🏈 The 1943 college football season
The champion and its path, the poll race week by week, the honours, the best games and every conference table.
Jump to any season1869–2026
1943 national champion
Named by the selectors, with the road it took.
The path, Notre Dame9-1
- Sep 25atPittsburghW41-0
- Oct 2vsGeorgia TechW55-13
- Oct 9at#2MichiganW35-12
- Oct 16atWisconsinW50-0
- Oct 23vsIllinoisW47-0
- Oct 30vs#3NavyW33-6
- Nov 6vs#3ArmyW26-0
- Nov 13at#8NorthwesternW25-6
- Nov 20vs#2Iowa Pre-FlightW14-13
- Nov 27atGreat Lakes NavyL14-19
The 1943 major bowls
No title game this year. The big bowls of the season, by date.
- Cotton BowlJan 1#14Texas7
- Orange BowlJan 1LSU19
- Rose BowlJan 1USC29#12Washington0
- Sugar BowlJan 1#13Georgia Tech20#15Tulsa18
The 1943 poll race
Rank by poll week, 1 at the top, or Elo by week. A poll line breaks where a team was unranked.
How this is measured
Tap or drag on the chart to read a team's rank in any week.
AP rank, team by week
| Team | Oct4 | 11 | 18 | 25 | Nov1 | 8 | 15 | 22 | Nov29final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notre Dame | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Iowa Pre-Flight | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Michigan | 2 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Navy | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| Purdue | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Great Lakes Navy | 12 | 14 | 18 | 6 | |||||
| Duke | 5 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
| Del Monte Pre-Flight | 15 | 11 | 15 | 17 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Northwestern | 19 | 17 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | |
| March Field | 16 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ||
| Army | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 11 |
| Washington | 19 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 12 | ||
| Georgia Tech | 19 | 15 | 14 | 13 | |||||
| Texas | 16 | 12 | 13 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 14 | ||
| Tulsa | 13 | 19 | 17 | 16 | 20 | 15 | |||
| Dartmouth | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 13 | 16 | |||
| Bainbridge NTS | 17 | 15 | 17 | ||||||
| Colorado College | 18 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 18 | ||||
| Pacific | 20 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 19 | |
| Pennsylvania | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 18 | 20 |
| Texas A&M | 18 | 13 | 19 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 16 | ||
| Randolph Field | 18 | ||||||||
| San Diego Navy | 20 | 17 | |||||||
| USC | 10 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 9 | |||
| SW Louisiana | 14 | 15 | |||||||
| Arkansas A&M | 17 | ||||||||
| LSU | 17 | 20 | |||||||
| California | 20 | ||||||||
| Minnesota | 9 | 13 | 11 | ||||||
| Southwestern | 11 | 17 | 12 | ||||||
| Memphis Navy | 13 | 15 | 19 | ||||||
| Camp Grant | 20 | ||||||||
| Georgia | 20 | ||||||||
| Ohio State | 18 |
Tap a rank to read it and highlight that team on the chart above.
1943 final polls
The last ranking of the season in each poll.
1943 final pollsAP, Elo
Final AP poll, Nov 29.
Show all 20 teams
Elo top 25
rating, z
The 1943 honours
The Heisman vote and the major awards side by side, then the All-Americans.
The 1943 honoursHeisman: Angelo Bertelli
Heisman Trophy voting
Major awards
Consensus All-Americans
A star marks a unanimous selection.
- Casimir Myslinski★ unanimousArmy
- Bill Daley★ unanimousMichigan
- Angelo BertelliNotre Dame
- Creighton MillerNotre Dame
- Bob OdellPennsylvania
- John YonakorNotre Dame
- Ralph HeywoodUSC
Show all 5 positions
- Pat FilleyNotre Dame
- Alex AgasePurdue
- Don WhitmireNavy
- Jim WhiteNotre Dame
- Casimir Myslinski★ unanimousArmy
- Bill Daley★ unanimousMichigan
- Angelo BertelliNotre Dame
- Creighton MillerNotre Dame
- Bob OdellPennsylvania
- John YonakorNotre Dame
- Ralph HeywoodUSC
- Pat FilleyNotre Dame
- Alex AgasePurdue
- Don WhitmireNavy
- Jim WhiteNotre Dame
The best games of 1943
The ten best games of the season by Game Score. Switch to the Elo score for a second opinion.
How this is measured
The best games of 194310 games
Upsets of 1943
The results the ratings gave the winner the least chance of, lowest first.
How this is measured
Upsets of 194310 upsets
1943 standings by conference
Every conference at once: conference and overall record, and the final AP rank. A star marks the conference champion.
