The 1942 college football season was the 74th 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 season was the first after the entry of the United States into World War II.
The teams ranked highest in the final AP Poll in December 1942 were:
The Ohio State Buckeyes won the Big Ten championship and compiled an overall record of 9–1 record with the team's one loss coming against No. 3 Wisconsin. The Buckeyes ranked second nationally in scoring offense (33.7 points per game) and fourth in total offense (397.5 yards per game). They were ranked No. 1 in the final AP Poll but did not appear in a bowl game. Gene Fekete led the Big Ten with 910 rushing yards. Ohio State was selected as the national champion by the Associated Press (AP).
The Georgia Bulldogs won the SEC championship and had an overall record of 11–1, including a victory over UCLA in the 1943 Rose Bowl. The Bulldogs ranked first nationally with 429.5 yards of total offense per game and were voted second in the final AP Poll in December 1942, prior to the Rose Bowl. A majority of selectors (including Billingsley and Houlgate) later named the Bulldogs as the national champion.[2]
The Wisconsin Badgers finished second in the Big Ten with an overall record of 8–1–1 record, including a 17–7 victory over eventual AP national champion Ohio State. They were ranked No. 3 in the final AP Poll. The Helms Athletic Foundation selected Wisconsin as 1942 national champions following the bowl games.[3]
The Tulsa Golden Hurricane won the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) championship with a 10–1 record and was ranked No. 4 in the final AP Poll. They ranked first nationally in scoring offense (39.5 points per game) and passing offense (233.9 yards per game). Glenn Dobbs ranked fourth nationally with 1,427 yards of total offense.
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets finished second in the SEC and compiled a 9–2 record, including a loss to Texas in the 1943 Cotton Bowl Classic. They were ranked No. 5 in the final AP Poll.
Frank Sinkwich of Georgia won the Heisman Trophy and led the nation with 2,187 yards of total offense (including 1,392 passing yards), making him the first major-college player to tally more than 2,000 yards in a season. Paul Governali of Columbia won the Maxwell Award. The year's other statistical leaders included Rudy Mobley of Hardin-Simmons with 1,281 rushing yards, Ray Evans of Kansas with 1,117 passing yards, Harding Miller of SMU with 531 receiving yards, and Bob Steuber of Missouri with 121 points scored.
With large numbers of college and professional football players serving in the armed forces, "service teams" competed against the college teams. The top-ranked service teams were Great Lakes Navy (No. 1), Iowa Pre-Flight (No. 2), and Georgia Pre-Flight (No. 3).
^"October 12, 1942 AP Football Poll". CollegePollArchive.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
^2020 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records(PDF). Indianapolis: The National Collegiate Athletic Association. July 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
^"Badgers Rated Nation's No. 1". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. January 11, 1943. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
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