1940 college football season

1940 NCAA football season
First AP #1 of season	Cornell Big Red^[1]
Number of bowls	5
Champion	Minnesota Golden Gophers (AP) Boston College Eagles (Various) Tennessee Volunteers (Various) Stanford Indians (Helms, Poling System)
Heisman	Tom Harmon, Michigan HB
← 1939 College football seasons 1941 →

The 1940 NCAA football season ended with the Gophers of the University of Minnesota being named the nation’s #1 team and national champion by the AP Poll, and the Stanford University Indians in second, with the two teams receiving 65 and 44 first place votes respectively. Each writer listed his choice for the top ten teams, and points were tallied based on 10 for first place, 9 for second, etc., and the AP then ranked the twenty teams with the highest number of points. Minnesota, Stanford, Boston College, and Tennessee all claim 1940 as a national championship season.

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
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, and was ranked 2nd in the AP poll that followed. Tennessee beat Chattanooga 53-0 and was fifth in the next poll. Northwestern beat Ohio State 6-3. Michigan won at Harvard 26-0.

October 19 #1 Cornell beat Syracuse 33-6. #2 Texas A&M beat TCU 21-7. #3 Michigan beat Illinois 28-0. #4 Northwestern won at Wisconsin 27-7. In Birmingham, #5 Tennessee beat Alabama, 27-12. In Columbus, #7 Minnesota beat #15 Ohio State 13-7. #6 Notre Dame beat Carnegie Tech 61-0.

October 26 #1 Cornell beat Ohio State 21-7. #2 Notre Dame won at Illinois 26-0. #3 Michigan beat Pennsylvania 14-0. #4 Texas A&M won at Baylor 14-7. #5 Tennessee beat Florida 14-0. #6 Minnesota beat Iowa 34-6.

November

November 2 #1 Cornell beat Columbia 27–0. #2 Notre Dame beat Army 7–0 at Yankee Stadium. #3 Michigan was idle. #4 Minnesota narrowly won at Northwestern, 13-12. #5 Texas A&M beat Arkansas 17-0. #7 Tennessee beat LSU 28-0.

November 9 #1 Cornell beat Yale 21-0, but dropped to second in the next poll. #2 Minnesota and #3 Michigan both unbeaten (5-0-0) met in Minneapolis, with the Gophers winning by one point, 7-6. #4 Texas A&M won at SMU 19-7. #5 Tennessee won at Rhodes College 41-0. #6 Stanford beat Washington 20-10 to advance its record to 7-0-0.

November 16 #1 Minnesota beat Purdue 33-6. #2 Cornell lost at Dartmouth 3-0. #3 Texas A&M beat Rice 25-0. #4 Stanford beat Oregon State 28-14. #5 Tennessee beat Virginia 41-14. #8 Boston College beat Georgetown 19-18 to extend its record to 8-0-0

November 23 #1 Minnesota closed its season with a 22-13 win at Wisconsin. #2 Texas A&M and #3 Stanford were idle. #4 Boston College beat Auburn 33-7. #5 Cornell. #7 Michigan won at Ohio State to close its season at 7-1-0.

On Thanksgiving Day #2 Texas A&M lost at Texas 7-0.

November 30 #3 Stanford closed its season with a 13-7 win at California. #4 Boston College defeated Holy Cross 7-0.

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1940 Big 6 football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 7 Nebraska $	5	–	0	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
Oklahoma	4	–	1	–	0	6	–	3	–	0
Missouri	3	–	2	–	0	6	–	3	–	0
Iowa State	2	–	3	–	0	4	–	5	–	0
Kansas State	1	–	4	–	0	2	–	7	–	0
Kansas	0	–	5	–	0	2	–	7	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1940 Big Ten football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 1 Minnesota $	6	–	0	–	0	8	–	0	–	0
No. 3 Michigan	3	–	1	–	0	7	–	1	–	0
No. 8 Northwestern	4	–	2	–	0	6	–	2	–	0
Ohio State	3	–	3	–	0	4	–	4	–	0
Wisconsin	3	–	3	–	0	4	–	4	–	0
Iowa	2	–	3	–	0	4	–	4	–	0
Indiana	2	–	3	–	0	3	–	5	–	0
Purdue	1	–	4	–	0	2	–	6	–	0
Illinois	0	–	5	–	0	1	–	7	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1940 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Tulsa $	4	–	0	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Oklahoma A&M	4	–	1	–	0	6	–	3	–	1
Creighton	2	–	2	–	0	6	–	2	–	2
Drake	2	–	2	–	0	4	–	5	–	0
Washington University	2	–	3	–	0	3	–	6	–	1
Saint Louis	1	–	3	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Washburn	0	–	4	–	0	4	–	6	–	0

$ – Conference champion

1940 New England Conference football standings
	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
New Hampshire $		2	–	0		5	–	3
Rhode Island		2	–	1		5	–	3
Connecticut		1	–	2		4	–	4
Maine		1	–	2		1	–	6
Northeastern		0	–	1		2	–	6

