CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

1940 Ohio State

4–⁠4 (3–⁠3 Western Conference), coached by Francis Schmidt.

Schedule and results

Ohio State in 1940, game by game: won vs. Pittsburgh 30–7; won vs. Purdue 17–14; lost at Northwestern 3–6; lost vs. No. 7 Minnesota 7–13; lost at No. 1 Cornell 7–21; won vs. Indiana 21–6; won at Illinois 14–6; lost vs. No. 7 Michigan 0–40+23−40Won 30–7 vs. Pittsburgh+23PittsburghWon 17–14 vs. Purdue+3PurdueLost 3–6 at Northwestern-3NorthwesternLost 7–13 vs. No. 7 Minnesota-6No. 7 MinnesotaLost 7–21 at No. 1 Cornell-14No. 1 CornellWon 21–6 vs. Indiana+15IndianaWon 14–6 at Illinois+8IllinoisLost 0–40 vs. No. 7 Michigan-40No. 7 Michigan
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 28vsPittsburghW 30–⁠757%
Oct 5vsPurdueW 17–⁠1465%
Oct 12atNorthwesternL 3–⁠649%
Oct 19vs7MinnesotaL 7–⁠1358%
Oct 26at1CornellL 7–⁠2125%
Nov 2vsIndianaW 21–⁠672%
Nov 16atIllinoisW 14–⁠664%
Nov 23vs7MichiganL 0–⁠4046%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Michigan 40–⁠0; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 4th in the Western Conference.

In program history: The 99th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 128 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 15

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 1940.

Record
4–⁠4
Conference
3–⁠3 tied for 4th in Western Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 15
Points
99–⁠113
Coach
Francis Schmidt
Elo
1553 −17 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
14.6 No. 17 of 121 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Most valuable player
Claude White

Drafted in 1941

The 1941 draft
Rd 1Don Scott QBChicago Bears

All-Big Ten

1 first team, 2 second team

First team

Second team

  • Charles AndersonEAP-2
  • Claude WhiteCAP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1940 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1940 Western Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Minnesota6–⁠08–⁠01
Michigan3–⁠17–⁠13
Northwestern4–⁠26–⁠28
Ohio State3–⁠34–⁠4
Wisconsin3–⁠34–⁠4
Iowa2–⁠34–⁠4
Indiana2–⁠33–⁠5
Purdue1–⁠42–⁠6
Illinois0–⁠51–⁠7

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