1944 Purdue Boilermakers football team

1944 Purdue Boilermakers football
1944 Purdue Boilermakers football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	5–5 (4–2 Big Ten)
Head coach	Cecil Isbell (1st season);
MVP	Babe Dimancheff
Captain	Babe Dimancheff
Home stadium	Ross–Ade Stadium
	Seasons ← 1943 1945 →

The 1944 Purdue Boilermakers football team was an American football team that represented Purdue University during the 1944 Big Ten Conference football season. In their first season under head coach Cecil Isbell, the Boilermakers compiled a 5–5 record, finished in third place in the Big Ten Conference with a 4–2 record against conference opponents, and outscored opponents by a total of 207 to 166.^[1]^[2]

1944 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 2 Ohio State $	6	–	0	–	0	9	–	0	–	0
No. 8 Michigan	5	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
Purdue	4	–	2	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Minnesota	3	–	2	–	1	5	–	3	–	1
Indiana	4	–	3	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
No. 15 Illinois	3	–	3	–	0	5	–	4	–	1
Wisconsin	2	–	4	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Northwestern	0	–	5	–	1	1	–	7	–	1
Iowa	0	–	6	–	0	1	–	7	–	0

+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Notable players from the 1944 Purdue team included fullback Babe Dimancheff, end Frank Bauman, and tackle Pat O'Brien.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 23	at Great Lakes Navy*		Ross Field Great Lakes, IL	L 18–27	25,000	^[3]
September 30	Marquette*		Ross–Ade Stadium Lafayette, IN	W 40–7	11,000	^[4]^[5]
October 7	at Illinois		Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)	W 35–19	15,210
October 14	No. 11 Iowa Pre-Flight*	No. 7	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	L 6–13	18,000	^[6]
October 21	at Iowa	No. 11	Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA	W 26–7	17,000
October 28	at Michigan	No. 10	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI	L 14–40	44,276
November 4	Wisconsin		Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	W 35–0	16,000
November 11	at Northwestern		Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	W 27–7	25,000
November 18	at No. 3 Navy*	No. 14	Municipal Stadium Baltimore, MD	L 0–32	35,000
November 25	Indiana		Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (Old Oaken Bucket)	L 6–14	27,500
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked ( ) = First-place votes
	Week
Poll	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final
AP	7 (2)	11	10	—	—	14	—	—	—

^ "Purdue Yearly Results (1940-1944)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on December 5, 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
^ "1944 Purdue Boilermakers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
^ Bert McGrane (September 24, 1944). "Youel Fires Sailors Over Purdue, 27-18: Iowan Runs 93 and Hurls for 3 Tallies". The Des Moines Register. p. 1S, 2S – via Newspapers.com.
^ Jim Mitchell (October 1, 1944). "Purdue Wallops Marquette, 40-7". The Muncie Sunday Star. p. Sports 1 – via Newspapers.com.
^ W. Blaine Patton (September 23, 1945). "Purdue, Indiana Capture Close Games: Isbell's Team Triumphs By 14-13 Margin". The Indianapolis Star. pp. 37, 38 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Sec Taylor (October 15, 1944). "Seahawks Surprise Purdue, 13-6". The Des Moines Sunday Register. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "2022 Purdue Football Record Book" (PDF). Purdue University Athletics. p. 85. Retrieved January 29, 2023.