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1940 Rice

7–⁠3 (4–⁠2 Southwest Conference), coached by Jess Neely.

Schedule and results

Rice in 1940, game by game: won vs. Centenary (LA) 25–0; won vs. LSU 23–0; lost at Tulane 6–15; won vs. No. 12 Texas 13–0; won vs. Texas A&M–Kingsville 9–6; won at Arkansas 14–7; lost at No. 3 Texas A&M 0–25; won vs. TCU 14–6; won vs. Baylor 21–12; lost vs. SMU 6–7+25−25Won 25–0 vs. Centenary (LA)+25Centenary (LA)Won 23–0 vs. LSU+23LSULost 6–15 at Tulane-9TulaneWon 13–0 vs. No. 12 Texas+13No. 12 TexasWon 9–6 vs. Texas A&M–Kingsville+3Texas A&M–Kings…Won 14–7 at Arkansas+7ArkansasLost 0–25 at No. 3 Texas A&M-25No. 3 Texas A&MWon 14–6 vs. TCU+8TCUWon 21–12 vs. Baylor+9BaylorLost 6–7 vs. SMU-1SMU
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Oct 5vsCentenary (LA)W 25–⁠065%
Oct 12vsLSUW 23–⁠049%
Oct 19atTulaneL 6–⁠1536%
Oct 26vs12TexasW 13–⁠042%
Nov 2vsTexas A&M–KingsvilleW 9–⁠690%
Nov 9atArkansasW 14–⁠746%
Nov 16at3Texas A&ML 0–⁠2518%
Nov 23vsTCUW 14–⁠661%
Nov 30vsBaylorW 21–⁠1257%
Dec 7vsSMUL 6–⁠746%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to SMU 7–⁠6; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 3rd in the Southwest Conference.

In program history: The 21st-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 115 on file).

Record
7–⁠3
Conference
4–⁠2 tied for 3rd in Southwest Conference
AP final
Unranked
Points
131–⁠78
Coach
Jess Neely
Elo
1559 +114 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
11.9 No. 20 of 121 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—

All-Southwest Conference

3 first team

First team

  • Bob BrumleyB
  • Fred HartmanOTAP-1; UP-1
  • Ken WhitlowCAP-1; UP-1

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

1940 Southwest Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Texas A&M5–⁠19–⁠16
SMU5–⁠18–⁠1–⁠116
Texas4–⁠28–⁠2
Rice4–⁠27–⁠3
TCU2–⁠43–⁠7
Arkansas1–⁠54–⁠6
Baylor0–⁠64–⁠6

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