1940 Southeastern Conference football season

The 1940 Southeastern Conference football season was the eighth season of college football played by the member schools of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and was a part of the 1940 college football season. Tennessee compiled an 10–1 overall record, with a conference record of 5–0, and was SEC champion.

1940 Southeastern Conference football season
Sport	Football
Duration	September 21, 1940 – January 1, 1941 (1940-09-21 – 1941-01-01)
Number of teams	13
Champion	Tennessee

1940 Southeastern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Tennessee $	5	–	0	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
No. 9 Mississippi State	4	–	0	–	1			10	–	0	–	1
Ole Miss	3	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
Alabama	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
Auburn	3	–	2	–	1			6	–	4	–	1
LSU	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Georgia	2	–	3	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
Florida	2	–	3	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Kentucky	1	–	2	–	2			5	–	3	–	2
Tulane	1	–	3	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Vanderbilt	1	–	5	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
Georgia Tech	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Sewanee	0	–	1	–	0			3	–	5	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Results and team statistics

Conf. rank	Team	Head coach	Overall record	Conf. record	AP final	PPG	PAG
1	Tennessee	Robert Neyland	10–1–0 (.909)	5–0–0 (1.000)	No. 4	30.2	4.1
2	Mississippi State	Allyn McKeen	10–0–1 (.955)	4–0–1 (.900)	No. 9	22.5	5.3
3	Ole Miss	Harry Mehre	9–2–0 (.818)	3–1–0 (.750)		22.8	9.1
4	Alabama	Frank Thomas	7–2–0 (.778)	4–2–0 (.667)		18.4	8.9
5	Auburn	Jack Meagher	6–4–1 (.591)	3–2–1 (.583)		15.5	13.9
6	LSU	Bernie Moore	6–4–0 (.600)	3–3–0 (.500)		13.9	11.2
7	Georgia	Wally Butts	5–4–1 (.550)	2–3–1 (.417)		20.9	13.4
8	Florida	Tom Lieb	5–5–0 (.500)	2–3–0 (.400)		13.6	14.1
9	Kentucky	Albert D. Kirwan	5–3–2 (.600)	1–2–2 (.400)		19.0	10.7
10	Tulane	Red Dawson	5–5–0 (.500)	1–3–0 (.250)		14.4	12.6
11	Vanderbilt	Red Sanders	3–6–1 (.350)	1–5–1 (.214)		10.1	9.8
12	Georgia Tech	William Alexander	3–7–0 (.300)	1–5–0 (.167)		13.9	16.0
13	Sewanee	Harry E. Clark	3–5–0 (.375)	0–1–0 (.000)		16.5	15.6

Key
AP final = Rankings from AP sports writers. See 1940 college football rankings
PPG = Average of points scored per game^[1]
PAG = Average of points allowed per game^[1]

Schedule

Index to colors and formatting
SEC member won
SEC member lost
SEC member tie
SEC teams in bold

Week Zero

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Ref.
September 21	Union (TN)	Ole Miss	Hemingway Stadium • Oxford, MS	W 37–0		[2]
September 21	Louisiana Tech	LSU	Tiger Stadium • Baton Rouge, LA	W 39–7		[3]
September 21	Baldwin–Wallace	Kentucky	McLean Stadium • Lexington, KY	W 59–7		[4]

Week One

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Ref.
September 27	Alabama	Spring Hill	Murphy High School Stadium • Mobile, AL	W 26–0	7,500	[5]
September 27	Howard (AL)	Auburn	Cramton Bowl • Montgomery, AL	W 27–13	10,000	[6]
September 27	Georgia	Oglethorpe	Ponce de Leon Park • Atlanta, GA	W 53–0	25,000	[7]
September 27	Kentucky	Xavier	Xavier Stadium • Cincinnati, OH	W 13–0	12,000	[8]
September 28	Mercer	Tennessee	Shields–Watkins Field • Knoxville, TN	W 49–0	20,000	[9]
September 28	Washington & Lee	Vanderbilt	Dudley Field • Nashville, TN	W 19–0	9,000	[10]
September 28	Boston College	Tulane	Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, LA	L 7–27	42,000	[11]
September 28	Mississippi State	Florida	Florida Field • Gainesville, FL	MSS 25–7	12,000	[12]
September 28	Ole Miss	LSU	Tiger Stadium • Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	OM 19–6		[13]

