1942 college football rankings

none August 2023 December 2025 1942 Ohio State One human poll comprised the 1942 college football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship, instead that title is bestowed by one or more different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll. The Coaches' Poll began operation in 1950; in addition, the AP Poll did not begin conducting preseason polls until that same year. Legend   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week   National champion (#–#)   Win–loss record (Italics)   Number of first place votes т Tied with team above or below also with this symbol AP Poll November 2025 The final AP Poll was released on November 30, at the end of the 1942 regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (Final) Oct 12 Oct 19 Oct 26 Nov 2 Nov 9 Nov 16 Nov 23 Nov 30 Georgia (3–0) (25) Ohio State (4–0) (12) Michigan (2–1) (12) Alabama (3–0) (10) Illinois (3–0) (18) Georgia Tech (3–0) (5) Wisconsin (3–0–1) Penn (2–1) (5) Colgate (3–0) (2) Washington State (3–0) (3) Boston College (2–0) (1) Vanderbilt (3–0) Duquesne (3–0) (2) Minnesota (1–2) (1) Santa Clara (3–0) (1) т tw Tennessee (2–0–1) (1) т TCU (3–0) Army (2–0) Iowa (3–1) Texas (3–1) Ohio State (4–0) (58) Georgia (5–0) (38) Alabama (4–0) (8) u Michigan (3–1) (2) d Illinois (4–0) (1) Georgia Tech (4–0) (1) d Wisconsin (4–0–1) (2) Notre Dame (2–1–1) (3) npr Santa Clara (4–0) (2) u Boston College (3–0) (4) u Army (3–0) u TCU (4–0) u Minnesota (2–2) u UCLA (2–2) npr Texas (4–1) u Mississippi State (2–2) npr Penn (2–1–1) т td Tennessee (2–1–1) т d North Carolina (3–0–1) npr Syracuse (4–0) npr Colgate Duquesne Iowa Vanderbilt Washington State Ohio State (5–0) (80) Georgia (6–0) (25) Alabama (5–0) (6) Notre Dame (3–1–1) (3) u Georgia Tech (5–0) (3) u Wisconsin (5–0–1) (1) u Boston College (4–0) (4) u Army (4–0) (1) u TCU (5–0) u Minnesota (3–2) u UCLA (3–2) u Illinois (4–1) d Michigan (4–1) d Penn (3–1–1) u Syracuse (5–0) т tu Tulsa (5–0) т npr Texas (5–1) d William & Mary (4–0–1) npr LSU (5–1) npr Tennessee (3–1–1) d Mississippi State North Carolina Santa Clara Georgia (7–0) (84.31) u Wisconsin (6–0–1) (20.33) u Georgia Tech (6–0) (3.83) u Notre Dame (4–1–1) (1) Boston College (5–0) (13) u Ohio State (5–1) d Minnesota (4–2) (1) u Alabama (5–1) d Penn (4–1–1) (1) u UCLA (4–2) (1) u Michigan (4–2) u Tulsa (6–0) u Tennessee (4–1–1) u Texas (6–1) u Santa Clara (5–1) npr Baylor (6–1) npr William & Mary (5–0–1) u Fresno State (7–0) (1) npr Army (4–1) d Illinois (4–2) d LSU Syracuse TCU Georgia (8–0) (85) Georgia Tech (7–0) (14) u Boston College (6–0) (10) u Notre Dame (5–1–1) (1) Alabama (6–1) u Michigan (5–2) u Wisconsin (6–1–1) d Texas (7–1) u Tulsa (7–0) (1) u Ohio State (6–1) (1) d Tennessee (5–1–1) u Iowa (6–2) npr Illinois (5–2) u Washington State (5–1) npr William & Mary (6–0–1) u Minnesota (4–3) d Penn (4–2–1) d UCLA (4–3) d Hardin-Simmons (6–0) npr Williams (7–0) npr Army Baylor Fresno State Santa Clara Georgia (9–0) (69) Georgia