1941 McMNC: Minnesota Golden Gophers

AP Top 10: Final Record -- Key Bowl Results

1. Minnesota: 8-0-0 -- None
2. Duke: 9-1-0 -- L, Rose, 16-20
3. Notre Dame: 8-0-1 -- None
4. Texas: 8-1-1 -- None
5. Michigan: 6-1-1 -- None
6. Fordham: 8-1-0 -- W, Sugar, 2-0
7. Missouri: 8-2-0 -- L, Sugar, 0-2
8. Duquesne: 8-0-0 -- None
9. Texas A&M: 9-2-0 -- L, Cotton, 21-29
10. Navy: 7-1-1 -- None

Okay, this is an interesting year, to be sure.

Let's start with Duke, simply because they should have won this walking away. They were undefeated in the regular season, which only Minnesota and Duquesne could match. They were playing in a bowl game, which neither Minnesota nor Duquesne were doing. AND? They had the bowl game AT HOME, since Pearl Harbor forced the Rose Bowl out of California for the only time in history.

So what did the Dookies do? They lost. Id0ts.

So this really just leaves us with three options, since all the bowl winners had at least one loss while we have three unbeaten teams who didn't play in bowl games: Minnesota, Notre Dame and Duquesne.

Just for fun, let's look at Duquesne first so we can eliminate them right away. Or maybe not? The Dukes beat #16 Mississippi State to close out their regular season, and they shut them out, 16-0. MSU was the SEC champion in 1941, so you know the Dukes were for real. They also beat St. Mary's on the road, and while this wasn't St. Mary's best season at all (5-4-0), it was a big road win. But that's it for the schedule. Is that 16-0 win over the SEC champion enough to give Duquesne the McMNC?

Stay tuned.

Notre Dame was 8-0-1, and their schedule was so-so. They beat unranked Arizona and Indiana, they had a 20-point shutout win at 3-6-0 Georgia Tech, and the Irish had 16-0 win at 0-3-0 Carnegie Tech. Not exactly "big" wins. They hammered 2-6-0 Illinois by 35 points, they tied 5-3-1 Army in a scoreless game, they beat #10 Navy on the road by a TD, and they edged #11 Northwestern (5-3-0) by a point on the road (7-6). Finally, they closed with a two-point win over USC at home, but the Trojans were only 2-6-1 in 1941. Overall, this is a mixed bag and not very impressive on the whole: close wins over good teams, big wins over bad teams, a strange tie and a close win over a bad team in a big rivalry game.

They have more "big" wins than Duquesne, however, so the Dukes are out of the discussion, leaving us with just Minnesota -- and I've already deprived the Golden Gophers of two MNCs.

First, Minnesota's record is unblemished, while Notre Dame has that one tie. So that works in Minnesota's favor. The Gophers beat Illinois, too, by 28 points at home. That's a wash, for all intents and purposes. Minnesota beat #5 Michigan by a TD on the road, and they beat #11 Northwestern at home by a point. All other wins were over losing teams, save their season-opening, 14-8 win on the road against Washington (5-4-0). The Northwestern win is a wash with Notre Dame's, leaving us to judge the win over Michigan versus Notre Dame's win over Navy. Both wins were on the road by the same margin, so Minnesota gets the edge because Michigan was better than Navy.

Throw in Notre Dame's tie and mediocre win over USC, and you have the Minnesota Golden Gophers winning their first McMNC.

McMNC Revisions
1. Minnesota
2. Notre Dame
3. Duquesne
4. Duke
5. Fordham


RUNNING SCORECARD:
Stanford: +1940
Tennessee: +1938
California: +1937
Texas A&M: =1939
Pittsburgh: +1936, -1937
TCU: -1938
Minnesota: -1936, -1940, =1941