$ – Conference champion

1940 MSC football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Utah $	5	–	1	–	0	7	–	2	–	0
Colorado	4	–	1	–	1	5	–	3	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1940 PCC football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 2 Stanford $	7	–	0	–	0	10	–	0	–	0
No. 10 Washington	7	–	1	–	0	7	–	2	–	0
Oregon State	4	–	3	–	1	5	–	3	–	1
Washington State	3	–	4	–	2	4	–	4	–	2
Oregon	3	–	4	–	1	4	–	4	–	1
California	3	–	4	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
USC	2	–	3	–	2	3	–	4	–	2
Montana	1	–	2	–	0	4	–	4	–	1
UCLA	1	–	6	–	0	1	–	9	–	0
Idaho	0	–	4	–	0	1	–	7	–	1

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1940 SEC football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 4 Tennessee $	5	–	0	–	0	10	–	1	–	0
No. 9 Mississippi State	4	–	0	–	1	10	–	0	–	1
Ole Miss	3	–	1	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
Alabama	4	–	2	–	0	7	–	2	–	0
Auburn	3	–	2	–	1	6	–	4	–	1
LSU	3	–	3	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Georgia	2	–	3	–	1	5	–	4	–	1
Florida	2	–	3	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Kentucky	1	–	2	–	2	5	–	3	–	2
Tulane	1	–	3	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Vanderbilt	1	–	5	–	1	3	–	6	–	1
Georgia Tech	1	–	5	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Sewanee	0	–	1	–	0	3	–	5	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1940 Southern Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Clemson $	4	–	0	–	0	6	–	2	–	1
No. 18 Duke	4	–	1	–	0	7	–	2	–	0
Wake Forest	4	–	2	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
William & Mary	2	–	1	–	1	6	–	2	–	1
North Carolina	3	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Richmond	3	–	2	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
VMI	3	–	2	–	1	7	–	2	–	1
Furman	4	–	3	–	0	5	–	4	–	0
Washington and Lee	1	–	1	–	1	2	–	7	–	1
VPI	2	–	3	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
NC State	3	–	5	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Maryland	0	–	1	–	1	2	–	6	–	1
South Carolina	1	–	3	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Davidson	1	–	5	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
The Citadel	0	–	4	–	0	4	–	5	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1940 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 6 Texas A&M	5	–	1	–	0	9	–	1	–	0
No. 16 SMU	5	–	1	–	0	8	–	1	–	1
Texas	4	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
Rice	4	–	2	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
TCU	2	–	4	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Arkansas	1	–	5	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Baylor	0	–	6	–	0	4	–	6	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Minor conferences

Conference	Champion(s)	Record
Alamo Conference	West Texas State Teachers	2–0–0
Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Arizona State Teachers	3–0–1
California Collegiate Athletic Association	San Jose State	3–0–0
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association	Morgan State College	6–0–1
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	St. Benedict's (KS)	4–0–0
Far Western Conference	Pacific (OR)	2–0–0
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Dubuque	7–0–0
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference	Kansas Wesleyan	5–1–0
Lone Star Conference	North Texas State Teachers	4–0–0
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Albion	5–0–0
Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference	Beloit	5–1–1
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Gustavus Adolphus	5–0–0
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Southwest Missouri State Teachers	5–0–0
Nebraska College Athletic Conference	Doane Hastings	3–1–0
Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Nebraska State Teachers	2–0–1
New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference	Western New Mexico	3–0–0
North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Iowa State Teachers	5–0–0
North Dakota College Athletic Conference	Mayville State	6–0–0
Northern Teachers Athletic Conference	St. Cloud State Teachers	4–0–0
Ohio Athletic Conference	Wittenberg	6–0–0
Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference	Oklahoma Baptist	6–1–0
Pacific Northwest Conference	Willamette	4–0–0
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference	Indiana State Teachers Millersville State Teachers	7–1–0 4–0–0
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Colorado College	2–0–1
South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference	Northern State Teachers	3–0–0
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Redlands	3–1–0
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Morris Brown	6–1–0
Southwestern Athletic Conference	Langston Southern	5–1–0
Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference	Abilene Christian Howard Payne Texas Western	5–0–1
Washington Intercollegiate Conference	Pacific Lutheran	4–0–1
Wisconsin State Teachers College Conference	North: La Crosse Teachers South: Whitewater State Teachers	4–0–0 4–0–0

Final polls

Bowl games

Bowl game	Winning Team	points	Losing Team	points
Rose Bowl	#2 Stanford Indians	21	#7 Nebraska Cornhuskers	13
Sugar Bowl	#5 Boston College Eagles	19	#4 Tennessee Volunteers	13
Orange Bowl	#9 Mississippi State Bulldogs	14	#13 Georgetown Hoyas	7
Cotton Bowl	#6 Texas A&M Aggies	20	#12 Fordham Rams	12
Sun Bowl	Western Reserve Spartans	26	Arizona State Bulldogs ^[2]	13

References

NCAA football seasons
Pre-regulation	1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905
IAAUS/NCAA	1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
NCAA University Division/ Division I	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
NCAA Division I-A/FBS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
NCAA Division I-AA/FCS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
NCAA Division II	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
NCAA Division III	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

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