Tech (8–0) (13) Boston College (7–0) (37) Michigan (6–2) (3) u Ohio State (7–1) (1) u Tulsa (8–0) (2) u Wisconsin (7–1–1) Notre Dame (5–2–1) d Alabama (6–2) d Minnesota (5–3) u Tennessee (6–1–1) Washington State (6–1) (1) u William & Mary (7–0–1) u Santa Clara (7–1) т tnpr Texas (7–2) т d USC (3–3–1) npr Hardin-Simmons (7–0) u Indiana (5–3) т tnpr TCU (6–2) т tnpr UCLA (4–3) т Illinois Iowa Penn Williams Boston College (8–0) (47) u Georgia Tech (9–0) (50) Ohio State (8–1) (16) u Wisconsin (8–1–1) (2) u Georgia (9–1) (1) d Tulsa (9–0) (1) Alabama (7–2) u Notre Dame (6–2–1) Michigan (6–3) d Tennessee (7–1–1) u UCLA (5–3) u Santa Clara (7–2) т tu Stanford (5–4) т npr USC (3–3–1) u Washington State (6–1–1) (1) d Auburn (5–4–1) т tnpr Mississippi State (7–2) т npr Texas (7–2) d William & Mary (7–1–1) d Minnesota (5–4) d Hardin-Simmons Indiana TCU Ohio State (9–1) (84) nc Georgia (10–1) (62) u Wisconsin (8–1–1) (4) u Tulsa (10–0) (4) u Georgia Tech (9–1) d Notre Dame (7–2–1) u Tennessee (8–1–1) u Boston College (8–1) d Michigan (7–3) Alabama (7–3) 9 Texas (8–2) u Stanford (6–4) UCLA (5–3) d William & Mary (8–1–1) (1) u Santa Clara (7–2) d Auburn (6–4–1) Washington State (6–1–2) d Mississippi State (7–2) d Holy Cross (5–4–1) (1) т tnpr Minnesota (5–4) т Penn State (6–1–1) т background-color:#D8FFEB npr USC AP Service Poll On December 2, a special panel of 91 sportswriters for the Associated Press released a ranking of the US service academy football teams, as they had not been permitted in the regular 1942 AP poll (this practice would be reversed in 1943). The Great Lakes Naval Training Station football team was awarded service champion, garnering the most overall (812) and 1st place votes (50) in the special poll.1942-12-06 Great Lakes Is Leading Service Team Of Nation 26 Asheville Citizen-Times https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17922930/great-lakes-is-leading-service-team-of/ 2020-07-03 The ranking system was ten points to the first place team, nine for 2nd place, and so on, with the sportswriters ranking their top ten. Teams that did not finish in the overall top ten but still received individual votes were also added to the final standings. Rank Team Record Points 1 Great Lakes Navy 8–3–1 812 (50) 2 Iowa Pre-Flight 7–3 773 (12) 3 Georgia Pre-Flight 7–1–1 743 (28) 4 North Carolina Pre-Flight 8–2–1 591 5 Saint Mary's Pre-Flight 6–3–1 527 (1) 6 Jacksonville NAS 9–3 386 7 Camp Grant 4–5 151 8 Pensacola NAS 3–5–1 115 9 Manhattan Beach 6–0–1 89 10 Corpus Christi NAS 4–3–1 88 11 Second Air Force 11–0–1 80 12 Fort Knox 2–6 66 13 Lakehurst NAS 4–4–1 43 14 Fort Monmouth 5–2–2 35 15 Fort Riley 6–3 13 16 Camp Davis 4–3–2 6 17 March Field 5–2 5 18 т Fort Totten 3–5–1 2 18 т Spence Field 0–4 2 20 т Camp Shelby 0–0? 