1941 Columbia Lions football team

The 1941 Columbia Lions football team was an American football team that represented the Columbia University in the Ivy League during the 1941 college football season. In their 12th season under head coach Lou Little, the team compiled a 3–5 record and was outscored by a combined total of 103 to 81.^[1]

1941 Columbia Lions football
Conference	Ivy League
Record	3–5 (3–1 Ivy)
Head coach	Lou Little (12th season)
Home stadium	Baker Field
Seasons ← 1940 1942 →

1941 Ivy League football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 15 Penn $	5	–	0	–	0			7	–	1	–	0
Columbia	3	–	1	–	0			3	–	5	–	0
Harvard	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	2	–	1
Cornell	3	–	2	–	0			5	–	3	–	0
Dartmouth	2	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Brown	1	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Princeton	1	–	4	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
Yale	0	–	6	–	0			1	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The team was led by left halfback Paul Governali who was selected by the Associated Press as a second-team player on the 1941 All-Eastern football team.^[2] Governali went on to win the Maxwell Award in 1942 and was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Columbia was ranked at No. 42 (out of 681 teams) in the final rankings under the Litkenhous Difference by Score System for 1941.^[3]

The team played its home games at Baker Field in Manhattan.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
October 4	Brown		Baker Field New York, NY	W 13–6	10,000	[4]
October 11	at Princeton		Palmer Stadium Princeton, NJ	W 21–0	30,000	[5]
October 18	Georgia*	No. 20	Baker Field New York, NY	L 3–7	27,000	[6]
October 25	at Army*		Michie Stadium West Point, NY	L 0–13	28,000	[7]
November 1	Cornell		Baker Field New York, NY	W 7–0	15,000	[8]
November 8	at No. 19 Penn		Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	L 16–19	50,000	[9]
November 15	No. 7 Michigan*		Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI	L 0–28	35,000	[10]
November 22	Colgate*		Baker Field New York, NY	L 21–30	23,000	[11]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Rankings

See also: 1941 NCAA football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Final
AP	20	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

References

1. "1941 Columbia Lions Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
2. "MacKinney and Peabody on A.P. Eastern Eleven". The Boston Daily Globe. December 5, 1941. p. 28 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Dr. E. E. Litkenhous (December 26, 1941). "Gophers Grid Kings Over 6-Year Span: Tennessee 2d, Pitt 3d Over Period Litkenhous Ratins Are Published". The Courier-Journal. p. Sports 4 – via Newspapers.com.
4. John Ebinger (October 5, 1941). "Lions Score in 2d, 3d; Whip Brown, 13-6". New York Daily News. p. 37C – via Newspapers.com.
5. Joe Trimble (October 12, 1941). "Governali Leads Lions Over Princeton, 21-0". New York Daily News. p. 92 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Gene Ward (October 19, 1941). "Georgia's Sinkwich Beats Columbia, 7-3". New York Daily News. p. 82 – via Newspapers.com.
7. Jimmy Powers (October 26, 1941). "Army Wins, 13-0; Lion Passes Fail". New York Daily News. p. C36 – via Newspapers.com.
8. Joe Trimble (November 2, 1941). "Lions Defeat Cornell, 7-0, On 54-yd Governali Run". New York Daily News. p. 86 – via Newspapers.com.
9. Cy Peterman (November 9, 1941). "Penn Defeats Columbia, 19-16, In Wild Finish Before 50,000". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 1S – via Newspapers.com.
10. "Michigan Whips Columbia, 28-0: Attack Led by Westfall and Kuzma". Detroit Free Press. November 16, 1941. pp. Sports 1–2 – via Newspapers.com.
11. Hy Turkin (November 23, 1941). "Colgate Downs Columbia, 30-21". New York Daily News. p. 90 – via Newspapers.com.