From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base
1940 college football season
American college football season
American college football season
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| year | 1940 |
| image | Kenan Memorial Stadium 1940.jpg |
| image_size | 250 |
| image_caption | Duke v North Carolina game at Kenan Memorial Stadium |
| preseason_ap | [Cornell](1940-cornell-big-red-football-team) |
| regular_season | |
| number_of_bowls | 5 |
| bowl_start | |
| bowl_end | |
| champion | [Minnesota](1940-minnesota-golden-gophers-football-season) |
| [Stanford](1940-stanford-cardinal-football-team) | |
| [Tennessee](1940-tennessee-volunteers-football-team) | |
| heisman | Tom Harmon, (halfback, [Michigan](1940-michigan-wolverines-football-team)) |
Stanford Tennessee The 1940 college football season was the 72nd 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 Conference, the Southern Conference, the Southwestern Conference, and numerous smaller conferences and independent programs.
The teams ranked highest in the final Associated Press poll in December 1940 were:
- Minnesota - Led by head coach Bernie Bierman, the Golden Gophers compiled an 8–0 record, won the Big Ten championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 154 to 71. Halfback George Franck was a consensus All-American and placed third in the Heisman Trophy voting. Minnesota was selected as national champions by the Associated Press (AP) poll.
- Stanford - Led by head coach Clark Shaughnessy, the Indians compiled a perfect 10–0 record, including a victory over No. 7 Nebraska in the 1941 Rose Bowl. Stanford was selected as national champions by the Poling System and Williamson System and retroactively by the Helms Athletic Foundation and Billingsley Report.
- Michigan - The Wolverines compiled a 7–1 record with its only loss coming against Minnesota by a 7–6 score. Halfback Tom Harmon won the Heisman Trophy.
- Tennessee - Led by head coach Robert Neyland, the Volunteers compiled a 10–0 regular season record but lost to Boston College in the Sugar Bowl. Tennessee was selected as national champions by the Dunkel System.
- Boston College - In their final season under head coach Frank Leahy, the Eagles compiled a perfect 11–0 record, including a victory over Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl, to lay claim to a national championship.
The year's statistical leaders included Al Ghesquiere of Detroit with 958 rushing yards, Johnny Knolla of Creighton with 1,420 yards of total offense, Johnny Supulski of Manhattan with 1,190 passing yards, Hank Stanton of Arizona with 820 receiving yards, and Tom Harmon with 117 points scored.
Conference and program changes
Conference changes
- One conference began play during 1940:
- New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference – an NCAA College Division and NAIA conference active through the 1962 season; later known as the Frontier Conference
- One conference played its final season in 1940:
- Alamo Conference – conference active since the 1936 season
Membership changes
| School | 1939 Conference | 1940 Conference |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago Maroons | Big Ten | *Dropped Program* |
| Loyola (LA) Wolf Pack | Dixie | *Dropped Program* |
| St. Joseph's (PA) Hawks | Independent | *Dropped Program* |
September
September 28 Defending champion Texas A&M beat Texas A&I (later the university's Kingsville campus), 26–0. Tennessee beat Mercer 49–0. USC and Washington State played to a 14–14 tie. Tulane lost to Boston College 27–7. Michigan won at California 41–0. Minnesota defeated Washington 19–14 in Minneapolis.
October
October 5 In San Antonio, Texas A&M beat Tulsa 41–6. Tennessee beat Duke 13–0. Cornell beat Colgate 34–0. Northwestern won at Syracuse, 40–0. Minnesota beat Nebraska 13–7. Michigan beat Michigan State 21–14.
October 12 Cornell won at Army 45–0. In Los Angeles, Texas A&M beat UCLA 7–0. Tennessee beat Chattanooga 53–0. Northwestern beat Ohio State 6–3. Michigan won at Harvard 26–0. The top five in the year's first AP Poll were No. 1 Cornell, No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Northwestern, and No. 5 Tennessee.
October 19 No. 1 Cornell beat Syracuse 33–6. No. 2 Texas A&M beat TCU 21–7. No. 3 Michigan beat Illinois 28–0. In Birmingham, No. 5 Tennessee beat Alabama, 27–12. No. 6 Notre Dame beat Carnegie Tech 61–0. The resulting AP Poll was No. 1 Cornell, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Texas A&M, and No. 5 Tennessee. Despite a 27–7 win at Wisconsin, Northwestern fell from 4th to 7th; previous No. 7 Minnesota moved up one spot with a 13-7 win over No. 15 Ohio State in Columbus.
