The 1946 Cincinnati Bearcats football team was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team that represented the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

in the

Mid-America Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divi ...

(MAC) during the

1946 college football season The 1946 college football season was the 78th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. Competition included schools from the Big Ten Conference, the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Big Six ...

. In their second year under head coach Ray Nolting, the Bearcats compiled a 9–2 record, outscored opponents by a total of 221 to 93, and won the MAC championship. Their regular season highlights included victories over major college powers including

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

(ranked No. 20 in the final AP poll),

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

(coached by

Bear Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of ...

), and

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

. Cincinnati closed its season with a victory over

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

, 18–6, in the

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...

. The team tallied 276 rushing yards in the Sun Bowl while holding Virginia Tech to only 35 rushing yards. Hal Johnson, Al Sabato, and Don McMillan scored Cincinnati touchdowns. Roger Stephens led the Bearcats and ranked sixth nationally with 774 rushing yards and led the nation with an average of 7.66 yards per carry. Cincinnati was ranked at No. 42 in the final Litkenhous Difference by Score System rankings for 1946.

Schedule

Players

* Bert Bauer, center, 208 pounds * Tom Blake, guard/linebacker, No. 50, 200 pounds * Jim Dougherty, halfback, No. 13 * Bob Fenlon, guard, No. 22, 220 pounds * Ollie Freese, halfback * Mike Graham, fullback * Stan Klimczak, end, freshman, 188 pounds * Dick Langenbeck, tackle, No. 38, 225 pounds * Don McMillan, quarterback, No. 15, 175 pounds * Elbie Nickel, captain and end, No. 33, 200 pounds * Tom O'Malley, quarterback * Fred Redeker, fullback, No. 31, 220 pounds * Alkie Richards, halfback, No. 21, 178 pounds * Al Sabato, linebacker * Floyd Shorts, center, No. 41 * Bill Smyth, tackle, No. 49, 220 pounds * Wille Stargel, end * "Racing" Roger Stephens, halfback, No. 23, 183 pounds * Max Wharton, end, No. 51, 210 pounds

After the season

The 1947 NFL Draft was held on December 16, 1946. The following Bearcats were selected.

References

External links

50th anniversary article
{{Cincinnati Bearcats football navbox

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Cincinnati Bearcats football seasons Sun Bowl champion seasons

Cincinnati Bearcats football The Cincinnati Bearcats football team represents the University of Cincinnati in college football. They compete at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level as members of the Big 12 Conference. They have played their home games in histo ...