Week Two

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Ref.
October 5	Duke	Tennessee	Shields–Watkins Field • Knoxville, TN	W 13–0	25,000	[14]
October 5	Southwestern Louisiana	Mississippi State	Scott Field • Starkville, MS	W 20–0	7,000	[15]
October 5	Ole Miss	Southwestern (TN)	Crump Stadium • Memphis, TN	W 27–6	10,000	[16]
October 5	Mercer	Alabama	Denny Stadium • Tuscaloosa, AL	W 20–0	6,000	[17]
October 5	Holy Cross	LSU	Tiger Stadium • Baton Rouge, LA	W 25–0		[18]
October 5	Georgia	South Carolina	Columbia Municipal Stadium • Columbia, SC (rivalry)	W 33–2	15,000	[19]
October 5	Florida	Tampa	Phillips Field • Tampa, FL	W 23–0		[20]
October 5	Washington and Lee	Kentucky	McLean Stadium • Lexington, KY	W 47–12	10,000	[21]
October 5	Howard (AL)	Georgia Tech	Grant Field • Atlanta, GA	W 27–0	15,000	[22]
October 5	Cumberland (TN)	Sewanee	Hardee Field • Sewanee, TN	W 49–0	1,000	[23]
October 5	Vanderbilt	Princeton	Palmer Stadium • Princeton, NJ	L 6–7	16,000	[24]
October 5	Auburn	Tulane	Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, LA (rivalry)	AUB 20–14	32,000	[25]

Week Three

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Ref.
October 11	Florida	Villanova	Shibe Park • Philadelphia, PA	L 0–28	22,000	[26]
October 12	Chattanooga	Tennessee	Shields–Watkins Field • Knoxville, TN	W 53–0	12,000	[27]
October 12	Howard (AL)	Alabama	Denny Stadium • Tuscaloosa, AL	W 31–0	4,500	[28]
October 12	Tennessee Tech	Sewanee	Hardee Field • Sewanee, TN	W 25–6	1,500	[29]
October 12	LSU	Rice	Rice Field • Houston, TX	L 0–23	23,000	[30]
October 12	Tulane	Fordham	Polo Grounds • New York, NY	L 7–20	35,400	[31]
October 12	Georgia Tech	Notre Dame	Notre Dame Stadium • Notre Dame, IN	L 20–26	32,492	[32]
October 12	Mississippi State	Auburn	Legion Field • Birmingham, AL	T 7–7	18,000	[33]
October 12	Ole Miss	Georgia	Sanford Stadium • Athens, GA	OM 28–14	25,000	[34]
October 12	Kentucky	Vanderbilt	Dudley Field • Nashville, TN	T 7–7	15,000	[35]

Week Four

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Ref.
October 19	Howard (AL)	Mississippi State	Scott Field • Starkville, MS	W 41–7	6,000	[36]
October 19	Duquesne	No. 13 Ole Miss	Hemingway Stadium • Oxford, MS	W 14–6	15,000	[37]
October 19	Mercer	LSU	Tiger Stadium • Baton Rouge, LA	W 20–0	10,000	[38]
October 19	Maryland	Florida	Florida Field • Gainesville, FL	W 19–0	10,000	[39]
October 19	George Washington	Kentucky	McLean Stadium • Lexington, KY	W 24–0	7,000	[40]
October 19	Rice	Tulane	Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, LA	W 15–6	34,000	[41]
October 19	Auburn	SMU	Cotton Bowl • Dallas, TX	L 13–20	10,000	[42]
October 19	Georgia	Columbia	Baker Field • New York, NY	L 13–14	25,000	[43]
October 19	Sewanee	Davidson	Richardson Stadium • Davidson, NC	L 20–27	6,000	[44]
October 19	No. 5 Tennessee	Alabama	Legion Field • Birmingham, AL (rivalry)	TEN 27–12	24,500	[45]
October 19	Vanderbilt	Georgia Tech	Grant Field • Atlanta, GA (rivalry)	GT 19–0	20,000	[46]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Week Five

