
[8] The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player [9][10][11] For the year 1949, the NCAA recognizes eight published All-American teams as "official" designations for purposes of its consensus determinations.
The following chart identifies the NCAA-recognized consensus All-Americans and displays which first-team designations they received.