1943 standings by conference9 groups
Big Nine
9 teams| # | Team | Conf | All | AP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Purdue★ conference champion | 6-0 | 9-0 | #5 |
| 2 | Michigan★ conference champion | 6-0 | 8-1 | #3 |
| 3 | Northwestern | 5-1 | 6-2 | #9 |
| 4 | Indiana | 2-3-1 | 4-4-2 | |
| 5 | Minnesota | 2-3 | 5-4 | |
| 6 | Illinois | 2-4 | 3-7 | |
| 7 | Ohio State | 1-4 | 3-6 | |
| 8 | Wisconsin | 1-6 | 1-9 | |
| 9 | Iowa | 0-4-1 | 1-6-1 |
Big Six
6 teams| # | Team | Conf | All | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma★ conference champion | 5-0 | 7-2 | |
| 2 | Iowa State | 3-2 | 4-4 | |
| 3 | Missouri | 3-2 | 3-5 | |
| 4 | Kansas | 2-3 | 4-5-1 | |
| 5 | Nebraska | 2-3 | 2-6 | |
| 6 | Kansas State | 0-5 | 1-7 |
Missouri Valley
2 teams| # | Team | Conf | All | AP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tulsa★ conference champion | 1-0 | 6-1-1 | #15 |
| 2 | Oklahoma A&M | 0-1 | 3-4 |
Pacific Coast
3 teams| # | Team | Conf | All | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USC★ conference champion | 4-0 | 8-2 | |
| 2 | California | 2-2 | 4-6 | |
| 3 | UCLA | 0-4 | 1-8 |
Southeastern
4 teams| # | Team | Conf | All | AP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia Tech★ conference champion | 3-0 | 8-3 | #13 |
| 2 | LSU | 2-2 | 6-3 | |
| 3 | Tulane | 1-1 | 3-3 | |
| 4 | Georgia | 0-3 | 6-4 |
Southern
9 teams| # | Team | Conf | All | AP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Duke★ conference champion | 4-0 | 8-1 | #7 |
| 2 | Maryland | 2-0 | 4-5 | |
| 3 | South Carolina | 2-1 | 5-2 | |
| 4 | Wake Forest | 3-2 | 4-5 | |
| 5 | Richmond | 1-1 | 6-1 | |
| 6 | North Carolina | 2-2 | 6-3 | |
| 7 | Clemson | 1-3 | 2-6 | |
| 8 | VMI | 1-3 | 2-6 | |
| 9 | North Carolina State | 0-4 | 3-6 |
Southwest
6 teams| # | Team | Conf | All | AP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas★ conference champion | 5-0 | 7-1-1 | #14 |
| 2 | Texas A&M | 4-1 | 7-2-1 | |
| 3 | Rice | 2-3 | 3-7 | |
| 4 | SMU | 2-3 | 2-7 | |
| 5 | TCU | 1-4 | 2-6 | |
| 6 | Arkansas | 1-4 | 2-7 |
Independent
34 teams| # | Team | Conf | All | AP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colorado College | - | 7-0 | #18 |
| 2 | Iowa Pre-Flight | - | 9-1 | #2 |
| 3 | March Field | - | 9-1 | #10 |
| 4 | Notre Dame | - | 9-1 | #1 |
| 5 | Navy | - | 8-1 | #4 |
| 6 | Del Monte Pre-Flight | - | 7-1 | #8 |
| 7 | Dartmouth | - | 6-1 | #16 |
| 8 | Georgia Pre-Flight | - | 5-1 | |
| 9 | Great Lakes Navy | - | 10-2 | #6 |
| 10 | Pacific | - | 7-2 | #19 |
| 11 | Army | - | 7-2-1 | #11 |
| 12 | Holy Cross | - | 6-2 | |
| 13 | Fort Riley | - | 6-2-1 | |
| 14 | Pennsylvania | - | 6-2-1 | #20 |
| 15 | Alameda Coast Guard | - | 4-2-1 | |
| 16 | Brown | - | 5-3 | |
| 17 | Villanova | - | 5-3 | |
| 18 | Colgate | - | 5-3-1 | |
| 19 | Penn State | - | 5-3-1 | |
| 20 | Cornell | - | 6-4 | |
| 21 | West Virginia | - | 4-3 | |
| 22 | Yale | - | 4-5 | |
| 23 | Marquette | - | 3-4-1 | |
| 24 | St. Mary's Pre-Flight | - | 3-4-1 | |
| 25 | Virginia | - | 3-4-1 | |
| 26 | Texas Tech | - | 4-6 | |
| 27 | Pittsburgh | - | 3-5 | |
| 28 | North Carolina Pre-Flight | - | 2-4-1 | |
| 29 | Camp Grant | - | 2-6-2 | |
| 30 | St. Mary's | - | 2-5 | |
| 31 | Temple | - | 2-6 | |
| 32 | Princeton | - | 1-6 | |
| 33 | San Francisco | - | 1-7 | |
| 34 | Columbia | - | 0-8 |
1943 bowls
One line per game, latest first. A tag marks the playoff and the other major bowls.
1943 bowls4 bowls
Where these numbers come from
Enough to disbelieve this page on purpose rather than by accident.
Champions, polls, standings, bowls, honours and games are read from the Citizen of Nowhere college football database, built from its own workbook one season at a time. Team colours and crests are the current programs’, so a school is drawn the way it looks today even where it played under another name.
The AP poll begins in 1936, so earlier seasons have no poll race and no final poll, but they do have an Elo race, and their champions are those the selectors named. Before 1992 there was no title game, so those seasons list the major bowls instead; from 1992 the title game is shown with the other major bowls, and from 2014 the playoff bracket. Where the database has no entry for a section, the section is left out rather than shown empty.
Elo ratings, the upsets and the best games come from the site’s college football Elo, which rates every game since 1869 and counts games against lower-level opponents. Each season’s ratings are shown on a scale where the average major team ends the season at 1500; z is the distance from that average in standard deviations.