The 1941 season
Minnesota finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 8–0 under Bernie Bierman. Alabama also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Minnesota 7, No. 3 Michigan 0 (Oct 25, 1941). 30 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents. Share
Heisman Trophy: Bruce Smith, RB, Minnesota.
The Heisman vote: Bruce Smith 554 points, Angelo Bertelli 345
| Player | Points | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruce Smith RB, Minnesota | 554 | ||||
| Angelo Bertelli QB, Notre Dame | 345 | ||||
| Frankie Albert QB, Stanford | 336 | ||||
| Frank Sinkwich RB, Georgia | 249 | ||||
| Bill Dudley RB, Virginia | 237 | ||||
| Endicott Peabody OG, Harvard | 153 | ||||
| Edgar Jones RB, Pittsburgh | 151 | ||||
| Bob Westfall FB, Michigan | 147 | ||||
| Steve Lach RB, Duke | 126 | ||||
| Jack Crain RB, Texas | 102 |
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.
Scoreboards
Final AP poll
| 1 | Minnesota | Western Conference |
| 2 | Duke | Southern Conference |
| 3 | Notre Dame | Independent |
| 4 | Texas | Southwest Conference |
| 5 | Michigan | Western Conference |
| 6 | Fordham | Pre-classification Independents |
| 7 | Missouri | Big Six |
| 8 | Duquesne | Independent |
| 9 | Texas A&M | Southwest Conference |
| 10 | Navy | Independent |
| 11 | Northwestern | Western Conference |
| 12 | Oregon State | Pacific Coast Conference |
| 13 | Ohio State | Western Conference |
| 14 | Georgia | Southeastern Conference |
| 15 | Pennsylvania | Independent |
| 16 | Mississippi State | Southeastern Conference |
| 17 | Ole Miss | Southeastern Conference |
| 18 | Tennessee | Southeastern Conference |
| 19 | Washington State | Pacific Coast Conference |
| 20 | Alabama | Southeastern Conference |
Biggest upsets
| Nov 15, 1941 | TCU 14, 2Texas 7 |
| Nov 8, 1941 | Pittsburgh 13, 3Fordham 0 |
| Nov 15, 1941 | Washington State 14, 6Stanford 13 |
| Nov 22, 1941 | Vanderbilt 7, 7Alabama 0 |
| Oct 25, 1941 | Oklahoma 16, 8Santa Clara 6 |
| Oct 25, 1941 | Ole Miss 20, 10Tulane 13 |
| Nov 1, 1941 | Tulane 34, 10Vanderbilt 14 |
| Jan 1, 1942 | 18Alabama 29, 2Texas A&M 21 |
| Nov 8, 1941 | Harvard 20, 11Army 6 |
| Oct 18, 1941 | LSU 27, 12Rice 0 |
| Nov 29, 1941 | Tennessee 26, 12Vanderbilt 7 |
| Jan 1, 1942 | 17Oregon State 20, 3Duke 16 |
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
Climbed
Fell
- Santa ClaraNo. 9 → unranked
- RiceNo. 12 → unranked
- ClemsonNo. 13 → unranked
- NebraskaNo. 15 → unranked
From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.
