One human poll comprised the 1941National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship, instead that title is bestowed by one or more different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll. The Coaches' Poll began operation in 1950; in addition, the AP Poll did not begin conducting preseason polls until that same year.
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
AP Poll
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.
The final Dunkel System rankings released in December 1941 were as follows:[10]
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[11] 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:[12]
^ Written at Los Angeles. "Houlgate Ranks Gophers First, Navy Second". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento. United Press. December 2, 1941. Retrieved August 13, 2023. The Deke Houlgate system of rating football teams today placed the Golden Gophers of Minnesota in the top spot in national standings. Houlgate, making his final selections, nominated the Navy for second place and Alabama for third.