Several major systems have determined the 1941 college football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, did not itself bestow a national championship.

Champions (by ranking) The AP poll and most other methods rank Minnesota as the national champion. One method ranks Alabama and two rank Texas.

AP poll: Minnesota Berryman QPRS: Texas Billingsley Report: Minnesota Boand System: Minnesota College Football Researchers Association: DeVold System: Minnesota Dunkel System: Minnesota Helms Athletic Foundation: Minnesota Houlgate System: Alabama Litkenhous Ratings: Minnesota National Championship Foundation: Minnesota Poling System: Minnesota Sagarin Ratings Elo chess method: Minnesota Sagarin Ratings Predictor method: Minnesota Williamson System: Texas Note: AP Poll, Boand System, Dunkel System, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, Litkenhous Ratings, Poling System, and Williamson System were given contemporarily. All other methods were given retroactively.

AP Poll

Legend   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week   National champion   Win–loss record   Number of first place votes Tied with team above or below also with this symbol The final AP Poll was released on December 1, at the end of the 1941 regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.

Boand System

The Boand System rankings (also known as "Azzi Ratem") released after games played on November 29 were as follows:

1. Minnesota (81.6) 2. Navy (80.3) 3. Notre Dame (79.4) 4. Texas (78.9) 5. Penn (77.6) 6. Duke (77.5) 7. Duquesne (77.4) 8. Michigan (78.8) 9. Missouri (76.4) 10. Texas A&M (76.3) 11. Ohio State (75.6) 12. Alabama (74.6) 13. Georgia (74.5) 14. Fordham (73.7) 15. TCU (73.4) 16. Tennessee (73.3) 17. Mississippi State (73.2) 18. Oregon State (72.7) 19. Northwestern (72.6) 20. Harvard (72.0)

Dunkel System The final Dunkel System rankings released in December 1941 were as follows:

1. Minnesota (100.7) 2. Duke (98.5) 3. Texas (94.5) 4. Georgia (93.4) 5. Tennessee (92.6) 6. Michigan (92.4) 7. Northwestern (92.2) 8. Missouri (92.1) 9. Texas A&M (92.1) 10. Duquesne (91) 11. Notre Dame (90.2) 12. Alabama (89.5) 13. Penn (89.1) 14. Navy (88.9) 15. TCU (88.9) 16. Washington State (88.5) 17. Oregon State (88.2) 18. SMU (88.2) 19. Rice (88.1) 20. Vanderbilt (88.1) 21. 22. Ohio State (87.4) 23. Mississippi State (87) 24. 25. 26. 27. Ole Miss (86)

Houlgate System

The Houlgate System's final selections released in early December 1941 were as follows:

1. Minnesota 2. Navy 3. Alabama 4. Duquesne 5. Notre Dame 6. Michigan Mississippi State Texas 9. Duke 10. Pennsylvania 11. Tennessee 12. TCU 13. Georgia 14. Ohio State Oregon State Temple 17. Missouri Texas A&M Texas Tech 20. Vanderbilt 21. Fordham 22. Boston College Harvard 24. Virginia 25. Penn State

Litkenhous Ratings The final Litkenhous Ratings released in December 1941 provided numerical rankings for 681 college football programs. The top 100 ranked teams were:

1. Minnesota 2. Texas 3. Duke 4. Michigan 5. Texas A&M 6. Alabama 7. Notre Dame 8. Navy 9. Northwestern 10. Georgia 11. Tulane 12. Penn 13. Tennessee 14. Vanderbilt 15. Ohio State 16. Missouri 17. Fordham 18. Duquesne 19. Mississippi State 20. Oklahoma 21. Cornell 22. LSU 23. TCU 24. SMU 25. Oregon State 26. Washington State 27. Boston College 28. Stanford 29. Ole Miss 30. Rice 31. Washington 32. Harvard 33. California 34. Syracuse 35. Virginia 36. Santa Clara 37. Colgate 38. Auburn 39. Clemson 40. Georgia Tech 41. Penn State 42. Columbia 43. Michigan State 44. Detroit 45. Army 46. Texas Tech 47. Dartmouth 48. Indiana 49. Arkansas 50. Purdue 51. Iowa 52. Xavier 53. Marshall 54. Oregon 55. Baylor 56. Kentucky 57. Wisconsin 58. Nebraska 59. Villanova 60. Marquette 61. Texas A&I 62. Utah 63. Miami (FL) 64. USC 65. William & Mary 66. Tulsa 67. Florida 68. Temple 69. Hawaii 70. Georgetown 71. Illinois 72. Wake Forest 73. Holy Cross 74. Pittsburgh 75. South Carolina 76. Princeton 77. UCLA 78. Yale 79. Manhattan 80. Dayton 81. Saint Mary's (CA) 82. San Francisco 83. Rollins 84. Chattanooga 85. Western Michigan 86. Denver 87. Arizona 88. Panzer 89. Oklahoma A&M 90. West Virginia 91. West Texas State 92. Cincinnati 93. Hardin–Simmons 94. S.W. Tennessee 95. Lafayette 96. Western Reserve 97. Bradley 98. Brown 99. Willamette 100. North Carolina

Williamson System The final Williamson System rankings for 1940 were issued in January 1942, after the bowl games.

1. Texas (99.2) 2. Minnesota (97.9) 3. Notre Dame (96.2) 4. Fordham (95.8) 5. Navy (95.6) 6. Missouri (95.4) 7. Michigan (95.1) 8. Penn (94.9) 9. Duquesne (94.7) 10. Mississippi State (94.2) 11. Oregon State (94.1) 12. Alabama (94.0) 13. Duke (93.8) 14. Texas A&M (93.7) 15. Tennessee (93.6) 16. Vanderbilt (93.5) 17. Georgia (93.4) 18. Northwestern (93.2) 19. TCU (93.1) 20. Ohio State (93.0) 21. Ole Miss (92.6) 22. Cornell (92.4) 23. Harvard (92.2) 24. Washington State (91.9) 25. Oklahoma (91.5) 26. LSU (91.2) 27. Rice (91.1) 28. Stanford (91.0) 29. Tulane (90.9) 30. SMU (90.8) 31. Oregon (90.8) 32. Santa Clara (90.7) 33. Auburn (90.6) 34. Washington (90.4) 35. Army (90.1) 36. California (90.0) 37. William & Mary (89.8) 38. Dartmouth (89.7) 39. Clemson (89.6) 40. Tulsa (89.5) 41. Colgate (89.4) 42. Boston College (89.3) 43. Michigan State (89.1) 44. Temple (89.0) 45. Columbia (88.9) 46. Penn State (88.6) 47. Syracuse (88.3) 48. Manhattan (88.2)

See also 1941 College Football All-America Team

Notes

References