1 20 т Fort Douglas 5–3 1 20 т Daniel Field 0–6 1 In parentheses is the number of 1st place votes Litkenhous Ratings The final Litkenhous Ratings were released in January 1943, after the bowl games had been played. The top 30 ranked teams were:Ohio State Rated First By Expert: Litkenhous Announces Final Grid Standings The Richmond News Leader Dr. E. E. Litkenhous January 21, 1943 23 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123431784/ohio-state-rated-first-by-expert/ Newspapers.com 15em 1. Ohio State (112.0) 2. Georgia (111.2) 3. Michigan (107.7) 4. Great Lakes Navy (106.4) 5. Alabama (105.7) 6. Notre Dame (105.6) 7. Wisconsin (104.9) 8. Tennessee (104.9) 9. Georgia Tech (104.6) 10. Minnesota (104.6) 11. Georgia Pre-Flight (101.7) 12. Illinois (101.3) 13. Iowa Pre-Flight (100.9) 14. Texas (100.8) 15. Tulsa (100.7) 16. Mississippi State (99.5) 17. Indiana (99.3) 18. Boston College (98.8) 19. LSU (97.5) 20. Duke (97.2) 21. Rice (96.1) 22. Penn (95.8) 23. Stanford (95.1) 24. Auburn (94.9) 25. North Carolina Pre-Flight (94.7) 26. Iowa (93.5) 27. Vanderbilt (93.4) 28. UCLA (93.2) 29. Army (93.2) 30. Missouri (93.1) Williamson System The final Williamson System rankings for 1942 were issued in January 1943, after the bowl games.Williamson Rates Texas At No. 4 Austin Statesman Paul Williamson January 5, 1943 7 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123440388/williamson-rates-texas-at-no-4/ Newspapers.com 15em 1. Georgia (98.1) 2. Wisconsin (97.1) 3. Ohio State (96.8) 4. Texas (96.0) 5. Georgia Tech (95.7) 6. Michigan (95.5) 7. Alabama (95.3) 8. Tennessee (95.0) 9. Notre Dame (94.7) 10. Tulsa (94.4) 11. Mississippi State (94.2) 12. Rice (93.8) 13. Boston College (93.5) 14. Marquette (93.3) 15. Auburn (93.1) 16. Penn State (93.0) 17. LSU (92.9) 18. Fordham (92.8) 19. William & Mary (92.4) 20. Missouri (92.3) 21. Illinois (92.1) 22. Navy (91.8) 23. Indiana (91.4) 24. Hardin–Simmons (91.2) 25. Duke (91.1) 26. Baylor (91.0) 27. Penn (90.7) 28. TCU (90.6) 29. UCLA (90.4) 30. Army (90.3) 31. Texas A&M (90.2) 32. Minnesota (90.1) 33. Colgate (90.0) 34. Washington State (89.8) 35. Santa Clara (89.6) 36. Tulane (89.5) 37. Stanford (89.3) 38. Vanderbilt (89.2) 39. North Carolina (89.1) 40. Oklahoma A&M (89.0) 41. Wake Forest (88.8) 42. USC (88.7) 43. Iowa (88.6) 44. Texas Tech (88.6) 45. California (88.5) 46. VPI (88.5) 47. Saint Mary's (88.3) 48. Detroit (88.1) 49. Duquesne (87.9) 50. Syracuse (87.8) 51. Villanova (87.6) 52. Michigan State (87.5) 53. Cornell (87.4) 54. Georgetown (87.1) 55. Amherst (87.0) Williamson also separately ranked the top service teams as follows: 15em 1. Georgia Pre-Flight (96.4) 2. Great Lakes Navy (94.7) 3. North Carolina Pre-Flight (92.6) 4. Second Air Force (92.3) 5. Iowa Pre-Flight (91.7) 6. Jacksonville NAS (91.5) 7. Manhattan Beach Coast Guard (88.0) 8. Corpus Christi NAS (85.6) 9. Saint Mary's Pre-Flight (85.4) 10. Pensacola NAS (83.4) 11. Camp Grant (83.1) 12. Lakehurst NAS (82.5) 13. Fort Riley (82.0) 14. Fort Monmouth (81.4) 15. March Field (79.2) 16. Fort Knox (78.5) 17. Santa Ana Air Force (77.9) 18. Camp Davis (77.6) See also 1942 College Football All-America Team References * Category:College football rankings