1941: Football

Once again Minnesota was the college football team of the year in 1941. For the second successive season the Gophers won every game on their schedule, to run their string of victories up to seventeen and finish on top in the national poll of the Associated Press while capturing their sixth Big Ten crown in eight years.

Behind Minnesota, the best teams as ranked in the poll at the end of the season were Duke, Notre Dame, Texas, Michigan, Fordham, Missouri, Duquesne, Texas A.&M. and Navy. The Pacific Coast failed to place in the select group for the first time in years.

Minnesota, Duke, Notre Dame and Duquesne were unbeaten. Notre Dame, which was tied by Army, went through its first season without defeat since Knute Rockne's last year at South Bend, 1930, and its new coach, Frank Leahy, formerly of Boston College, was voted the coach of the year. He barely finished in front of Minnesota's Bernie Bierman in the poll taken of coaches throughout the country.

Oregon State, by winning the championship of the Pacific Coast Conference, in which every other member was defeated three or more times, won the right to play in the Rose Bowl game for the first time. The Corvallis Beavers invited Duke as their opponent. Following the outbreak of war between the United States and Japan, the game was transferred, for the first time, from Pasadena, Calif. to Durham, N.C. Oregon State won by the score of 20-16.

Fordham and Missouri, each beaten once, were invited to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The winner was Fordham by a score of 2-0 on an early safety.

The Cotton Bowl at Dallas presented Texas A.&M., beaten once, and thrice-defeated Alabama. The game resulted in a victory for Alabama, 29-21.

In the Orange Bowl at Miami, Fla., Georgia, which lost one game and was tied in another, and Texas Christian, which was beaten twice and tied once, were the contestants. The verdict went to Georgia with a score of 40-26.

Sectional champions were as follows: Duke (Southern), Mississippi State (Southeastern), Minnesota (Big Ten), Missouri (Big Six), Tulsa (Missouri Valley), Texas A.&M. (Southwestern), Utah (Rocky Mountain) and Oregon State (Pacific Coast). Fordham was voted the Lambert Trophy as the No. 1 team of the East. Navy, which had its best season in years and lost only to Notre Dame; Duquesne, Pennsylvania, which lost only to Navy, and Harvard, which came on strong after losing its first two games, were next in order. Navy won the Ivy League honors; Harvard, the Big Three; and Williams, the Little Three.

After the first ten teams, the strongest in the country included Northwestern, Oregon State, Ohio State, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Mississippi State, Mississippi, Harvard, Tennessee, Washington State, Alabama, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Texas Christian, Washington and Penn State.

Northwestern lost three games but yet was one of the best, yielding the decision to Minnesota and Notre Dame each by only a point. Ohio State, under its new coach, Paul Brown, lost only to Northwestern. Most of the teams that were outstanding in 1940 fell upon hard days in 1941. These included Boston College and Tennessee, which had new coaches; Stanford, Cornell, Georgetown and Nebraska.

The player of the year was Minnesota's Bruce Smith. He was voted the Heisman Memorial Trophy, finishing ahead of Notre Dame's Angelo Bertelli. Virginia's Dudley, Georgia's Sinkwich, Stanford's Albert, Michigan's Westfall, Duke's Lach, and Texas' Crain were other outstanding backs. Particularly prominent among the linemen was Endicott Peabody 2d, Harvard guard.

Regardless of the gravity of the international situation, there was no let-down in interest in football and few teams lost heavily from the drafting of men for the army. It was not until the season had run its regular course that the United States was finally forced into the war by the treacherous attack of Japan. The immediate effect of this upon football was the transfer of the Rose Bowl game to Durham and of the East-West game from San Francisco to New Orleans to avert the danger of a bombing attack upon the large gatherings. Looking to the future, the effect may be the suspension of college football in 1942 if the war continues for any considerable length of time.

In 1941 there was a 4 per cent increase in attendance over 1940. The biggest crowd of the year — almost 100,000 — saw Navy defeat Army for the third year in a row in Philadelphia by a score of 14-6. There were 87,000 present when Southern California played Stanford at Los Angeles. Michigan drew 85,000 for the Minnesota game and again for the Ohio State contest. Notre Dame played to well over 400,000 for the season, drawing 76,000 with Army, 64,000 with Navy and 56,000 with Southern California, and Pennsylvania attracted 358,000 for its six home games — all of which reflects the great interest in football.

The most stunning upsets of the year were provided at the expense of Texas and Fordham. Texas, after going ahead of Minnesota for one week in the national poll, was tied by Baylor and the following week lost to Texas Christian. Fordham, after winning five games in a row, was beaten by Pittsburgh, which had dropped five in succession. Texas came back to prove its greatness by ending Texas A.&M.'s winning streak, as in 1940, with a smashing victory and then running up the staggering total of 71 points against Oregon.

