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The 1942 season

Ohio State finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 9–⁠1 under Paul Brown. Georgia also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 2 Georgia 21, No. 3 Alabama 10 (Oct 31, 1942). 33 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Frank Sinkwich, RB, Georgia.

The Heisman vote: Frank Sinkwich 1,059 points, Paul Governali 218
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Frank Sinkwich RB, Georgia1,059
Paul Governali QB, Columbia218
Clint Castleberry RB, Georgia Tech99
Mike Holovak FB, Boston College90
Billy Hillenbrand RB, Indiana86
Angelo Bertelli QB, Notre Dame75
Dick Wildung OT, Minnesota71
Gene Fekete FB, Ohio State65
Glenn Dobbs RB, Tulsa63
Dave Schreiner E, Wisconsin60

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 1942 Texas Tech team
The 1942 Texas Tech teamPhoto: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The 1942 Texas Tech season →

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1Ohio StateWestern Conference
2GeorgiaSoutheastern Conference
3WisconsinWestern Conference
4TulsaMissouri Valley Conference
5Georgia TechSoutheastern Conference
6Notre DameIndependent
7TennesseeSoutheastern Conference
8Boston CollegeIndependent
9MichiganWestern Conference
10AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
11TexasSouthwest Conference
12StanfordPacific Coast Conference
13UCLAPacific Coast Conference
14William & MarySouthern Conference
15Santa ClaraIndependent
16AuburnSoutheastern Conference
17Washington StatePacific Coast Conference
18Mississippi StateSoutheastern Conference
19Holy CrossIndependent
19MinnesotaWestern Conference
19Penn StateIndependent

Biggest upsets

Nov 21, 1942Auburn 27, 1Georgia 13
Nov 28, 1942Holy Cross 55, 1Boston College 12
Nov 7, 1942Iowa 6, 2Wisconsin 0
Nov 7, 1942Indiana 7, 7Minnesota 0
Nov 28, 1942Georgia Pre-Flight 35, 7Alabama 19
Nov 14, 1942TCU 13, 8Texas 7
Oct 17, 1942Duke 34, 9Colgate 0
Oct 31, 1942Baylor 10, 9TCU 7
Nov 7, 1942Navy 7, 9Pennsylvania 0
Oct 17, 1942USC 26, 10Washington State 12
Nov 7, 1942Oregon 14, 10UCLA 7
Jan 1, 194318Texas 14, 2Georgia Tech 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 1942, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7FinalAlabama: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 8, Wk 5 No. 5, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 7, Final No. 1010 AlabamaMichigan: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 13, Wk 4 No. 11, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 9, Final No. 99 MichiganBoston College: Wk 1 No. 11, Wk 2 No. 10, Wk 3 No. 7, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 1, Final No. 88 Boston CollegeTennessee: Wk 1 No. 15, Wk 2 No. 17, Wk 3 No. 20, Wk 4 No. 13, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 11, Wk 7 No. 10, Final No. 77 TennesseeNotre Dame: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 No. 4, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 8, Final No. 66 Notre DameGeorgia Tech: Wk 1 No. 6, Wk 2 No. 6, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Final No. 55 Georgia TechTulsa: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 15, Wk 4 No. 12, Wk 5 No. 9, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 6, Final No. 44 TulsaWisconsin: Wk 1 No. 7, Wk 2 No. 7, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 4, Final No. 33 WisconsinGeorgia: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 5, Final No. 22 GeorgiaOhio State: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 10, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 3, Final No. 11 Ohio State
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. Tulsaunranked → No. 4
  2. Notre Dameunranked → No. 6
  3. Stanfordunranked → No. 12
  4. UCLAunranked → No. 13
  5. William & Maryunranked → No. 14

Fell

  1. IllinoisNo. 5 → unranked
  2. PennsylvaniaNo. 8 → unranked
  3. ColgateNo. 9 → unranked
  4. VanderbiltNo. 12 → unranked
  5. DuquesneNo. 13 → unranked

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

National leaders

Passing yardsPaul Governali (Columbia)1,442 yds
Rushing yardsRudy Mobley (Hardin-Simmons)1,281 yds
Rushing touchdownsFrank Sinkwich (Georgia)17 TD
Yards per carryBob Steuber (Missouri)7.4
ReceptionsBill Rogers (Texas A&M)39 catches
Receiving yardsHarding Miller (SMU)531 yds
Yards per catchGeorge Poschner (Georgia)20.5
PointsBob Steuber (Missouri)121 pts
Total offenseFrank Sinkwich (Georgia)2,187 yds
Punt return yardsBilly Hillenbrand (Indiana)481 yds
Punt return averageBilly Hillenbrand (Indiana)20.9
Kickoff return yardsFrank Porto (California)483 yds

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
Texas Tech
Missouri Valley Conference
Tulsa
Pacific Coast Conference
UCLA
Skyline Conference
Colorado and Utah (shared)
Southeastern Conference
Georgia
Southern Conference
William & Mary
Southwest Conference
Texas
Western Conference
Ohio State

Small college

Alabama Collegiate Conference
Troy
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Morgan State
Indiana Intercollegiate Conference
Ball State
Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Western Illinois
Lone Star Conference
East Texas A&M
Mid America Conference
Southeast Missouri State
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
St. Thomas (MN)
New England Conference
UConn
North Central Conference
Northern Iowa
Southeastern Athletic Conference
Bethune-Cookman
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Florida A&M

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 1942 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1942 All-America teams page.

The 1942 awards

Every award

Player of the year

From the newspapers

The The Daily Alaska empire's story: Alabama Is Victor, Big Game Roars Forth in Orange Bowl 10 Beat Boston College 81 10 Il
The bowl7Alabama 37, 1Boston College 211942 Alabama · 1942 Boston CollegeThe Daily Alaska empire, Juneau, Alaska, January 2, 1943, page 3
Read the text

Alabama Is Victor, Big Game Roars Forth in Orange Bowl 10 Beat Boston College 81 10 Il MIAMI, Fla, Jan. Alabama spotted Boston College IA points yesterday afternoon and then roared back to 81 to 81 victory before 10000 fans in wildly fought Orange Bowl football game Two minutes before half time, Bama drove to the eight-yard line of a fourth down. The guard booted a field goal from the Is yard line to take lead of % to 81. In the last quarter, Boston was held scoreless while Bama gained two touchdowns, one extra point and safety Boston’s Mickey Holovak scored all three touchdowns made by the Eagles.

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, 19437Alabama 37, 1Boston College 21Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 19435Georgia 9, 11UCLA 0Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 194310Tennessee 14, 6Tulsa 7Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 194318Texas 14, 2Georgia Tech 7Cotton Bowl