The 1940 college football season was the 72nd season of intercollegiate football in the United States. Competition included schools from the Big Ten Conference, the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Big Six Conference, the Southern Conference, the Southwestern Conference, and numerous smaller conferences and independent programs.
The teams ranked highest in the final Associated Press poll in December 1940 were:
1940 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team - Led by head coach Bernie Bierman, the Golden Gophers compiled an 8–0 record, won the Big Ten championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 154 to 71. Halfback George Franck was a consensus All-American and placed third in the Heisman Trophy voting. Quarterback Bob Paffrath was selected as the team's most valuable player. Minnesota was selected as national champions by the Associated Press (AP) poll.
1940 Stanford Indians football team - Led by head coach Clark Shaughnessy, the Indians compiled a perfect 10–0 record, including a victory over No. 7 Nebraska in the 1941 Rose Bowl. The final AP poll was conducted before the Rose Bowl with Stanford receiving 44 first place votes, narrowly trailing Minnesota's 65 votes. Stanford was selected as national champions by the Poling System[2] and Williamson System[3] and retroactively by the Helms Athletic Foundation and Billingsley Report.
1940 Michigan Wolverines football team - Led by head coach Fritz Crisler, the Wolverines compiled a 7–1 record with its only loss coming against national champion Minnesota by a 7–6 score. Halfback Tom Harmon won the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award and shared the backfield with quarterback Forest Evashevski and fullback Bob Westfall.
1940 Tennessee Volunteers football team - Led by head coach Robert Neyland, the Volunteers compiled a 10–0 record in the regular season but lost to Boston College in the 1941 Sugar Bowl. Tennessee was selected as national champions by the Dunkel System. Guard Bob Suffridge was a unanimous pick on the 1940 All-America team.
1940 Boston College Eagles football team - In their final season under head coach Frank Leahy, the Eagles compiled a perfect 11–0, including a 19–13 victory over No. 4 Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl. End Gene Goodreault was a consensus pick on the All-America team.
1940 Texas A&M Aggies football team - The Aggies compiled a 9–1 record and defeated Fordham in the 1941 Cotton Bowl Classic. Fullback John Kimbrough was a unanimous pick on the 1940 All-America team.
The year's statistical leaders included Al Ghesquiere of Detroit with 958 rushing yards,[4] Johnny Knolla of Creighton with 1,420 yards of total offense,[5] Johnny Supulski of Manhattan with 1,190 passing yards,[6] Hank Stanton of Arizona with 820 receiving yards, and Tom Harmon with 117 points scored.[7][8]
^"October 14, 1940 AP Football Poll". CollegePollArchive.com. Archived from the original on March 27, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
^Poling, Richard R. (1941). "Top Teams of 1940". The 1940 Supplement of the Football Review. Mansfield, Ohio: Poling's Football Ratings. We predicted that STANFORD would beat NEBRASKA by from seven to ten points, and this game came home to us right – final score STANFORD 21 NEBRASKA 13. This game bore us out and thus made STANFORD NATIONAL FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS OF 1940. [...] No. 1 Stanford 45.06, No. 2 Minnesota 43.13, No 3. Boston College 43.0
^Williamson, Paul B. (January 7, 1941). "Williamson Votes National Title to Stanford". Nasheville Banner. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
^ESPN College Football Encyclopedia. ESPN Books. 2005. p. 1182. ISBN 1401337031.(1940 NCAA Major College Statistical Leaders)
^Gail Fowler (December 5, 1940). "Johnny Knolla Ground-Gaining Champ of 1940". The Decatur Review. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
^ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, p. 1182.
^ESPN College Football Encyclopedia (2005), p. 1182.
^"West Texas State College Back Ranks 4th In Scoring". Pampa Daily News (Texas). December 2, 1940. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com. (Some contemporaneous sources list Jackie Hunt of Marshall College as the 1949 scoring champion. Hunt scored 162 points on 27 touchdowns in 1940. The ESPN College Football Encyclopedia excludes Madden, as Marshall College was not considered a major college in 1940. Accordingly, Hunt was selected for the Little All-America team in 1940.)
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