1942 College Football Final Rankings

In 1942, the United States was deep into World War II. A large number of the able-bodied young men had either volunteered or been drafted into military service. Some of these posts fielded football teams that competed against top-division college football teams and as such are included in the rankings. College teams, on the other hand, began to struggle to field teams as more and more of their players entered the military. In 1943, nearly 50 of the top division teams that had competed in 1942 would not field a team.

The national championship in 1942 was awarded to the Ohio State Buckeyes by the AP poll. Other major polls declared the Georgia Bulldogs the champion. Our analysis, however, gives the championship to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, which started the season disadvantaged by being unranked in the polls or they might actually have been voted national champions, since they ended the regular season as the only undefeated team in the country then lost a close game in the Sugar Bowl to the Tennessee Volunteers (who finished #4 in our rankings).

Here are the final results of our analysis:

1. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (10-1) - 1.4
2. Georgia Bulldogs (11-1) - 2.2
3. Ohio State Buckeyes (9-1) - 3.5
4. Tennessee Volunteers (9-1-1) - 3.7
5. Georgia Pre-Flight Skycrackers (7-1-1) - 5.1
6. Alabama Crimson Tide (8-3) - 5.8
7. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (9-2) - 7.0
8. Wisconsin Badgers (8-1-1) - 9.7
9. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-2-2) - 9.8
10. North Carolina Pre-Flight Cloudbusters (8-2-1) - 10.3
11. Mississippi State Bulldogs (8-2) - 11.3
12. Boston College Eagles (8-2) - 12.3
13. Michigan Wolverines (7-3) - 12.5
14. Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets (8-3-1) - 13.0
15. LSU Tigers (7-3) - 15.9
16. William & Mary Tribe (9-1-1) - 17.1
17. Auburn Tigers (6-4-1) - 18.1
18. Colorado Buffaloes (7-2) - 18.3
19. Marquette Golden Eagles (7-2) - 18.6
20. Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks (7-3) - 19.3
21. Rice Owls (7-2-1) - 19.6
22. Missouri Tigers (8-3-1) - 20.1
23. Texas Longhorns (9-2) - 21.8
24. Pennsylvania Relays (5-3-1) - 24.8
25. Santa Clara Broncos (7-2) - 26.7
26. Stanford Cardinal (6-4) - 27.9
27. Jacksonville NAS Flyers (9-3) - 28.2
(tie) UCLA Bruins (7-4) - 28.2
(tie) Wake Forest Demon Deacons (6-2-1) - 28.2
30. Duke Blue Devils (5-4-1) - 30.1
31. Indiana Hoosiers (7-3) - 30.4
32. Minnesota Golden Gophers (5-4) - 30.5
33. St. Mary's Pre-Flight Air Devils (6-3-1) - 35.6
34. Fordham Rams (5-3-1) - 35.8
35. Army Black Knights (6-3) - 36.1
36. Tulane Green Wave (4-5) - 36.2
37. Hardin-Simmons Cowboys (9-1-1) - 36.8
38. North Carolina Tar Heels (5-2-2) - 38.6
(tie) Oklahoma State Cowboys (6-3-1) - 38.6
40. Utah Utes (6-3) - 41.1
41. Colgate Raiders (6-2-1) - 41.9
42. USC Trojans (5-5-1) - 42.8
43. Illinois Fighting Illini (6-4) - 42.9
44. Miami Hurricanes (7-2) - 44.2
