1938 college football rankings
| 1938 college football rankings | |
|---|---|
| Season | 1938 |
| Bowl season | 1938–39 bowl games |
| End of season champions | TCU[a] Tennessee[b] Notre Dame[c] |
One human poll and several ranking methods determined the 1938 college football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, did not itself bestow a national championship.
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 |
Champions (by ranking)
The AP Poll and three other major rankings consider TCU as the season's champion. Eight major rankings consider Tennessee the season's champion. The Dickinson System considers Notre Dame the season's champion:[1]
- AP poll: TCU
- Berryman QPRS: Tennessee
- Billingsley Report: Tennessee
- Boand System: Tennessee
- College Football Researchers Association: Tennessee
- Dickinson System: Notre Dame
- Dunkel System: Tennessee
- Helms Athletic Foundation: TCU
- Houlgate System: Tennessee
- Litkenhous Ratings: Tennessee
- National Championship Foundation: TCU
- Poling System: Tennessee
- Sagarin Ratings Elo chess method: Tennessee
- Sagarin Ratings Predictor method: Tennessee
- Williamson System: TCU
Note: AP poll, Boand System, Dickinson System, Dunkel System, Houlgate System, Litkenhous Ratings, Poling System, and Williamson System were given contemporarily. All other methods were given retroactively.
AP Poll
The scheduled final AP Poll was released on November 29, with Notre Dame No. 1, prior to their season-end game against Southern California.[2]
The poll was extended for one week due to the "select quality of last Saturday's games, three of which had a direct bearing on the ranking".[3]
The revised final AP Poll was released on December 6,[3] at the end of the regular season, still weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.
| Week 1 Oct 17 | Week 2 Oct 24 | Week 3 Oct 31 | Week 4 Nov 7 | Week 5 Nov 14 | Week 6 Nov 21 | Week 7 (Scheduled final) Nov 28 | Week 8 (Extended final) Dec 6[3] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Pittsburgh (4–0) (83) | Pittsburgh (5–0) (90) | Pittsburgh (6–0) (105) | TCU (7–0) (48) | Notre Dame (7–0) (60) | Notre Dame (7–0) (48) | Notre Dame (8–0) (48) | TCU (10–0) (55) | 1. |
| 2. | Minnesota (4–0) (6) | Minnesota (4–0) (1) | TCU (6–0) (8) | Notre Dame (6–0) (41) | TCU (8–0) (19) | TCU (9–0) (28) | TCU (10–0) (23) | Tennessee (10–0) (16) | 2. |
| 3. | California (5–0) (1) | California (6–0) (3) | California (7–0) | Pittsburgh (6–1) (14) | Tennessee (8–0) (5) | Duke (8–0) (3) | Duke (9–0) (15) | Duke (9–0) (11) | 3. |
| 4. | Dartmouth (4–0) (1) | TCU (5–0) (3) | Notre Dame (5–0) | Tennessee (7–0) (6) | Duke (7–0) (5) | Pittsburgh (8–1) (2) т | Tennessee (9–0) (4) | Oklahoma (10–0) | 4. |
| 5. | Notre Dame (3–0) | Santa Clara (4–0) (1) | Dartmouth (6–0) | Dartmouth (7–0) | Pittsburgh (7–1) (2) | Tennessee (8–0) (3) т | Oklahoma (9–0) | Notre Dame (8–1) (4) | 5. |
| 6. | Santa Clara (3–0) | Dartmouth (5–0) | Tennessee (6–0) (1) | Carnegie Tech (5–1) | Carnegie Tech (6–1) | Oklahoma (8–0) | Carnegie Tech (7–1) | Carnegie Tech (7–1) | 6. |
| 7. | TCU (4–0) (3) | Notre Dame (4–0) (1) | Northwestern (4–0–1) | Duke (6–0) | Oklahoma (7–0) (1) | Carnegie Tech (6–1) | Pittsburgh (8–2) | USC (8–2) (1) | 7. |
| 8. | Tennessee (4–0) | Tennessee (5–0) | Santa Clara (5–0) | Santa Clara (6–0) (1) | Cornell (5–1) | Minnesota (6–2) | USC (7–2) | Pittsburgh (8–2) | 8. |
| 9. | Duke (4–0) | Fordham (3–0–1) (1) | Duke (6–0) | USC (6–1) (2) | California (8–1) | California (9–1) | Holy Cross (8–1) | Holy Cross (8–1) | 9. |
| 10. | Syracuse (3–0) | Oklahoma (4–0) | Fordham (3–1–1) | Oklahoma (6–0) (1) | Holy Cross (7–1) | Cornell (5–1) | Minnesota (6–2) | Minnesota (6–2) | 10. |
| 11. | Fordham (2–0–1) | Duke (5–0) | Oklahoma (5–0) | Holy Cross (6–1) | Santa Clara (6–1) | Holy Cross (7–1) | Cornell (5–1–1) | Texas Tech (10–0) | 11. |
| 12. | Michigan (2–1) | Northwestern (3–0–1) | Minnesota (4–1) | Minnesota (5–1) | Wisconsin (5–2) | Michigan (6–1–1) | California (9–1) | Cornell (5–1–1) | 12. |
| 13. | Carnegie Tech (3–0) | Michigan (3–1) | Holy Cross (5–1) т | Fordham (4–1–1) | USC (6–2) | Dartmouth (7–1) | Fordham (6–1–2) | Alabama (7–1–1) | 13. |
