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The 1939 season

Texas A&M finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–⁠0 under Homer Norton, after it beat Tulane 14–⁠13 in the Sugar Bowl. Cornell and USC also claim the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 3 USC 14, No. 2 Tennessee 0 (Jan 1, 1940). 21 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Nile Kinnick, RB/QB, Iowa, who also won the Maxwell.

The Heisman vote: Nile Kinnick 651 points, Tom Harmon 405
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Nile Kinnick RB, Iowa651
Tom Harmon RB, Michigan405
Paul Christman QB, Missouri391
George Cafego RB, Tennessee296

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published. Two finishers show identical ballots in the source, which is likely a copying error there.

The 1939 Clemson team
The 1939 Clemson teamPhoto: Taps staff, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The 1939 Clemson season →

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1Texas A&MSouthwest Conference
2TennesseeSoutheastern Conference
3USCPacific Coast Conference
4CornellIndependent
5TulaneSoutheastern Conference
6MissouriBig Six
7UCLAPacific Coast Conference
8DukeSouthern Conference
9IowaWestern Conference
10DuquesneIndependent
11Boston CollegeIndependent
12ClemsonSouthern Conference
13Notre DameIndependent
14Santa ClaraIndependent
15Ohio StateWestern Conference
16Georgia TechSoutheastern Conference
17FordhamIndependent
18NebraskaBig Six
19OklahomaBig Six
20MichiganWestern Conference

Biggest upsets

Oct 21, 1939Duquesne 21, 1Pittsburgh 13
Nov 4, 1939Illinois 16, 2Michigan 7
Nov 11, 1939Iowa 7, 3Notre Dame 6
Nov 25, 1939Michigan 21, 6Ohio State 14
Nov 4, 1939Missouri 27, 10Nebraska 13
Nov 11, 1939Minnesota 20, 10Michigan 7
Dec 2, 1939Boston College 14, 10Holy Cross 0
Oct 21, 1939Gonzaga 12, 11Oregon 7
Nov 11, 1939Princeton 9, 14Dartmouth 7
Nov 25, 1939Nebraska 13, 14Oklahoma 7
Oct 21, 1939New York University 6, 15Carnegie Mellon 0
Nov 11, 1939Missouri 20, 17New York University 7

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 1939, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8FinalDuquesne: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 11, Wk 3 No. 13, Wk 4 No. 12, Wk 5 No. 10, Wk 6 No. 12, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 10, Final No. 1010 DuquesneIowa: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 15, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 9, Wk 8 No. 8, Final No. 99 IowaDuke: Wk 1 No. 13, Wk 2 No. 12, Wk 3 No. 12, Wk 4 No. 15, Wk 5 No. 13, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 7, Wk 8 No. 6, Final No. 88 DukeUCLA: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 19, Wk 4 No. 11, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 13, Wk 7 No. 13, Wk 8 No. 9, Final No. 77 UCLAMissouri: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 12, Wk 6 No. 10, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 7, Final No. 66 MissouriTulane: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 9, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 7, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 5, Final No. 55 TulaneCornell: Wk 1 No. 12, Wk 2 No. 7, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 4, Final No. 44 CornellUSC: Wk 1 No. 7, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 No. 7, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 3, Final No. 33 USCTennessee: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 2, Final No. 22 TennesseeTexas A&M: Wk 1 No. 9, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Final No. 11 Texas A&M
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. Missouriunranked → No. 6
  2. UCLAunranked → No. 7
  3. Iowaunranked → No. 9
  4. Duquesneunranked → No. 10
  5. Boston Collegeunranked → No. 11

Fell

  1. PittsburghNo. 1 → unranked
  2. AlabamaNo. 8 → unranked
  3. OklahomaNo. 3 → No. 19
  4. OregonNo. 11 → unranked
  5. MichiganNo. 6 → No. 20

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

National leaders

Passing yardsKay Eakin (Arkansas)962 yds
Rushing yardsJohn Polanski (Wake Forest)882 yds
Yards per carryJackie Robinson (UCLA)12.2
ReceptionsKen Kavanaugh (LSU)30 catches
Receiving yardsKen Kavanaugh (LSU)467 yds
Yards per catchEarle Clark (Texas Tech)17.3
PointsTom Harmon (Michigan)102 pts
Total offenseKenny Washington (UCLA)1,370 yds
Total offense per gameTom Harmon (Michigan)169.5
Punt return yardsBosh Pritchard (VMI)583 yds
Punt return averageJackie Robinson (UCLA)20.0
Kickoff return yardsNile Kinnick (Iowa)377 yds
Kickoff return averageNile Kinnick (Iowa)25.1

