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The 1940 season

Minnesota finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 8–⁠0 under Bernie Bierman. Boston College, Stanford and Tennessee also claim the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 2 Minnesota 7, No. 3 Michigan 6 (Nov 9, 1940). 17 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Tom Harmon, RB, Michigan, who also won the Maxwell.

The Heisman vote: Tom Harmon 1,303 points, John Kimbrough 841
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Tom Harmon RB, Michigan1,303
John Kimbrough FB, Texas A&M841
George Franck RB, Minnesota102
Frankie Albert QB, Stanford90
Paul Christman QB, Missouri66

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 1940 Texas Tech team
The 1940 Texas Tech teamPhoto: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The 1940 Texas Tech season →

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1MinnesotaWestern Conference
2StanfordPacific Coast Conference
3MichiganWestern Conference
4TennesseeSoutheastern Conference
5Boston CollegeIndependent
6Texas A&MSouthwest Conference
7NebraskaBig Six
8NorthwesternWestern Conference
9Mississippi StateSoutheastern Conference
10WashingtonPacific Coast Conference
11Santa ClaraIndependent
12FordhamIndependent
13GeorgetownIndependent
14PennsylvaniaIndependent
15CornellIndependent
16SMUSouthwest Conference
17Hardin SimmonsIndependent
18DukeSouthern Conference
19LafayetteIndependent

Biggest upsets

Nov 16, 1940Dartmouth 3, 2Cornell 0
Nov 28, 1940Texas 7, 2Texas A&M 0
Nov 16, 1940Iowa 7, 7Notre Dame 0
Nov 2, 1940Tulane 13, 10Clemson 0
Oct 26, 1940Saint Mary’s (CA) 9, 11Fordham 6
Oct 26, 1940Rice 13, 12Texas 0
Nov 16, 1940North Carolina 6, 12Duke 3
Oct 26, 1940Arkansas 21, 14Ole Miss 20
Nov 2, 1940Tulsa 7, 17Detroit Mercy 0
Nov 30, 1940New Mexico 19, 18Texas Tech 14
Nov 23, 194012Pennsylvania 22, 5Cornell 20
Oct 19, 1940Indiana 10, 20Iowa 6

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 1940, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7FinalWashington: Wk 1 No. 16, Wk 2 No. 16, Wk 3 No. 13, Wk 4 No. 11, Wk 5 No. 17, Wk 6 No. 13, Wk 7 No. 12, Final No. 1010 WashingtonMississippi State: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 20, Wk 4 No. 19, Wk 5 No. 15, Wk 6 No. 16, Wk 7 No. 11, Final No. 99 Mississippi StateNorthwestern: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 7, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 10, Wk 5 No. 10, Wk 6 No. 10, Wk 7 No. 7, Final No. 88 NorthwesternNebraska: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 18, Wk 3 No. 12, Wk 4 No. 12, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 8, Final No. 77 NebraskaTexas A&M: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Final No. 66 Texas A&MBoston College: Wk 1 No. 8, Wk 2 No. 10, Wk 3 No. 9, Wk 4 No. 8, Wk 5 No. 8, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 4, Final No. 55 Boston CollegeTennessee: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 7, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 5, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 6, Final No. 44 TennesseeMichigan: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 5, Final No. 33 MichiganStanford: Wk 1 No. 10, Wk 2 No. 9, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 3, Final No. 22 StanfordMinnesota: Wk 1 No. 7, Wk 2 No. 6, Wk 3 No. 4, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Final No. 11 Minnesota
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. Nebraskaunranked → No. 7
  2. Mississippi Stateunranked → No. 9
  3. Santa Claraunranked → No. 11
  4. Georgetownunranked → No. 13
  5. SMUunranked → No. 16

Fell

  1. Notre DameNo. 6 → unranked
  2. CornellNo. 1 → No. 15
  3. ClemsonNo. 12 → unranked
  4. Ole MissNo. 13 → unranked
  5. TexasNo. 14 → unranked

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

National leaders

Passing yardsJohnny Supulski (Manhattan)1,190 yds
Passing touchdownsPaul Christman (Missouri)13 TD
Rushing yardsAl Ghesquiere (Detroit Mercy)957 yds
Rushing touchdownsTom Harmon (Michigan)15 TD
Yards per carryJames Farrell (Lafayette)7.2
ReceptionsEddie Bryant (Virginia)30 catches
Receiving yardsDon Vosberg (Marquette)526 yds
Yards per catchDon Vosberg (Marquette)21.9
PointsTom Harmon (Michigan)117 pts
Points per gameTom Harmon (Michigan)14.63
Total offenseJohnny Knolla (Creighton)1,420 yds
Total offense per gameTom Harmon (Michigan)168.3
Punt return yardsJunie Hovious (Ole Miss)498 yds
Punt return averageJackie Robinson (UCLA)21.0
Kickoff return yardsJack Emigh (Montana)395 yds
Kickoff return averageBill Geyer (Colgate)27.0

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
Nebraska
Border Conference
Arizona State
Missouri Valley Conference
Tulsa
Pacific Coast Conference
Stanford
Skyline Conference
Utah
Southeastern Conference
Tennessee
Southern Conference
Clemson
Southwest Conference
SMU and Texas A&M (shared)
Western Conference
Minnesota

Small college

Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference
Central Arkansas
California Collegiate Athletic Conference
San José State
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Morgan State
Dixie Conference
Chattanooga
Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Illinois State
Lone Star Conference
North Texas
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Missouri State
North Central Conference
Northern Iowa
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Southern
Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference
Abilene Christian

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

12 playersAll 14 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1940 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1940 All-America teams page.

The 1940 awards

Every award

Player of the year

From the newspapers

The The Daily Alaska empire's story: BOSTON COLLEGE WINNER Great Tennessee VoIun- teers Lose 19 10 13in Sugar Bowl 6ame
The bowl4Boston College 19, 6Tennessee 131940 Boston College · 1940 TennesseeThe Daily Alaska empire, January 2, 1941, page 5
Read the text

BOSTON COLLEGE WINNER Great Tennessee VoIun- teers Lose 19 10 13in Sugar Bowl 6ame NEW ORLEANS, La. Jan D. Boston College defeated the great Tennessee Volunteers yeSter la y afternoon in the last four minutes Of the Sugar Bowl game as scraWn- ey halfback Charley O’Rourke in- tercepted pass. then passed, then ran and passed again three times and tossed and hit the bullseye fin ally on the fourth time and then dropped back TcnneSsee’S defenses scattered To stop the pass. O’Rourke faked q pass ran 20 yards for the winning SIX points before crowd of 72.- GOO spectators, the largest football throng in southern history The final score was Boston 19; Tennessee 13. Other than the great work of O’Rourke the two teams were evenly matched. Inc Bcstonians came from be- hind twice to tie the score. Boston College made 13 first downs and Tennessee made eleven.

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, 19414Boston College 19, 6Tennessee 13Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 194111Mississippi State 14, 9Georgetown 7Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 19413Stanford 21, 8Nebraska 13Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 19412Texas A&M 13, 14Fordham 12Cotton Bowl