The final 1943 Associated Press college football poll had a lot of familiar names: Notre Dame, Michigan, Washington and Texas were all ranked in the Top 20.
But among the top 10 were some teams you won’t find in this season’s poll: No. 2, Iowa Pre-Flight; No. 6, Great Lakes Navy; No. 8, Del Monte Pre-Flight; and No. 10, March Field.
The world of college football was transformed for a few years during World War II, when military training camps fielded their own teams, which competed with college football’s best.
The service teams had the advantage of older players, some of them former professionals, who were preparing for military service.