The 1945 All-Pacific Coast football team consists of American football players chosen by various organizations for All-Pacific Coast teams for the 1945 college football season. The organizations selecting teams in 1945 included the Associated Press (AP) and the United Press (UP). [1] [2]
American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, which is the team controlling the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with or passing the ball, while the defense, which is the team without control of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and aims to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, and otherwise they turn over the football to the defense; if the offense succeeds in advancing ten yards or more, they are given a new set of four downs. Points are primarily scored by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins.
The 1945 college football season finished with the undefeated United States Military Academy, more popularly known as "Army", being the unanimous choice for the nation's number one team by the 116 voters in the Associated Press writers’ poll. The runner up was the undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide, followed by the United States Naval Academy, more popularly known as "Navy". In 2016, the American Football Coaches Association retroactively named the Oklahoma A&M Cowboys national champion for 1945.
The Associated Press (AP) is a U.S.-based not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. The AP is owned by its contributing newspapers and radio and television stations in the United States, all of which contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists. Its Statement of News Values and Principles spells out its standards and practices.
Contents
- All-Pacific Coast selections
- Quarterbacks
- Halfbacks
- Fullbacks
- Ends
- Tackles
- Guards
- Centers
- Key
- See also
- References
The USC Trojans won the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) championship with a 7–4 record, finished the season ranked #11 in the final AP Poll, and had two players named to the first team by either the AP or UP: end Jim Callanan (AP, UP) and halfback Ted Teannehill (AP).
The 1945 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1945 college football season. In their fourth year under head coach Jeff Cravath, the Trojans compiled a 7–4 record, won the Pacific Coast Conference championship, lost to Alabama in the 1946 Rose Bowl, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 205 to 150.
The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members now in the Pac-12, the older league had a completely different charter and was disbanded in 1959 due to a major crisis and scandal.
The Associated Press provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 65 sportswriters and broadcasters from across the nation. Each voter provides his own ranking of the top 25 teams, and the individual rankings are then combined to produce the national ranking by giving a team 25 points for a first place vote, 24 for a second place vote, and so on down to 1 point for a twenty-fifth place vote. Ballots of the voting members in the AP Poll are made public.
The Washington State Cougars finished in second place in the PCC with a 6–2–1 record and also placed two players on the first team: fullback Bill Lippincott (UP) and tackle Rod Giske (AP, UP). [1] [2]
The Washington State Cougars football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Washington State University, located in the U.S. state of Washington. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level in the FBS and is a member of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12). Known as the Cougars, the first football team was fielded in 1894.
Four players from teams outside the PCC received first-team honors. Three of those played for the St. Mary's Gaels: quarterback Herman Wedemeyer (AP, UP), halfback "Spike" Cordeiro (UP), and end Ed Ryan (AP, UP). The fourth was tackle Bob McClure (UP) of Nevada. [1] [2]
The Saint Mary's Gaels football program was the intercollegiate American football team for Saint Mary's College of California, located in Moraga, California, east of Oakland. The team competed in NCAA Division I-AA as an independent from 1993 through 2003.
Herman John Wedemeyer was an American actor, football player, and politician. He is best known for portraying Sergeant/Detective "Duke" Lukela on the crime drama Hawaii Five-O (1972–1980). He also appeared on the first episode of Hawaii Five-O as Lt. Balta of Honolulu Police Department.
Edward Denis Ryan was an American football defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He played one season with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1948). Ryan grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia and attended college at Saint Mary's College of California. In 1948, he was drafted by the Steelers, 73rd overall, becoming one of the first Canadians ever drafted in the NFL. He went on to play nine games that season, his only season in the NFL.