October 26 No. 1 Cornell beat Ohio State 21–7. No. 2 Notre Dame won at Illinois 26–0. No. 3 Michigan beat Pennsylvania 14–0. No. 4 Texas A&M won at Baylor 14–7. No. 5 Tennessee beat Florida 14–0. No. 6 Minnesota beat Iowa 34–6. Cornell, Notre Dame, and Michigan remained as the top three, followed by Minnesota and Texas A&M.
November
November 2 No. 1 Cornell beat Columbia 27–0. No. 2 Notre Dame beat Army 7–0 at Yankee Stadium. No. 3 Michigan was idle. No. 4 Minnesota narrowly won at No. 8 Northwestern, 13–12. No. 5 Texas A&M beat Arkansas 17–0. No. 7 Tennessee beat LSU 28–0. The next AP Poll ranked Cornell, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas A&M, and Tennessee as the top five. Notre Dame fell from No. 2 to No. 7 after their close win over a weak Army team (the Cadets would finish 1-7-1).
November 9 No. 1 Cornell beat Yale 21–0, but dropped to second in the next poll. No. 2 Minnesota and No. 3 Michigan, both unbeaten (5–0–0), met in Minneapolis, with the Gophers winning by one point, 7–6. No. 4 Texas A&M won at No. 14 SMU 19–7. No. 5 Tennessee won at Rhodes College 41–0. No. 6 Stanford beat No. 11 Washington 20–10 to advance its record to 7–0–0. The resulting AP Poll was No. 1 Minnesota, No. 2 Cornell, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Stanford, and No. 5 Tennessee.
November 16 No. 1 Minnesota beat Purdue 33–6. No. 2 Cornell lost at Dartmouth 3–0 in the famous "Fifth Down" game. No. 3 Texas A&M beat Rice 25–0. No. 4 Stanford beat No. 19 Oregon State 28–14. No. 8 Boston College beat No. 9 Georgetown 19–18 to extend its record to 8–0–0. The next AP Poll featured No. 1 Minnesota, No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Boston College, and No. 5 Cornell. Previous No. 5 Tennessee fell to No. 6 despite an 8-0-0 record and a 41–14 win over Virginia.
November 23 No. 1 Minnesota closed its season with a 22–13 win at Wisconsin. No. 2 Texas A&M and No. 3 Stanford were idle. No. 4 Boston College beat Auburn 33–7. No. 5 Cornell lost 22-20 to Pennsylvania. No. 7 Michigan won at Ohio State to close its season at 7–1–0 and moved into fifth place behind Minnesota, Texas A&M, Stanford, and Boston College.
On Thanksgiving Day No. 2 Texas A&M lost at Texas 7–0. On November 30 No. 3 Stanford closed its season with a 13–7 win at California, No. 4 Boston College defeated Holy Cross 7–0, and No. 6 Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 20–0. The top five of the final AP Poll were No. 1 Minnesota, No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Tennessee, and No. 5 Boston College.
