Greatest Teams of the 1940s - The AP Rankings

The AP poll is has been the most consistent ranking system over the long history of college football. Going by the final rankings, what programs come out best? Here are the top programs of the late 1940s according to the AP polls.

Decade Rankings - 1940s

The AP Rankings 
 
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By the AP Rankings - The Greatest Programs Ever
- 2012 AP Preseason Poll | Top Teams of All-time
- Top Teams of the 1930s | Top Teams of the 1940s
- Top Teams of the 1950s | Top Teams of the 1960s
- Top Teams of the 1970s | Top Teams of the 1980s
- Top Teams of the 1990s | Top Teams of the 2000s 
- Top Teams of the 2010s

The AP rankings might now be irrelevant since they don't have anything to do with determining a national champion anymore, but they're still great to use when analyzing college football on a historical scale.

Around since 1936, the AP college football poll has been through World War II, has changed and adapted with the times, and has often looked to make a statement when needed - like in 2003 by naming USC the national champion, even though LSU took home the BCS title..

Since the AP poll is the only consistent ranking system from 1936 through today, CFN came up with a scoring system to compare and contrast how the programs finished over the decades. Every time a team finished No. 1 in the final poll, it got 25 points. The No. 2 team got 24 points, No. 3 got 23 points, and so on.  Through the decades, the AP ranked the top ten teams for a few years before going back to the top 20 rankings, and eventually, the it went  to the top 25 system it's at now.

According to the scoring system, consistent production isn't necessarily rewarded. For example, if a team finished 17th for four straight years, it would get a total of 36 points (No. 17 gets 9 points). A team that finished the beginning of the decade No. 2 (24 points) and the end of the decade ranked tenth (16 points), but wasn't ranked any year in between, would get a total 40 points.

So with all of that in mind ...

1940 AP National Champions: 1940 Minnesota - 1941 Minnesota - 1942 Ohio State 1943 Notre Dame - 1944 Army - 1945 Army - 1946 Notre Dame - 1947 Notre Dame - 1948 Michigan - 1949 Notre Dame

Rank	Teams	Points
1	Michigan	210
2	Notre Dame	201
3	Army	146
4	Texas	107
5	Tennessee	103
6	Ohio State	96
7	Duke	86
8	Georgia	85
9	Navy	83
10	Penn	79
11	Minnesota	78
12	Georgia Tech	77.5
13	Northwestern	70
T14	North Carolina	67
T14	Oklahoma	67
15	Alabama	66
16	California	56
17	USC	52
18	Tulsa	51
19	SMU	49
20	LSU	46
T21	Rice	45
T21	Iowa Pre-Flight	45
23	Boston College	39
24	Stanford	38
25	Mississippi	37.3
	others receiving votes
	Santa Clara	37
	Texas A&M	37
	Mississippi State	35
	UCLA	35
	Penn State	34.3
	Fordham	34
	Wm & Mary	33
	Cornell	32
	Illinois	32
	Great Lakes	30
	Bainbridge NTS	30
	Washington	30
	Indiana	28
	Missouri	24.5
	Pacific	23
	Wisconsin	23
	Randolph Field	23
	Oklahoma State	21
	Purdue	21
	Michigan State	19
	Duquesne	18
	Nebraska	18
	Del Monte PF	18
	NC State	17
	Oregon	17
	Washington State	16
	Clemson	15
	Kentucky	15
	Wake Forest	15
	Holy Cross	14.3
	Kansas	14
	Oregon State	14
	Saint Mary's (Cal.)	14
	Vanderbilt	14
	Yale	14
	Georgetown	13
	Tulane	13
	Villanova	13
	Norman Pre-Flight	12.5
	Coumbia	12
	Maryland	12
	Arkansas	10
	Auburn	10
	Dartmouth	10
	El Toro Marines	10
	Hardin-Simmons	9
	Princeton	8
	Fort Pierce	8
	Colorado College	8
	Delaware	7
	Lafayette	7
	2nd Air Force	6
	Baylor	5.5
	Saint Mary's PF	2

 
By the AP Rankings - The Greatest Programs Ever
- 2012 AP Preseason Poll | Top Teams of All-time
- Top Teams of the 1930s | Top Teams of the 1940s
- Top Teams of the 1950s | Top Teams of the 1960s
- Top Teams of the 1970s | Top Teams of the 1980s
- Top Teams of the 1990s | Top Teams of the 2000s 
- Top Teams of the 2010s