1940 college football season
Duke v North Carolina game at Kenan Memorial Stadium
First AP No. 1 of season	Cornell
Number of bowls	5
Champion(s)	Minnesota[a] Stanford[b] Tennessee[c]
Heisman	Tom Harmon, (halfback,Michigan)
← 1939 · football seasons · 1941 →

The1940 college football season was the 72nd season ofintercollegiate football in the United States. Competition included schools from theBig Ten Conference, thePacific Coast Conference (PCC), theSoutheastern Conference (SEC), theBig Six Conference, theSouthern Conference, theSouthwestern Conference, and numerous smaller conferences and independent programs.

The teams ranked highest in the finalAssociated Press poll in December 1940 were:

1. Minnesota - Led by head coachBernie Bierman, the Golden Gophers compiled an 8–0 record, won the Big Ten championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 154 to 71. HalfbackGeorge Franck was a consensus All-American and placed third in theHeisman Trophy voting. Minnesota was selected as national champions by the Associated Press (AP) poll.
2. Stanford - Led by head coachClark Shaughnessy, the Indians compiled a perfect 10–0 record, including a victory over No. 7 Nebraska in the1941 Rose Bowl. Stanford was selected as national champions by thePoling System^[1] andWilliamson System^[2] and retroactively by theHelms Athletic Foundation andBillingsley Report.
3. Michigan - The Wolverines compiled a 7–1 record with its only loss coming against Minnesota by a 7–6 score. HalfbackTom Harmon won theHeisman Trophy.
4. Tennessee - Led by head coachRobert Neyland, the Volunteers compiled a 10–0 regular season record but lost to Boston College in theSugar Bowl. Tennessee was selected as national champions by theDunkel System.
5. Boston College - In their final season under head coachFrank Leahy, the Eagles compiled a perfect 11–0 record, including a victory over Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl, to lay claim to a national championship.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

The year's statistical leaders includedAl Ghesquiere ofDetroit with 958 rushing yards,^[8]Johnny Knolla of Creighton with 1,420 yards of total offense,^[9]Johnny Supulski of Manhattan with 1,190 passing yards,^[10]Hank Stanton of Arizona with 820 receiving yards, and Tom Harmon with 117 points scored.^[11][12]

• One conference began play during 1940:
  • New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference – an NCAA College Division and NAIA conference active through the 1962 season; later known as theFrontier Conference
• One conference played its final season in 1940:
  • Alamo Conference – conference active since the 1936 season

September 28 Defending champion Texas A&M beat Texas A&I (later the university's Kingsville campus), 26–0. Tennessee beat Mercer 49–0. USC and Washington State played to a 14–14 tie. Tulane lost to Boston College 27–7. Michigan won at California 41–0. Minnesota defeated Washington 19–14 in Minneapolis.

October 5 In San Antonio,Texas A&M beat Tulsa 41–6.Tennessee beat Duke 13–0. Cornell beat Colgate 34–0. Northwestern won at Syracuse, 40–0. Minnesota beatNebraska 13–7.Michigan beat Michigan State 21–14.

October 12 Cornell won at Army 45–0.In Los Angeles, Texas A&M beatUCLA 7–0. Tennessee beat Chattanooga 53–0. Northwestern beat Ohio State 6–3. Michigan won at Harvard 26–0. The top five in the year's first AP Poll were No. 1 Cornell, No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Northwestern, and No. 5 Tennessee.

October 19No. 1 Cornell beat Syracuse 33–6.No. 2 Texas A&M beat TCU 21–7.No. 3 Michigan beat Illinois 28–0. In Birmingham,No. 5 Tennessee beat Alabama, 27–12. No. 6Notre Dame beat Carnegie Tech 61–0. The resulting AP Poll was No. 1 Cornell, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Texas A&M, and No. 5 Tennessee. Despite a 27–7 win at Wisconsin,Northwestern fell from 4th to 7th; previous No. 7 Minnesota moved up one spot with a 13-7 win over No. 15 Ohio State in Columbus.

October 26 No. 1 Cornell beat Ohio State 21–7. No. 2 Notre Dame won at Illinois 26–0. No. 3 Michigan beat Pennsylvania 14–0. No. 4 Texas A&M won at Baylor 14–7. No. 5 Tennessee beat Florida 14–0. No. 6 Minnesota beat Iowa 34–6. Cornell, Notre Dame, and Michigan remained as the top three, followed by Minnesota and Texas A&M.

November 2 No. 1 Cornell beatColumbia 27–0. No. 2 Notre Dame beat Army 7–0 atYankee Stadium. No. 3 Michigan was idle.No. 4 Minnesota narrowly won at No. 8 Northwestern, 13–12. No. 5 Texas A&M beat Arkansas 17–0. No. 7 Tennessee beat LSU 28–0. The next AP Poll ranked Cornell, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas A&M, and Tennessee as the top five. Notre Dame fell from No. 2 to No. 7 after their close win over a weak Army team (the Cadets would finish 1-7-1).

November 9 No. 1 Cornell beat Yale 21–0, but dropped to second in the next poll. No. 2 Minnesota and No. 3 Michigan, both unbeaten (5–0–0), met in Minneapolis, with the Gophers winning by one point, 7–6. No. 4 Texas A&M won at No. 14 SMU 19–7. No. 5 Tennessee won at Rhodes College 41–0. No. 6 Stanford beat No. 11 Washington 20–10 to advance its record to 7–0–0. The resulting AP Poll was No. 1 Minnesota, No. 2 Cornell, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Stanford, and No. 5 Tennessee.

November 16No. 1 Minnesota beat Purdue 33–6.No. 2 Cornell lost at Dartmouth 3–0 in the famous "Fifth Down" game.^[13]No. 3 Texas A&M beat Rice 25–0.No. 4 Stanford beat No. 19 Oregon State 28–14. No. 8 Boston College beat No. 9 Georgetown 19–18 to extend its record to 8–0–0. The next AP Poll featured No. 1 Minnesota, No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Boston College, and No. 5 Cornell. Previous No. 5Tennessee fell to No. 6 despite an 8-0-0 record and a 41–14 win over Virginia.

November 23 No. 1 Minnesota closed its season with a 22–13 win at Wisconsin. No. 2 Texas A&M andNo. 3 Stanford were idle.No. 4 Boston College beatAuburn 33–7. No. 5 Cornell lost 22-20 to Pennsylvania. No. 7 Michigan won at Ohio State to close its season at 7–1–0 and moved into fifth place behind Minnesota, Texas A&M, Stanford, and Boston College.

OnThanksgiving Day No. 2 Texas A&M lost at Texas 7–0. OnNovember 30No. 3 Stanford closed its season with a 13–7 win at California, No. 4 Boston College defeated Holy Cross 7–0, and No. 6 Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 20–0. The top five of the final AP Poll were No. 1 Minnesota, No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Tennessee, and No. 5 Boston College.