The 1944 Southwestern Louisiana Bulldogs football team was the American football squad representing the Southwestern Louisiana Institute of Liberal and Technical Learning—now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette—during the 1944 collegiate football season.
Institutional background
- Southwestern Louisiana Institute (SLI) was a public higher‑education institution located in Lafayette, Louisiana.
- The school was renamed the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1960 and became the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1999.
Team designation
- At the time, the athletic teams of SLI were nicknamed the “Bulldogs.” The “Ragin’ Cajuns” moniker was adopted later, in the 1960s.
Season context
- The 1944 college football season took place amid World War II, a period during which many programs fielded reduced schedules and experienced interruptions in coaching staff and player availability.
Available record information
- Detailed statistical data for the 1944 Bulldogs—including overall win–loss record, head‑coach name, game results, and conference affiliation—are not comprehensively documented in widely accessible encyclopedic sources. Consequently, specific figures cannot be provided with certainty.
Typical characteristics of the era
- Teams operating during the war years often played a limited number of games, frequently against regional opponents and military service teams.
- Home games were commonly held at the institution’s on‑campus field, which in the 1940s was known as Girard Field (later renamed Cajun Field in the 1970s).
Conclusion
While the 1944 Southwestern Louisiana Bulldogs football team is recognized as part of the institution’s athletic history, the lack of detailed, verifiable records in standard reference works limits the ability to present a complete season summary. Further information would require consultation of contemporary newspaper archives, university athletic department records, or specialized sports history compilations.
