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1940 SMU

8–⁠1–⁠1 (5–⁠1 Southwest Conference), coached by Madison Bell, finished No. 16 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

SMU in 1940, game by game: won at UCLA 9–6; won vs. North Texas 20–7; tied at Pittsburgh 7–7; won vs. Auburn 20–13; won at Texas 21–13; lost vs. No. 4 Texas A&M 7–19; won vs. Arkansas 28–0; won at Baylor 7–4; won vs. TCU 16–0; won at Rice 7–6+28−12Won 9–6 at UCLA+3UCLAWon 20–7 vs. North Texas+13North TexasTied 7–7 at Pittsburgh0PittsburghWon 20–13 vs. Auburn+7AuburnWon 21–13 at Texas+8TexasLost 7–19 vs. No. 4 Texas A&M-12No. 4 Texas A&MWon 28–0 vs. Arkansas+28ArkansasWon 7–4 at Baylor+3BaylorWon 16–0 vs. TCU+16TCUWon 7–6 at Rice+1Rice
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 29atUCLAW 9–⁠640%
Oct 5vsNorth TexasW 20–⁠794%
Oct 12atPittsburghT 7–⁠745%
Oct 19vsAuburnW 20–⁠1360%
Nov 2atTexasW 21–⁠1348%
Nov 9vs4Texas A&ML 7–⁠1943%
Nov 16vsArkansasW 28–⁠075%
Nov 23atBaylorW 7–⁠450%
Nov 30vsTCUW 16–⁠075%
Dec 7atRiceW 7–⁠654%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Rice 7–⁠6; No. 16 in the final AP poll; Southwest Conference champions.

In program history: The 12th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 110 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 2: 19
  2. Wk 3: 15
  3. Wk 4: 14
  4. Wk 5: 20
  5. Wk 6: 18
  6. Wk 7: 16
  7. Final: 16

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.

Southwest Conference champions5–⁠1 in the conference, shared with Texas A&M

Record
8–⁠1–⁠1
Conference
5–⁠1 shared first in Southwest Conference
AP final
No. 16 peak No. 14
Points
142–⁠75
Coach
Madison Bell
Elo
1652 +87 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
14.8 No. 16 of 121 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
Will Mullinweg and Raymond Pope

Drafted in 1941

The 1941 draft
Rd 4Johnny Clement BChicago Cardinals

All-Southwest Conference

1 first team, 1 second team

First team

Second team

  • Joe PasquaOTAP-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 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.