Conference standings
Major conference standings
Independents
Minor conferences
| Conference | Champion(s) | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Alamo Conference | West Texas State Teachers | 2–0 |
| California Collegiate Athletic Association | San Jose State | 3–0 |
| Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association | Morgan State College | 6–0–1 |
| Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | St. Benedict's (KS) | 4–0 |
| Far Western Conference | Pacific (OR) | 2–0 |
| Indiana Intercollegiate Conference | Butler | |
| Manchester College | 4–0 | |
| Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Dubuque | 7–0 |
| Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference | Kansas Wesleyan | 5–1 |
| Lone Star Conference | North Texas State Teachers | 4–0 |
| Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association | Albion | 5–0 |
| Michigan-Ontario Collegiate Conference | ||
| [Lawrence Tech](1940-lawrence-tech-blue-devils-football-team) | 3–1 | |
| 3–1 | ||
| 3–1 | ||
| Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference | Beloit | 5–1–1 |
| Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Gustavus Adolphus | 5–0 |
| Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association | Southwest Missouri State Teachers | 5–0 |
| Nebraska College Athletic Conference | Doane | |
| Hastings | 3–1 | |
| Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Association | Nebraska State Teachers | 2–0–1 |
| New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference | Western New Mexico | 3–0 |
| North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Iowa State Teachers | 5–0 |
| North Dakota College Athletic Conference | Mayville State | 6–0 |
| Northern Teachers Athletic Conference | St. Cloud State Teachers | 4–0 |
| Ohio Athletic Conference | Wittenberg | 6–0 |
| Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference | Oklahoma Baptist | 5–0–1 |
| Pacific Northwest Conference | Willamette | 4–0 |
| Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference | Indiana State Teachers | |
| Millersville State Teachers | 7–1 | |
| 4–0 | ||
| Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference | Colorado College | 2–0–1 |
| South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference | Northern State Teachers | 3–0 |
| Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Redlands | 3–0–1 |
| Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | Morris Brown | 6–1 |
| Southwestern Athletic Conference | Langston | |
| Southern | 5–1 | |
| Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference | Abilene Christian | |
| Howard Payne | ||
| Texas Western | 5–1 | |
| Washington Intercollegiate Conference | Pacific Lutheran | 4–0–1 |
| Wisconsin State Teachers College Conference | **North:** La Crosse Teachers | |
| **South:** Whitewater State Teachers | 4–0 | |
| 4–0 |
Minor conference standings
Rankings
Main article: 1940 college football rankings
Heisman Trophy voting
The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player
| Player | School | Position | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Tom Harmon** | **[Michigan](1940-michigan-wolverines-football-team)** | **HB** | **1,303** |
| John Kimbrough | [Texas A&M](1940-texas-a-m-aggies-football-team) | FB | 841 |
| George Franck | [Minnesota](1940-minnesota-golden-gophers-football-team) | HB | 102 |
| Frankie Albert | [Stanford](1940-stanford-indians-football-team) | QB | 90 |
| Paul Christman | [Missouri](1940-missouri-tigers-football-team) | QB | 66 |
Bowl games
Main article: 1940–41 NCAA football bowl games
| Bowl game | Winning team | Losing team |
|---|---|---|
| [Rose Bowl](1941-rose-bowl) | No. 2 [Stanford](1940-stanford-indians-football-team) | 21 |
| [Sugar Bowl](1941-sugar-bowl) | No. 5 [Boston College](1940-boston-college-eagles-football-team) | 19 |
| [Orange Bowl](1941-orange-bowl) | No. 9 [Mississippi State](1940-mississippi-state-maroons-football-team) | 14 |
| [Cotton Bowl Classic](1941-cotton-bowl-classic) | No. 6 [Texas A&M](1940-texas-a-m-aggies-football-team) | 20 |
| [Sun Bowl](1941-sun-bowl) | [Western Reserve](1940-western-reserve-red-cats-football-team) | 26 |
Notes
References
References
- Poling, Richard R.. (1941). "The 1940 Supplement of the Football Review". Poling's Football Ratings.
- Williamson, Paul B.. (January 7, 1941). "Williamson Votes National Title to Stanford". Nasheville Banner.
- Oslin, Reid. (November 10, 2015). "The 1940 Team of Destiny". Boston College Athletics.
- Harris, Otis. (December 2, 1940). "As we were saying". The Shreveport Journal.
- Digby, Fred. (January 1, 1941). "The Game Today". Seventh Annual Sugar Bowl Classic Souvenir Program.
- (January 3, 1941). "Boston College homebound after joyous celebration in New Orleans following Sugar Bowl win". The Shreveport Times.
- (2021). "Boston College Football 2021 Record Book". Boston College Athletics Department.
- (2005). "ESPN College Football Encyclopedia". ESPN Books.
- Gail Fowler. (December 5, 1940). "Johnny Knolla Ground-Gaining Champ of 1940". The Decatur Review.
- ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, p. 1182.
- ESPN College Football Encyclopedia (2005), p. 1182.
- (December 2, 1940). "West Texas State College Back Ranks 4th In Scoring". Pampa Daily News (Texas).
- Littlefield, Bill. (November 14, 2015). "Remembering The 'Fifth Down Game' Of 1940". WBUR.
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
Ask Mako anything about 1940 college football season — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.
Research with MakoFree with your Surf account
Create a free account to save articles, ask Mako questions, and organize your research.
Sign up freeThis content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.
Report