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Ref.
October 25	Sewanee	Chattanooga	Chamberlain Field • Chattanooga, TN	L 6–20	4,424	[47]
October 25	Kentucky	Georgia	Sanford Stadium • Athens, GA	T 7–7		[48]
October 26	Mississippi State	NC State	Riddick Stadium • Raleigh, NC	W 26–10	10,000	[49]
October 26	Tulane	North Carolina	Kenan Memorial Stadium • Chapel Hill, NC	W 14–13	20,000	[50]
October 26	Arkansas	No. 14 Ole Miss	Crump Stadium • Memphis, TN (rivalry)	L 20–21	15,000	[51]
October 26	Florida	No. 5 Tennessee	Shields–Watkins Field • Knoxville, TN (rivalry)	TEN 14–0	15,000	[52]
October 26	Auburn	Georgia Tech	Grant Field • Atlanta, GA (rivalry)	AUB 16–7	25,000	[53]
October 26	Vanderbilt	LSU	Tiger Stadium • Baton Rouge, LA	LSU 7–0	20,000	[54]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Week Six

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Ref.
November 2	No. 20 Mississippi State	Southwestern (TN)	Crump Stadium • Memphis, TN	W 13–0	9,000	[55]
November 2	No. 10 Clemson	Tulane	Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, LA	W 13–0	31,000	[56]
November 2	Georgia Tech	No. 18 Duke	Duke Stadium • Durham, NC	L 7–41	34,000	[57]
November 2	Sewanee	Dartmouth	Memorial Field • Hanover, NH	L 0–26		[58]
November 2	LSU	No. 7 Tennessee	Shields–Watkins Field • Knoxville, TN	TEN 28–0	18,000	[59]
November 2	Ole Miss	Vanderbilt	Dudley Field • Nashville, TN (rivalry)	OM 13–7	13,000	[60]
November 2	Alabama	Kentucky	McLean Stadium • Lexington, KY	ALA 25–0	13,000	[61]
November 2	Auburn	Georgia	Memorial Stadium • Columbus, GA (rivalry)	UGA 14–13	20,000	[62]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Week Seven

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Ref.
November 9	No. 5 Tennessee	Southwestern (TN)	Crump Stadium • Memphis, TN	W 40–0	8,000	[63]
November 9	Ole Miss	Holy Cross	Fitton Field • Worcester, MA	W 34–7	4,000	[64]
November 9	Clemson	Auburn	Auburn Stadium • Auburn, AL (rivalry)	W 21–7	12,000	[65]
November 9	No. 19 Mississippi State	LSU	Tiger Stadium • Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	MSS 22–7	20,000	[66]
November 9	Tulane	Alabama	Legion Field • Birmingham, AL	ALA 13–6	20,000	[67]
November 9	Georgia	Florida	Fairfield Stadium • Jacksonville, FL (rivalry)	FLA 18–13	19,000	[68]
November 9	Georgia Tech	Kentucky	DuPont Stadium • Louisville, KY	KEN 26–7	14,000	[69]
November 9	Sewanee	Vanderbilt	Dudley Field • Nashville, TN (rivalry)	VAN 20–0	6,500	[70]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Week Eight

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Ref.
November 16	Virginia	No. 5 Tennessee	Shields–Watkins Field • Knoxville, TN	W 41–14	7,000	[71]
November 16	Millsaps	No. 15 Mississippi State	Scott Field • Starkville, MS	W 46–13	10,500	[72]
November 16	West Tennessee State	No. 17 Ole Miss	Hemingway Stadium • Oxford, MS (rivalry)	W 38–7		[73]
November 16	Florida	Miami (FL)	Burdine Stadium • Miami, FL (rivalry)	W 46–6	17,365	[74]
November 16	Tennessee Tech	Vanderbilt	Dudley Field • Nashville, TN	W 21–0		[75]
November 16	Washington and Lee	Sewanee	Chamberlain Field • Chattanooga, TN	W 25–13	1,500	[76]
November 16	Kentucky	West Virginia	Mountaineer Field • Morgantown, WV	L 7–9	7,500	[77]
November 16	No. 14 Alabama	Georgia Tech	Grant Field • Atlanta, GA (rivalry)	ALA 14–13	25,000	[78]
November 16	LSU	Auburn	Legion Field • Birmingham, AL (rivalry)	LSU 21–13	11,000	[79]
November 16	Georgia	Tulane	Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, LA	TUL 21–13	30,000	[80]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Week Nine