There were no new offensive wrinkles in 1941 except that Syracuse, under Ossie Solem, turned its center around to pass the ball facing towards his backfield instead of towards the opponent's goal line. Many teams took up the T formation which Stanford and the Chicago Bears of the National Professional League revived so successfully in 1940. Harvard's defense caused a great deal of talk. The looping, sliding Crimson line, changing from five to six or seven man arrangements in a constantly varied defense, raised hob with the attack of most of its opponents. The new substitution rule, permitting unlimited replacements, worked out to the general satisfaction of coaches and public.

The season saw the end of Bob Zuppke's twenty-nine-year tenure as head coach at Illinois. Major Emery E. (Swede) Larson ended his successful three-year régime at Navy, to return to active duty in the service, and football lost one of its most famous coaches in the death of Howard Jones of Southern California.

Professional football shared in the general prosperity. The New York Giants won the Eastern championship and played to 55,000 in their final game with Brooklyn at the Polo Grounds. In the Western Division, the Chicago Bears, national champions in 1940, and the Green Bay Packers finished in a tie and the Bears won in the play-off in Chicago before 43,000 by 33-14. The Bears and the Giants met for the championship in Chicago and the Bears overwhelmed the Giants by a score of 37-9.

FOOTBALL SCORES

Listed below are the scores of all games played by the five top-ranking teams; and, following them, the scores of major games participated in by other leading teams. In each case the score given first belongs to that team in italics.

Minnesota: Washington, 14-6; Illinois, 34-6; Pittsburgh, 39-0; Michigan, 7-0; Northwestern, 8-7; Nebraska, 9-0; Iowa, 34-13; Wisconsin, 41-6. (Unbeaten, untied.)

Duke: Wake Forest, 43-14; Tennessee, 19-0; Maryland, 50-0; Colgate, 27-14; Pittsburgh, 27-7; Georgia Tech, 14-0; Davidson, 56-0; North Carolina, 20-0; N.C. State, 55-0. (Unbeaten, untied.)

Notre Dame: Arizona, 38-7; Indiana, 19-6; Georgia Tech, 20-0; Carnegie, 16-0; Illinois, 49-14; Army, 0-0; Navy 20-13; Northwestern, 7-6; So. California, 20-18. (Unbeaten but tied.)

Texas: Colorado, 34-6; L.S.U., 34-0; Oklahoma, 40-7; Arkansas, 48-14; Rice, 40-0; S.M.U., 34-0; Baylor, 7-7; T.C.U., 7-14; Texas A. and M., 23-0; Oregon, 71-7.

Michigan: Mich. State, 19-7; Iowa, 6-0; Pittsburgh. 40-0; Northwestern, 14-7; Minnesota, 0-7; Illinois, 20-0; Columbia, 28-0; Ohio State, 20-20.

Army: V.M.I., 27-20; Yale, 20-0; Notre Dame, 0-0; Harvard, 6-20; Navy, 6-14.

Boston College: Tulane, 7-0; Clemson, 13-26; Georgetown, 14-6; Boston U., 19-7; Holy Cross, 14-13.

Columbia: Princeton, 21-0; Army, 0-13; Pennsylvania, 16-19; Michigan, 0-28; Colgate, 21-30.

Cornell: Harvard, 7-0; Navy, 0-14; Yale, 21-7; Dartmouth, 33-19; Pennsylvania, 0-16.

Dartmouth: Amherst, 47-7; Harvard, 0-7; Yale, 7-0; Princeton, 20-13; Georgia, 0-35.

Duquesne: Manhattan, 26-7; Marquette, 31-14; St. Mary's, 9-0; Miss. State, 16-0. (Unbeaten, untied.)

Fordham: S.M.U., 16-10; T.C.U., 28-14; Purdue, 17-0; Pittsburgh, 0-13; N.Y.U., 30-9.

Harvard: Pennsylvania, 0-19; Dartmouth, 7-0; Navy, 0-0; Princeton, 6-4; Army, 20-0; Yale, 14-0.

Missouri: Ohio State, 7-12; Iowa State, 39-13; Nebraska, 6-0; Michigan State, 19-0; N.Y.U., 26-0.

Navy: Harvard, 0-0; Lafayette, 41-2; Notre Dame, 13-20; Princeton, 23-0; Army, 14-6.

N.Y.U.: Lafayette, 6-0; Texas A. and M., 7-49; Penn State, 0-42; Tulane, 0-45; Fordham, 9-30.

Oregon State: So. California, 7-13; Stanford, 10-0; U.C.L.A., 19-0; California, 6-0; Oregon, 12-7.

Pennsylvania: Harvard, 19-0; Yale, 28-13; Princeton, 23-0; Navy, 6-13; Army, 14-7.

Princeton: Columbia, 0-21; Harvard, 4-6; Dartmouth, 13-20; Yale, 20-6; Navy, 0-23.

Stanford: Oregon, 19-15; U.C.L.A., 33-0; So. California, 13-0; Wash. State, 13-14; California, 0-16.

Yale: Army, 7-20; Dartmouth, 0-7; Brown, 0-7; Princeton, 6-20; Harvard, 0-14.