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1941 SMU

5–⁠5 (2–⁠4 Southwest Conference), coached by Madison Bell.

Schedule and results

SMU in 1941, game by game: won vs. North Texas 54–0; lost at Fordham 10–16; won vs. Pacific 34–0; won at Auburn 20–7; lost vs. No. 1 Texas 0–34; lost at No. 5 Texas A&M 10–21; won at Arkansas 14–7; won vs. Baylor 14–0; lost at TCU 13–15; lost vs. Rice 0–6+54−34Won 54–0 vs. North Texas+54North TexasLost 10–16 at Fordham-6FordhamWon 34–0 vs. Pacific+34PacificWon 20–7 at Auburn+13AuburnLost 0–34 vs. No. 1 Texas-34No. 1 TexasLost 10–21 at No. 5 Texas A&M-11No. 5 Texas A&MWon 14–7 at Arkansas+7ArkansasWon 14–0 vs. Baylor+14BaylorLost 13–15 at TCU-2TCULost 0–6 vs. Rice-6Rice
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 27vsNorth TexasW 54–⁠095%
Oct 4atFordhamL 10–⁠1640%
Oct 11vsPacificW 34–⁠089%
Oct 18atAuburnW 20–⁠751%
Nov 1vs1TexasL 0–⁠3447%
Nov 8at5Texas A&ML 10–⁠2124%
Nov 15atArkansasW 14–⁠762%
Nov 22vsBaylorW 14–⁠069%
Nov 29atTCUL 13–⁠1545%
Dec 6vsRiceL 0–⁠666%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Rice 6–⁠0; unranked in the final AP poll; 5th in the Southwest Conference.

In program history: The tied 33rd-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 110 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 3: 20

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 1941.

Record
5–⁠5
Conference
2–⁠4 5th in Southwest Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 20
Points
169–⁠106
Coach
Madison Bell
Elo
1572 −29 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
10.8 No. 28 of 119 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
J. Ted Ramsey and Horace Young

Drafted in 1942

The 1942 draft
Rd 7Pres Johnston BGreen Bay Packers

All-Southwest Conference

2 first team

First team

From Wikipedia’s 1941 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1941 Southwest Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Texas A&M5–⁠19–⁠29
Texas4–⁠1–⁠18–⁠1–⁠14
TCU4–⁠1–⁠17–⁠3–⁠1
Rice3–⁠2–⁠16–⁠3–⁠1
SMU2–⁠45–⁠5
Baylor1–⁠4–⁠13–⁠6–⁠1
Arkansas0–⁠63–⁠7

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