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Ref.
November 23	Louisiana Normal	Tulane	Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, LA	W 47–0	20,000	[81]
November 23	Auburn	No. 4 Boston College	Fenway Park • Boston, MA	L 7–33	30,000	[82]
November 23	Sewanee	The Citadel	Johnson Hagood Stadium • Charleston, SC	L 7–13	2,500	[83]
November 23	Kentucky	No. 6 Tennessee	Shields–Watkins Field • Knoxville, TN (rivalry)	TEN 33–0	25,000	[84]
November 23	No. 11 Ole Miss	No. 16 Mississippi State	Scott Field • Starkville, MS (rivalry)	MSS 19–0	25,000	[85]
November 23	Vanderbilt	No. 17 Alabama	Legion Field • Birmingham, AL	ALA 25–21	14,000	[86]
November 23	Florida	Georgia Tech	Grant Field • Atlanta, GA	FLA 16–7	12,000	[87]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Week Ten

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Ref.
November 29	Ole Miss	Miami (FL)	Burdine Stadium • Miami, FL	W 21–7	7,518	[88]
November 30	No. 6 Tennessee	Vanderbilt	Dudley Field • Nashville, TN (rivalry)	TEN 20–0	25,000	[89]
November 30	No. 11 Mississippi State	No. 17 Alabama	Denny Stadium • Tuscaloosa, AL (rivalry)	MSS 13–0	18,500	[90]
November 30	Florida	Auburn	Memorial Stadium • Columbus, GA (rivalry)	AUB 20–7	7,500	[91]
November 30	Tulane	LSU	Tiger Stadium • Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	LSU 14–0	30,799	[92]
November 30	Georgia Tech	Georgia	Sanford Stadium • Athens, GA (rivalry)	UGA 21–19	30,000	[93]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Week Eleven

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Ref.
December 6	Georgia	Miami (FL)	Burdine Stadium • Miami, FL	W 28–7	11,860–15,000	[94]
December 7	Villanova	Auburn	Cramton Bowl • Montgomery, AL	W 13–10	6,500	[95]
December 7	Texas	Florida	Florida Field • Gainesville, FL	L 0–26	12,000	[96]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Postseason

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Ref.
January 1, 1941	No. 13 Georgetown	No. 9 Mississippi State	Burdine Stadium • Miami, FL	W 14–7	38,307	[97]
January 1, 1941	No. 5 Boston College	No. 4 Tennessee	Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, LA	L 13–19	73,181	[98]
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

All-conference players

For the complete All-SEC selections, see 1940 All-SEC football team.

The following players were recognized as consensus first-team honors from the Associated Press (AP) and United Press (UP) on the 1940 All-SEC football team:

• Buddy Elrod, End, Mississippi State (AP-1, INS, UP)
• Holt Rast, End, Alabama (AP-1, INS, UP)
• Abe Shires, Tackle, Tennessee (AP-1, INS, UP)
• Bob Suffridge, Guard, Tennessee (AP-1, INS, UP)
• Bob Gude, Center, Vanderbilt (AP-1, INS, UP)
• Bob Foxx. Backfield, Tennessee (AP-1, INS, UP)

All-Americans

For the complete All-America selections, see 1940 College Football All-America Team.

One SEC player was a consensus first-team pick on the 1940 College Football All-America Team:^[99]

• Bob Suffridge, Guard, Tennessee (AAB, AP, CO, INS, LIB, NEA, NW, SN, UP)

Other SEC players receiving All-American honors from at least one selector were:

• Buddy Elrod, End, Mississippi State (AP-1; LIB; CP-1; NYS-1; NEA-3)
• Bob Ison, End, Georgia Tech (UP-3)
• Holt Rast, End, Alabama (NEA-2; CP-4)
• Abe Shires, Tackle, Tennessee (CP-3; NEA-3)
• Hunter Cohern, Guard, Mississippi State (AP-2)
• Ed Molinski, Guard, Tennessee (SN; UP-3; CP-3; NEA-2)
• George Kinard, Guard, Ole Miss (CP-4)
• John W. Goree, Guard, LSU (CP-4)
• Bob Foxx, Halfback, Tennessee (AP-3; INS-2; CP-4)
• Merle Hapes, Halfback, Ole Miss (UP-3; NEA-3)
• Jimmy Nelson, Halfback, Alabama (CP-2)

