In the interest of keeping things current: In the Sept/Oct Alcalde there is an article about the Longhorn logo turning 50. Included in that article is a photo of the football team warming up in front of the scoreboard which shows the 1941 schedule. That schedule included Colorado, LSU, OU, Arky, Rice, SMU, Baylor, TCU, aggy, and finished with Oregon. Don't know what those teams were doing in 1941, but that would be pretty stiff competition today. Not criticizing today's schedules - just found the pic and the schedule interesting. That is all.
I think 1941 was the year that Texas had a real good shot at it's first MNC. From MB's siteThe Link the record: 1941 Coach: Dana X. Bible Season: 8-1-1 SWC: 4-1-1 (T2nd) Final Ranking: 4th, AP Sept. 27 at Colorado W 34-6 Oct. 4 LSU W 34-0 Oct. 11 vs. Oklahoma W 40-7 Oct. 18 (#2) Arkansas W 48-14 Oct. 25 (#2) Rice W 40-0 Nov. 1 (#2) at #20 SMU W 34-0 Nov. 8 (#1) at Baylor T 7-7 Nov. 15 (#2) TCU L 7-14 Nov. 27 (#10) at #2 Texas A&M W 23-0t Dec. 6 (#4) Oregon W 71-7 t - Thanksgiving Somebody help out here, but I think that following the 12/6 slaughter of Oregon, Texas was being considered for a Rose Bowl bid against Oregon State, or something like that, and ranked at #4 (earlier #1, #2) with a shot at the MNC. The next day changed the world forever; no bowl games were played that year. If we were aggy we'd be bitching about being cheated out by some pre-ESPN Japanese conspiracy.
You've piqued my interest. Id certainly considered the timing of the schedule in relation to WW II, but hadn't thought about how it affected the outcome of the season. Good stuff.
7: The United Press International (UPI) used to be the Coaches Poll, which named an MNC after regular season but before bowls. It didn't start until 1958. Edit: Actually, upon further reading at the CFDW site, the UP (?) started the Coaches Poll in 1950, then taken over by UPI in 1958, finally USAToday/ESPN or whatever it is today. Regardless, the split polling between the AP (post-bowl game poll) and Coaches (pre-bowl game poll) apparently didn't start until 1950. But I was wrong about the Pearl Harbor effect. They actually DID play bowls in January 1942. Apparently Texas didn't get a bid; aggy went to the CB as the SWC rep and Duke (Duke!!) played Oregon State in the Rose Bowl, Duke's 2nd Rose Bowl in 4 years. I was wrong about bowl game cancellations, but IIRC because of U.S. west coast concerns, the Rose Bowl was played in Durham, N.C. The Link A great resource for more than you ever wanted to know about U.S. college football history records can be found at the College Football Data Warehouse. Here's the 1941 year (Jan 1942 bowls) poll results: The Link and the Jan 1942 bowls: The Link (hell, aggy was even losing bowls back then ) Curiously about aggy, though, they apparently seldom mention an MNC prior to 1939. Some of these MNCs may be "after the fact" review of previous history and who "should" have been MNC.
7: I dug a little deeper into the CFDW site and found the aggy 1919 MNC from the National Championship Foundation or something like that, ceasing to "award" in 2001 apparently: The Link It was a 3-way split between Hahvahd, the Domers and the Gomers. Very curious, Texas was not selected as MNC for 1970 (following the ND loss in the CB in January 1971) but was selected for a 5-way MNC tie in 1981 with Clemson, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, and SMU. The Link As one can see from the CFDW listing of a plethora of MNC "selectors", I guess it's why we all refer to it as "mythical national championship."
Wow. I never thought about how time was kept before digital scoreboards. Check out the 15 min. clock face in the photo. I wonder if a ref kept the "official" time on a stopwatch or some such device. Also, I didn't think that the "two minute" drills came into being till the 70's. Guess I was wrong. There's a first time for everything. LOL
Had Texas been invited to the Rose Bowl the game would have been moved to and played in Texas. Fears of an imminent invasion of the West Coast forced blackouts and restricted large gatherings. The 1942 Rose Bowl was played at Duke's home stadium. With Texas in, it would have been played in Austin and likely been known as the "Yellow Rose Bowl."
Further trivia about the game: A dance was held at Gregory Gym the night before the game. The music was provided by the Ozzie Nelson Orchestra. Harriet Nelson was no longer the band's singer; her second child Ricky had been born the year before.
And one more tidbit: During the postgame radio show following Saturday's Kansas game, Craig Way noted that Texas held Kansas to 46 yards of total offense - which was the lowest total since the Horns held aggy to a total of 5 yards in the 1941 contest. Likely a record that is safe for many years to come (70 years and counting).