| 14. | Oklahoma (3–0) | Holy Cross (4–1) | USC (5–1) т | California (7–1) | Dartmouth (7–1) | USC (6–2) | Texas Tech (10–0) | California (10–1) | 14. |
| 15. | Alabama (3–1) | Villanova (4–0) | Alabama (5–1) | Wisconsin (4–2) | Villanova (6–0–1) | Northwestern (4–2–2) | Villanova (8–0–1) | Fordham (6–1–2) | 15. |
| 16. | Vanderbilt (4–0) | Carnegie Tech (3–1) | Cornell (4–1) т | Alabama (6–1) | Northwestern (4–1–2) | Villanova (7–0–1) | Michigan (6–1–1) | Michigan (6–1–1) | 16. |
| 17. | Baylor (4–0) | Cornell (3–1) | Michigan (4–1) т | Northwestern (4–1–1) | Michigan (5–1–1) | Texas Tech (9–0) | Alabama (7–1–1) | Northwestern (4–2–2) | 17. |
| 18. | Northwestern (2–0–1) | Alabama (4–1) | Iowa State (6–0) | Michigan (5–1) (1) | Fordham (4–1–2) | Fordham (5–1–2) | Tulane (7–2–1) | Villanova (8–0–1) | 18. |
| 19. | North Carolina (3–1) | USC (4–1) | Carnegie Tech (4–1) т | Villanova (5–0–1) | Texas Tech (8–0) | Santa Clara (6–1) | Northwestern (4–2–2) | Tulane (7–2–1) | 19. |
| 20. | Villanova (3–0) | Ohio State (2–1–1) | Texas A&M (3–2–1) т | Cornell (4–1) | Alabama (6–1–1) | Georgetown (8–0) | Dartmouth (7–2) | Dartmouth (7–2) | 20. |
| Week 1 Oct 17 | Week 2 Oct 24 | Week 3 Oct 31 | Week 4 Nov 7 | Week 5 Nov 14 | Week 6 Nov 21 | Week 7 (Scheduled final) Nov 28 | Week 8 (Extended final) Dec 6[3] | ||
Dropped:
| Dropped:
| Dropped:
| Dropped:
| Dropped:
| Dropped:
| None |
Houlgate System
| Week Final[4] December 6 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Tennessee (A 35) | 1. |
| 2. | Notre Dame (B 30) | 2. |
| 3. | Duke (A 27) | 3. |
| 4. | Oklahoma (A 25) | 4. |
| 5. | Texas Christian (A 24) | 5. |
| 6. | Southern California (C 23) | 6. |
| 7. | California (B 22) | 7. |
| 8. | Pittsburgh (C 22) | 8. |
| 9. | Holy Cross (B 21) | 9. |
| 10. | Alabama (C 20) | 10. |
| Week Final[4] December 6 | ||
Litkenhous Ratings
The top teams in the Litkenhous Ratings for 1938 were as follows:
1. Tennessee
2. TCU
3. USC
4. Notre Dame
5. Holy Cross
6. Pittsburgh
7. Cornell
8. Fordham
9. Minnesota
10. Michigan
11. Northwestern
12. California
Boand/Azzi Ratem
1. Tennessee
2. Notre Dame
3. TCU
4. USC
5. California
6. Oklahoma
7. Duke
8. Pittsburgh
9. Holy Cross
10. Minnesota
11. Villanova
12. Michigan
Poling
1. Tennessee
2. TCU
3. USC
4. Notre Dame
5. California
6. Oklahoma
7. Duke
8. Holy Cross
9. Pittsburgh
10. Minnesota
11. Alabama
12. Carnegie Tech
Williamson
1-2. Tennessee
1-2. TCU
3. Notre Dame
4. Carnegie Tech
5. Holy Cross
6. Alabama
7. USC
8. Duke
9. Oklahoma
10. Pittsburgh
11. Minnesota
12. Villanova
See also
Notes
- ^ per AP poll, Williamson System, Helms Athletic Foundation, National Championship Foundation
- ^ per Boand System, Dunkel System, Houlgate System, Litkenhous Ratings, Poling System, Berryman QPRS, Billingsley Report, College Football Researchers Association, Sagarin Ratings Elo chess method, and Sagarin Ratings Predictor method
- ^ per Dickinson System
References
- ^ "Football Bowl Subdivision Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2017. p. 112. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
- ^ Fullerton, Hugh S. Jr. (November 29, 1938). Written at New York. "Irish Still Top Scribes' Ballot". The Indianapolis News. Indianapolis. Associated Press. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
In the final Associated Press football ranking poll of the year, ninety sports writers and editors chose Notre Dame as the nation's No. 1 team with Duke in third place. Texas Christian, which hoped for a Rose bowl bid, came in between them.
- ^ a b c Middleton, Drew (December 6, 1938). "Texas Christian Places On Pinnacle In Final AP Poll". Associated Press. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
The poll was extended for another week because of the select quality of last Saturday's games, three of which had a direct bearing on the ranking.
- ^ "Houlgate Rates Tennessee No. 1 Team". Daily News. Los Angeles. December 6, 1938. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Football Rankers Place U.T. No. 1". Chattanooga Sunday Times. January 22, 1939. p. II-1 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Boand Gives Grid Top to Tennessee Eleven". Omaha World-Herald. Chicago Tribune Press Service. January 3, 1939. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
1. Tennessee; 2. Notre Dame; 3. Texas Christian;