1942 college football season

1942 NCAA football season
Total # of teams	121
First AP #1 of season	Ohio State Buckeyes
Number of bowls	5
Champions	Ohio State Buckeyes (AP) Georgia Bulldogs (Various)
Heisman	Frank Sinkwich, Georgia HB
← 1941 College football seasons 1943 →

1942 Big 6 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Missouri $	4	–	0	–	1			8	–	3	–	1
Oklahoma	3	–	1	–	1			3	–	5	–	2
Nebraska	3	–	2	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Kansas State	2	–	3	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Iowa State	1	–	4	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Kansas	1	–	4	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1942 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#1 Ohio State $	5	–	1	–	0			9	–	1	–	0
#3 Wisconsin	4	–	1	–	0			8	–	1	–	1
#9 Michigan	3	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Illinois	3	–	2	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Iowa	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
#19 Minnesota	3	–	3	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Indiana	2	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Purdue	1	–	4	–	0			1	–	8	–	0
Northwestern	0	–	6	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1942 MSC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Colorado +	5	–	1	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
Utah +	5	–	1	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

1942 New England Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
New Hampshire $	3	–	0	–	0			6	–	0	–	0
Connecticut $	2	–	0	–	0			6	–	2	–	0
Northeastern	0	–	1	–	0			0	–	5	–	1
Rhode Island	0	–	2	–	0			3	–	3	–	0
Maine	0	–	2	–	0			2	–	4	–	0
$ – Conference champion

1942 PCC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#13 UCLA $	6	–	1	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Washington State	5	–	1	–	1			6	–	2	–	2
#12 Stanford	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
USC	4	–	2	–	1			5	–	5	–	1
Oregon State	4	–	4	–	0			4	–	5	–	1
Washington	3	–	3	–	2			4	–	3	–	3
California	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Oregon	2	–	5	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
Idaho	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Montana	0	–	6	–	0			0	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1942 SEC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#2 Georgia $	6	–	1	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
#5 Georgia Tech	4	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
#7 Tennessee	4	–	1	–	0			9	–	1	–	1
#18 Mississippi State	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
#10 Alabama	4	–	2	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
LSU	3	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
#16 Auburn	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	1
Vanderbilt	2	–	4	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Florida	1	–	3	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Tulane	1	–	4	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Kentucky	0	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	1
Ole Miss	0	–	5	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1942 Southern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#14 William & Mary $	4	–	0	–	0			9	–	1	–	1
VPI	5	–	1	–	0			7	–	2	–	1
Wake Forest	6	–	1	–	1			6	–	2	–	1
North Carolina	3	–	1	–	1			5	–	2	–	2
Duke	3	–	1	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
NC State	3	–	1	–	2			4	–	4	–	2
Furman	3	–	3	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
The Citadel	2	–	2	–	0			5	–	2	–	0
Clemson	2	–	3	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
Davidson	2	–	4	–	1			2	–	6	–	1
VMI	2	–	4	–	1			3	–	5	–	1
George Washington	2	–	4	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Maryland	1	–	2	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
South Carolina	1	–	4	–	0			1	–	7	–	1
Richmond	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	1
Washington and Lee	0	–	4	–	0			1	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1942 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#11 Texas $	5	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
Rice	4	–	1	–	1			7	–	2	–	1
TCU	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Baylor	3	–	2	–	1			6	–	4	–	1
Texas A&M	2	–	3	–	1			4	–	5	–	1
SMU	1	–	4	–	1			3	–	6	–	2
Arkansas	0	–	6	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

In 1942, Georgia Bulldogs were the consensus national champions, defeating UCLA in the Rose Bowl on January 1st, 1943. Ohio State was crowned #1 in the final AP Poll at the end of November, but did not make a bowl appearance. At the time, the AP poll did not put out a post-bowl poll.

In 1942, as many as 156 sportswriters participated in the AP poll (which did not take into account bowl games). Each writer listed his choice for the top ten teams, and points were tallied based on 10 for first place, 9 for second, etc., and the AP then ranked the twenty teams with the highest number of points.

The United States had entered the World War II, and able-bodied men of college age had volunteered for, or been drafted into, the armed forces. “Service teams,” many of which had former collegiate or professional players who had entered the Army or the Navy, played games against the college programs. In 1942, teams were fielded by Georgia Pre-Flight, the Great Lakes Naval Station, Iowa Pre-Flight, Jacksonville NAS, and St. Mary’s Preflight.

On September 19, in Louisville, Georgia defeated Kentucky, 7-6. The following Friday, Georgia defeated the Jacksonville Naval Air Station, 14-0, in Macon. The soldiers at the Flight School at the University of Iowa, organized as the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks, overwhelmed Kansas, 61-0.

Most schools got their seasons underway on September 26 Defending champion Minnesota beat Pittsburgh, 50-7. Duke beat Davidson 21-0. Notre Dame and Wisconsin played to a 7-7 tie in Madison. Illinois beat South Dakota 46-0. In Montgomery, Alabama beat South Louisiana Institute (later University of Louisiana at Lafayette), 54-0. Texas beat the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, 18-7. Michigan beat the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, 9-0. Before its smallest crowd since 1933 (22,555) Ohio State defeated a service team, the Fort Knox Armoraiders, 59-0. Iowa Pre-Flight won again, at Northwestern, 20-12.

October 3 Minnesota’s winning streak ended when the defending national champs lost their first game in almost four years, to the Seahawks of Iowa Pre-Flight (who just happened to be coached that season by "former" Minnesota head coach Bernie Bierman who had taken leave from Minnesota to serve as an officer in the military during World War II), 7-6. Ohio State beat Indiana 32-21. Michigan beat Michigan State 20-0. Illinois defeated Butler 67-0. Texas beat LSU 27-14. Notre Dame lost to Georgia Tech 13-6. Georgia defeated Furman 40-7. Alabama beat Mississippi State 21-6. Duke lost at Wake Forest, 20-7.

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