1940 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

The 1940 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team was an American football team that represented the University of Notre Dame as an independent during the 1940 college football season. In their seventh season under head coach Elmer Layden, the team compiled a 7–2 record and outscored opponents by a total of 168 to 67. The team played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

1940 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Conference	Independent
Record	7–2
Head coach	Elmer Layden (7th season)
Captain	Milt Piepul
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium
Seasons ← 1939 1941 →

1940 Midwestern college football independents records

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Wayne			–					4	–	1	–	3
Detroit			–					7	–	2	–	0
Notre Dame			–					7	–	2	–	0
Xavier			–					7	–	3	–	0
Ohio			–					5	–	2	–	2
Dayton			–					6	–	3	–	0
Cincinnati			–					5	–	3	–	1
Wichita			–					6	–	4	–	0
Central Michigan			–					4	–	3	–	1
Marquette			–					4	–	4	–	0
Michigan State			–					3	–	4	–	1
Ohio Wesleyan			–					2	–	4	–	3
Akron			–					2	–	5	–	2
Western State Teachers (MI)			–					2	–	5	–	0
Michigan State Normal			–					1	–	5	–	1
Miami (OH)			–					0	–	7	–	1

Back Milt Piepul was the team captain. Other notable players included Steve Juzwik, Bob Saggau, Fred Evans, Steve Bagarus, and Bernie Crimmins. Saggau led the team with 650 yards of total offense, and Juzzwik led in rushing with 407 yards and in scoring with 43 points.^[1]

Notre Dame was ranked at No. 20 (out of 697 college football teams) in the final rankings under the Litkenhous Difference by Score system for 1940.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
October 5	Pacific (CA)		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 25–7	22,670
October 12	Georgia Tech		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	W 26–20	32,492
October 19	Carnegie Tech	No. 6	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 61–0	29,515
October 26	at Illinois	No. 2	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 26–0	63,186	[3]
November 2	vs. Army	No. 2	Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY (rivalry)	W 7–0	75,474
November 9	vs. Navy	No. 7	Municipal Stadium Baltimore, MD (rivalry)	W 13–7	61,579
November 16	Iowa	No. 7	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	L 0–7	45,960
November 23	at No. 10 Northwestern	No. 14	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL (rivalry)	L 0–20	48,000	[4]
December 7	at USC		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	W 10–6	85,808
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[5]

References

1. "Harmon Leads in Three Grid roles; Shares Six Others". The South Bend Tribune. December 20, 1940. p. Sports 3.
2. Dr. E. E. Litkenhous (December 19, 1940). "Final 1940 Litkenhous Ratings". The Boston Globe. p. 22 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Howard Barry (October 27, 1940). "Notre Dame Routs Illini: Irish Running, Passing Roll Up 26-0 Score". Chicago Tribune. p. II-1, II-4 – via Newspapers.com.
4. Wilfrid Smith (November 24, 1940). "N.U. 20, Notre Dame 0: Clawson Leads Wildcats With 2 Touchdowns". Chicago Tribune. pp. II-1 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "1940 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Schedule and Results".