45. TCU Horned Frogs (7-3) - 44.5
46. Navy Midshipmen (5-4) - 45.2
47. Iowa Hawkeyes (6-4) - 49.2
48. St. Mary's Gaels (6-3-1) - 49.9
49. Vanderbilt Commodores (6-4) - 50.6
50. West Virginia Mountaineers (5-4) - 50.9
51. Michigan State Spartans (4-3-2) - 51.3
52. Syracuse Orange (6-3) - 51.5
53. Texas A&M Aggies (4-5-1) - 52.6
54. Duquesne Dukes (6-3-1) - 52.8
55. Baylor Bears (6-4-1) - 53.6
(tie) Holy Cross Crusaders (5-4-1) - 53.6
57. Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-5-1) - 57.4
58. Dartmouth Big Green (5-4) - 58.7
59. Penn State Nittany Lions (6-1-1) - 58.8
60. Washington Huskies (4-3-3) - 59.6
61. Denver Pioneers (6-3-1) - 61.1
62. California Golden Bears (5-5) - 61.2
63. Washington State Cougars (6-2-2) - 63.0
64. Georgetown Hoyas (5-3-1) - 64.0
65. San Francisco Dons (6-4) - 64.6
66. Yale Bulldogs (5-3) - 65.2
67. Virginia Tech Hokies (7-2-1) - 66.5
68. Detroit Mercy Titans (5-4) - 67.5
69. Kentucky Wildcats (3-6-1) - 68.3
70. Colorado State Rams (4-3) - 69.7
71. Oregon State Beavers (4-5-1) - 70.1
72. Maryland Terrapins (7-2) - 73.1
73. Arizona Wildcats (6-4) - 73.7
74. Oklahoma Sooners (3-5-2) - 74.3
(tie) Villanova Wildcats (4-4) - 74.3
76. NC State Wolfpack (4-4-2) - 76.2
77. West Texas A&M Buffaloes (7-2) - 76.7
78. Oregon Ducks (2-6) - 77.8
79. Creighton Bluejays (5-4) - 78.5
80. Harvard Crimson (2-6-1) - 80.2
81. Utah State Aggies (6-3-1) - 80.4
82. Furman Paladins (3-6) - 81.2
83. Citadel Bulldogs (5-2) - 82.0
84. Wyoming Cowboys (3-5) - 85.1
85. Cornell Big Red (3-5-1) - 85.9
86. Clemson Tigers (3-6-1) - 86.4
87. South Carolina Gamecocks (1-7-1) - 88.1
88. SMU Mustangs (3-6-2) - 88.4
89. Princeton Tigers (3-5-1) - 88.9
90. Northwestern Wildcats (1-9) - 89.5
91. Pittsburgh Panthers (3-6) - 90.1
92. Brown Bears (4-4) - 91.5
93. VMI Keydets (3-5-1) - 91.8
94. UTEP Miners (5-4) - 94.4
95. Florida Gators (3-7) - 95.3
96. Temple Owls (2-5-3) - 95.4
97. Columbia Lions (3-6) - 96.7
98. Arkansas Razorbacks (3-7) - 97.6
99. Manhattan Jaspers (2-6) - 97.8
100. St. Louis Billikens (4-5) - 98.9
101. Ole Miss Rebels (2-7) - 101.0
102. Loyola Marymount Lions (5-4-1) - 101.8
103. Washington (MO) Bears (5-5) - 102.4
104. George Washington Colonials (3-6) - 103.3
105. New Mexico Lobos (4-5-2) - 104.1
106. Purdue Boilermakers (1-8) - 106.1
107. Nebraska Cornhuskers (3-7) - 107.1
108. BYU Cougars (2-5) - 107.9
109. Iowa State Cyclones (3-6) - 108.7
110. Davidson Wildcats (2-6-1) - 109.5
111. Richmond Spiders (3-6-1) - 111.4
112. Kansas Jayhawks (2-8) - 111.5
113. Idaho Vandals (3-7) - 113.0
114. Virginia Cavaliers (2-6-1) - 114.4
115. Washington & Lee Generals (1-8) - 114.8
116. Arizona State Sun Devils (2-8) - 118.3
117. Kansas State Wildcats (3-8) - 118.4
118. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (1-5) - 118.7
119. Drake Bulldogs (3-7) - 119.5
120. Montana Grizzlies (0-8) - 120.2
121. New Mexico State Aggies (1-8) - 121.4

Special thanks to James Howell's College Football Scores, which provided the data for our analysis.