National leaders
| Passing yards | Bud Schwenk (Wash. U.-MO) | 1,457 yds |
|---|---|---|
| Rushing yards | Frank Sinkwich (Georgia) | 1,103 yds |
| Yards per carry | Bob Steuber (Missouri) | 7.6 |
| Receptions | Hank Stanton (Arizona) | 50 catches |
| Receiving yards | Hank Stanton (Arizona) | 820 yds |
| Yards per catch | Lenny Krouse (Penn State) | 16.8 |
| Points | Bill Dudley (Virginia) | 134 pts |
| Points per game | Bill Dudley (Virginia) | 14.89 |
| Total offense | Bud Schwenk (Washington University in St. Louis) | 1,928 yds |
| Total offense per game | Bud Schwenk (Washington University in St. Louis) | 214.2 |
| Punt return yards | Bill Geyer (Colgate) | 616 yds |
| Punt return average | Walt Slater (Tennessee) | 20.4 |
| Kickoff return yards | Earl Ray (Wyoming) | 496 yds |
| Kickoff return average | Vern Lockard (Colorado) | 24.4 |
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
- Missouri Valley Conference
- Tulsa
- Pacific Coast Conference
- Oregon State
- Skyline Conference
- Utah
- Southeastern Conference
- Mississippi State
- Southern Conference
- Duke and South Carolina (shared)
- Southwest Conference
- Texas A&M
- Western Conference
- Minnesota
Small college
- Alabama Collegiate Conference
- Troy
- California Collegiate Athletic Conference
- Fresno State and San José State (shared)
- Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
- Morgan State
- Dixie Conference
- Chattanooga
- Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
- Norfolk State
- Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
- Illinois State
- Lone Star Conference
- North Texas
- Louisiana Intercollegiate Conference
- Louisiana Tech
- Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
- St. Thomas (MN)
- North Central Conference
- Northern Iowa
- North State Conference
- Elon
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
- EHolt Rast, Alabama
- EBob Dove, Notre Dame
- OTDick Wildung, Minnesota
- OTErnie Blandin, Tulane
- OGEndicott Peabody, Harvard
- OGRay Frankowski, Washington
- CDarold Jenkins, Missouri
- QBFrankie Albert, Stanford
- RBBruce Smith, Minnesota
- RBFrank Sinkwich, Georgia
- RBBill Dudley, Virginia
- OTBob Westfall, Michigan
Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1941 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1941 All-America teams page.
The 1941 awards
Every awardFrom the newspapers
Read the text
Fordham Rams Beat Missouri Two Points Total TollY of Contest NEW ORLEANS – Remember thos hard-hitting. fsst-stepping backs who were gong to turn the Sugar Bowl game into a touch down carnival Well. they are still mired in the mud today while two lowly line men carry around the major share Of glory for leading Fordham To 20 victory over Missouri. The winning play of yesier- days Sugar Bowl game came with startling suodenness after five minutes and % seconds of the first period. and most of the throng Of $4,000 peering through n thick curtain of rain, didn’t see what happened. Even those who did see the play didn’t quite under stand u. From its own l0-ysrd line Missouri, was trying TO punt out. Don Greenwood, Tigers substitute end and best kicker, was back to kick from the end zone. Rain was fall ing in torrents. Somehow Alex Santilli. ie5-pound tackle from Everett. Mass, smashed through Missouri’s left side and hurled his chest IN front Of the ball as IL came bounding off Greenwood’s toe. RITINSkI GETS BALL Then there was a made scram- BILE Of Fordham players after 1t with Stanley Ritinski, ls5-pound end from Luzerne, Pa, finally reaching the muddy oval skidding along on his belly. Ritinski elutched at the ball as he went out of the field of play. Steve Hudacek. Ram left tackle. and santilli were right on top of him. The nearest Missouri player was four or five yards away. The question WAS whether Ritinski had possession Of the hall before he went over the end zone line. II he did u WAS n Fordham touchdown. II he didn’t u was q safety. Ref cree w. T. Hoiloran Of Provi- dence, r. l., ruled Ritinsh didn’t have complete posses sion of the hall despite the fact the Ram end got up with the ball In his arms. That’s all the scoring there was two little points on a safety. For the next ~ minutes and 81 sec onds. the two teams, mud-caked and water-logged. struggled up and down the field with neither crossing the others 1e-yard line. The heralded backs Harry Ice. Red Wade and Bob Stedber of Missouri, and Blackie Blumenstock. Steve Filipowicz and Joe Andrejco Of Fordham were shackled by the Louisiana gumbo mud To tell the truth il wasn’t a fit day for man or beast to be playing football game or looking at one. IL not only rained. IL came down in bucketfuls.
Bowls and playoff
Scoreboard| Jan 1, 1942 | 18Alabama 29, 2Texas A&M 21Cotton Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1942 | 20Georgia 40, TCU 26Orange Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1942 | 17Oregon State 20, 3Duke 16Rose Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1942 | Tulsa 6, Texas Tech 0Sun Bowl |