Oklahoma State retroactively awarded 1945 national championship

Better late than never. Just ask Oklahoma State.

A whopping 71 years after the program won all nine games on its schedule, the American Football Coaches Association voted Thursday to retroactively award the 1945 team with a national championship.

"After gathering all the pertinent information and doing our due diligence, it is the pleasure of our Blue Ribbon Commission of coaches to officially recognize Oklahoma State's 1945 championship season with the AFCA Coaches' Trophy," AFCA executive director Todd Berry said in a statement.

Oklahoma State, then known as Oklahoma A&M and nicknamed the Aggies instead of the Cowboys, finished the '45 campaign ranked fifth in the AP Poll, following a season-ending win over St. Mary's in the Sugar Bowl.

The team, coached by the late Jim Lookabaugh, won its games by an average of 23.2 points, and still holds several single-season school records.

The announcement gives Oklahoma State its first national title in football, and makes the school the first to win both a football and basketball championship in the same academic year.