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1939 Arkansas

4–⁠5–⁠1 (2–⁠3–⁠1 Southwest Conference), coached by Fred Thomsen.

Schedule and results

Arkansas in 1939, game by game: won vs. East Central 32–6; lost vs. Mississippi State 0–19; won vs. TCU 14–13; lost at Baylor 7–19; lost at Texas 13–14; lost at Villanova 0–7; lost vs. No. 5 Texas A&M 0–27; tied at Rice 12–12; won vs. No. 17 SMU 14–0; won at Tulsa 23–0+26−27Won 32–6 vs. East Central+26East CentralLost 0–19 vs. Mississippi State-19Mississippi Sta…Won 14–13 vs. TCU+1TCULost 7–19 at Baylor-12BaylorLost 13–14 at Texas-1TexasLost 0–7 at Villanova-7VillanovaLost 0–27 vs. No. 5 Texas A&M-27No. 5 Texas A&MTied 12–12 at Rice0RiceWon 14–0 vs. No. 17 SMU+14No. 17 SMUWon 23–0 at Tulsa+23Tulsa
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 23vsEast CentralW 32–⁠689%
Sep 30vsMississippi StateL 0–⁠1959%
Oct 7vsTCUW 14–⁠1331%
Oct 14atBaylorL 7–⁠1928%
Oct 21atTexasL 13–⁠1444%
Oct 28atVillanovaL 0–⁠725%
Nov 4vs5Texas A&ML 0–⁠2727%
Nov 11atRiceT 12–⁠1239%
Nov 17vs17SMUW 14–⁠041%
Nov 30atTulsaW 23–⁠044%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Tulsa 23–⁠0; unranked in the final AP poll; 5th in the Southwest Conference.

In program history: The 68th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 124 on file).

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1939.

Led the nationKay Eakin: passing yards (962 yds)

Record
4–⁠5–⁠1
Conference
2–⁠3–⁠1 5th in Southwest Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
115–⁠117
Coach
Fred Thomsen
Elo
1513 +6 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
5.9 No. 39 of 124 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Kay Eakin and Ray Cole

Drafted in 1940

The 1940 draft
Rd 1Kay Eakin RBPittsburgh Steelers
Rd 6Saul Singer OTPhiladelphia Eagles

All-Southwest Conference

2 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

  • Milt SimingtonOGAP-2; UP-2
  • Wilfred ThorpeOGAP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1939 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1939 Southwest Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Texas A&M6–⁠011–⁠01
Baylor4–⁠27–⁠3
SMU4–⁠26–⁠3–⁠1
Texas3–⁠35–⁠4
Arkansas2–⁠3–⁠14–⁠5–⁠1
TCU1–⁠53–⁠7
Rice0–⁠5–⁠11–⁠9–⁠1

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.