Head coaches

Records through the completion of the 1940 season

Team	Head coach	Years at school	Overall record	Record at school	SEC record
Alabama	Frank Thomas	10	102–22–6 (.808)	76–13–5 (.835)	37–8–4 (.796)
Auburn	Jack Meagher	7	64–54–3 (.541)	38–28–8 (.568)	23–18–6 (.553)
Florida	Tom Lieb	1	52–38–4 (.574)	5–5–0 (.500)	2–3–0 (.400)
Georgia	Wally Butts	2	10–10–1 (.500)	10–10–1 (.500)	2–3–1 (.417)
Georgia Tech	William Alexander	21	106–81–15 (.562)	106–81–15 (.562)	20–26–5 (.441)
Kentucky	Albert D. Kirwan	3	13–12–3 (.518)	13–12–3 (.518)	3–8–3 (.321)
LSU	Bernie Moore	6	55–30–4 (.640)	43–18–1 (.702)	22–13–0 (.629)
Mississippi State	Allyn McKeen	2	31–8–1 (.788)	18–2–1 (.881)	7–2–1 (.750)
Ole Miss	Harry Mehre	3	84–40–6 (.669)	25–6–0 (.806)	20–17–2 (.538)
Sewanee	Jenks Gillem	1	69–60–10 (.532)	3–5–0 (.375)	0–1–0 (.000)
Tennessee	Robert Neyland	14	119–16–8 (.860)	119–16–8 (.860)	35–7–2 (.818)
Tulane	Red Dawson	5	31–15–4 (.660)	31–15–4 (.660)	14–10–3 (.574)
Vanderbilt	Red Sanders	1	3–6–1 (.350)	3–6–1 (.350)	1–5–1 (.214)

1941 NFL draft

The following SEC players were selected in the 1941 NFL draft:^[100]

Round	Overall Pick	Player name	School	Position	NFL team
2	14	Abe Shires	Tennessee	Tackle	Cleveland Rams
3	17	Bob Foxx	Tennessee	Back	Chicago Cardinals
3	25	Fred Davis	Alabama	Tackle	Washington Redskins
6	42	Bob Suffridge	Tennessee	Offensive guard	Pittsburgh Steelers
6	45	John Tripson	Mississippi State	Tackle	Detroit Lions
6	48	Tommy O'Boyle	Tulane	Offensive guard	Chicago Bears
6	50	Ed Cifers	Tennessee	End	Washington Redskins
7	51	Julius Battista	Florida	Guard	Philadelphia Eagles
7	58	Hal Newman	Alabama	End	Brooklyn Dodgers
9	73	Buddy Elrod	Mississippi State	End	Pittsburgh Steelers
10	90	Ed Hickerson	Alabama	Guard	Washington Redskins
11	99	Jim Hardin	Kentucky	End	Chicago Bears
12	105	Billy Jefferson	Mississippi State	Back	Detroit Lions
12	109	Harvey Johnson	Mississippi State	Back	Brooklyn Dodgers
13	118	George Kinard	Ole Miss	Guard	Brooklyn Dodgers
14	121	Les Dodson	Ole Miss	Back	Philadelphia Eagles
14	122	J. W. Goree	LSU	Guard	Pittsburgh Steelers
14	127	Arnie Moore	Mississippi State	End	New York Giants
14	129	Lloyd Cheatham	Auburn	Back	Brooklyn Dodgers
15	133	John Eibner	Kentucky	Tackle	Pittsburgh Steelers
17	158	Dick McGowen	Auburn	Back	Brooklyn Dodgers
18	165	Charlie Ishmael	Kentucky	Back	Detroit Lions
20	184	Leo Barnes	LSU	Tackle	Cleveland Rams
20	190	Ed Hiestand	Vanderbilt	End	Washington Redskins
21	192	Joe Bailey	Kentucky	Center	Green Bay Packers
21	194	Hunter Corbern	Mississippi State	Guard	Chicago Bears