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

Major college

Big Six
Missouri
Border Conference
Arizona State
Pacific Coast Conference
USC
Skyline Conference
Colorado
Southeastern Conference
Georgia Tech, Tennessee and Tulane (shared)
Southern Conference
Duke
Southwest Conference
Texas A&M
Western Conference
Ohio State

Small college

Alabama Collegiate Conference
Troy
California Collegiate Athletic Conference
San José State
Far Western Conference
Nevada
Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Western Illinois
Lone Star Conference
North Texas
North Central Conference
North Dakota, South Dakota and South Dakota State (shared)
North State Conference
App State
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Northwestern State
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Alabama State
Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference
Abilene Christian
Washington Intercollegiate Conference
Eastern Washington

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

11 playersAll 15 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1939 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1939 All-America teams page.

The 1939 awards

Every award

Player of the year

From the newspapers

The Evening star's story: Texas Ags Plan Trojan Game ToAid Films Face Fight to Keep Coach Norton After Beating Tulane
The bowl1Texas A&M 14, 5Tulane 131939 Texas A&M · 1939 TulaneEvening star, District of Columbia, January 2, 1940, page 14
Read the text

Texas Ags Plan Trojan Game ToAid Films Face Fight to Keep Coach Norton After Beating Tulane | ASSUSldlcu 1IeSS SpOItS WTlteG. NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 2.-Rulers of college football after its bold Sugar Bowl triumph over Tulane, mighty Texas A. and M. today pom dered the thought of playing South ern California, Rose Bowl kings, in post-season game for the Finnish relief fund. Over a banquet table celebration of the 14–⁠13 defeat of Tulane’s Green Wave, Coach Homer Norton, a mild man threatened only season ago with dismissal in the middle of a disappointing year, shook off the back slaps. admitted he had heard talk: of post-season game with the Rose Bowl winners and commented: What do we think of it? Well, we love to play football” Willing to Consider 1t. Officials of A. and NJ, members of the Athletic Council and others were sounded out, and all concurred in the belief that such a game was a rather remote possibility, but indi- Gated that it would be considered. Reports in this football l-mad city were that the game would be played in Los Angeles about January l5,” with an expected million dollar gate to go to Finland for relief purposes. To Norton, however, the most i’m portant thing was a meeting with the Athletic Council of Texas A and M, scheduled in few days. Then the man who was destined for the junk heap only a few months back is expected to demand a five-year contract with certain changes in the athletic setup. kimbrough Displays Greatness. Yesterday the Aggies great full back, John Alec Kimbrough, 2lOpound all-America performer, storm ed the Sugar Bowl with a classic running exhibition before $1,000 fans largest sports crowd in the his tory nf the Southland-to crush a great Tulane team that couldn’t hold the Haskell (Tex0 hurricane. Twice he scored and all afternoon he thundered up and down field in 90 minutes of the greatest one-man show ever staged in this part of the country. On 26 carries he crashed through for 152 yards, or a 5.7-yard average. Deep in the fourth period, after Tulane had hurried across two rapid touchdowns that put the Aggies behind, 1877, Kimbrough got his tiring mates together and put across the whining score on the seventh play of a dramatic 70-yard drive. Price Also in Limelight. Walemon (Cotton) Price, Aggie quarterback. booted both extra points, blocked in astounding FASH ion, shared in Kimbrough’s running sprees and passed the Tulanians silly. On the honor roll also was lit tie Herbie Smith 160-pound end, who blocked the Tulane try for point that would have tied the game. Denied once after reaching the l. foot line. the Aggies scored in the first period from the Tulane 80 on four plays. Not until the third period did Tulane come out from under thorough beating the Aggies were handing out. Kellogg took a quick kick on his own Is and sprinted IS yards down the sidelines for a touchdown behind marvellous blocking. Soon after, Tulane recovered an Aggie tumble and moved right on to a touchdown. The Aggies took the kickoff and, led by Kimbrough, surged back for the winning score.

Public domain, from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through American Stories (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Jan 1, 194015Clemson 6, 14Boston College 3Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 194013Georgia Tech 21, 7Missouri 7Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 19403USC 14, 2Tennessee 0Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 19401Texas A&M 14, 5Tulane 13Sugar Bowl