1938 college football rankings

One human poll comprised the 1938 college football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship, instead that title is bestowed by one or more different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll. The Coaches' Poll began operation in 1950; in addition, the AP Poll did not begin conducting preseason polls until that same year.

1938 college football rankings
Season	1938
Bowl season	1938–39 bowl games
End of season champions	TCU
college football rankings ← 1937 1939 →

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
		National champion
(#–#)		Win–loss record
(Italics)		Number of first place votes
т		Tied with team above or below also with this symbol

AP Poll

The scheduled final AP Poll was released on November 29, with Notre Dame No. 1, prior to their season-end game against Southern California.^[1]

The poll was extended for one week due to the "select quality of last Saturday's games, three of which had a direct bearing on the ranking".^[2]

The revised final AP Poll was released on December 6,^[2] at the end of the regular season, still weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.

	Week 1 Oct 17[3]	Week 2 Oct 24[4]	Week 3 Oct 31[5]	Week 4 Nov 7[6]	Week 5 Nov 14[7]	Week 6 Nov 21[8]	Week 7 (Scheduled final) Nov 28[9]	Week 8 (Extended final) Dec 6[2]
1.	Pittsburgh (4–0) (83)	Pittsburgh (5–0) (90)	Pittsburgh (6–0) (105)	TCU (7–0) (48)	Notre Dame (7–0) (60)	Notre Dame (7–0) (48)	Notre Dame (8–0) (48)	TCU (10–0) (55)	1.
2.	Minnesota (4–0) (6)	Minnesota (4–0) (1)	TCU (6–0) (8)	Notre Dame (6–0) (41)	TCU (8–0) (19)	TCU (9–0) (28)	TCU (10–0) (23)	Tennessee (10–0) (16)	2.
3.	California (5–0) (1)	California (6–0) (3)	California (7–0)	Pittsburgh (6–1) (14)	Tennessee (8–0) (5)	Duke (8–0) (3)	Duke (9–0) (15)	Duke (9–0) (11)	3.
4.	Dartmouth (4–0) (1)	TCU (5–0) (3)	Notre Dame (5–0)	Tennessee (7–0) (6)	Duke (7–0) (5)	Pittsburgh (8–1) (2) т	Tennessee (9–0) (4)	Oklahoma (10–0)	4.
5.	Notre Dame (3–0)	Santa Clara (4–0) (1)	Dartmouth (6–0)	Dartmouth (7–0)	Pittsburgh (7–1) (2)	Tennessee (8–0) (3) т	Oklahoma (9–0)	Notre Dame (8–1) (4)	5.
6.	Santa Clara (3–0)	Dartmouth (5–0)	Tennessee (6–0) (1)	Carnegie Tech (5–1)	Carnegie Tech (6–1)	Oklahoma (8–0)	Carnegie Tech (7–1)	Carnegie Tech (7–1)	6.
7.	TCU (4–0) (3)	Notre Dame (4–0) (1)	Northwestern (4–0–1)	Duke (6–0)	Oklahoma (7–0) (1)	Carnegie Tech (6–1)	Pittsburgh (8–2)	USC (8–2) (1)	7.
8.	Tennessee (4–0)	Tennessee (5–0)	Santa Clara (5–0)	Santa Clara (6–0) (1)	Cornell (5–1)	Minnesota (6–2)	USC (7–2)	Pittsburgh (8–2)	8.
9.	Duke (4–0)	Fordham (3–0–1) (1)	Duke (6–0)	USC (6–1) (2)	California (8–1)	California (9–1)	Holy Cross (8–1)	Holy Cross (8–1)	9.
10.	Syracuse (3–0)	Oklahoma (4–0)	Fordham (3–1–1)	Oklahoma (6–0) (1)	Holy Cross (7–1)	Cornell (5–1)	Minnesota (6–2)	Minnesota (6–2)	10.
11.	Fordham (2–0–1)	Duke (5–0)	Oklahoma (5–0)	Holy Cross (6–1)	Santa Clara (6–1)	Holy Cross (7–1)	Cornell (5–1–1)	Texas Tech (10–0)	11.
12.	Michigan (2–1)	Northwestern (3–0–1)	Minnesota (4–1)	Minnesota (5–1)	Wisconsin (5–2)	Michigan (6–1–1)	California (9–1)	Cornell (5–1–1)	12.
13.	Carnegie Tech (3–0)	Michigan (3–1)	Holy Cross (5–1) т	Fordham (4–1–1)	USC (6–2)	Dartmouth (7–1)	Fordham (6–1–2)	Alabama (7–1–1)	13.
14.	Oklahoma (3–0)	Holy Cross (4–1)	USC (5–1) т	California (7–1)	Dartmouth (7–1)	USC (6–2)	Texas Tech (10–0)	California (10–1)	14.
15.	Alabama (3–1)	Villanova (4–0)	Alabama (5–1)	Wisconsin (4–2)	Villanova (6–0–1)	Northwestern (4–2–2)	Villanova (8–0–1)	Fordham (6–1–2)	15.
16.	Vanderbilt (4–0)	Carnegie Tech (3–1)	Cornell (4–1) т	Alabama (6–1)	Northwestern (4–1–2)	Villanova (7–0–1)	Michigan (6–1–1)	Michigan (6–1–1)	16.
17.	Baylor (4–0)	Cornell (3–1)	Michigan (4–1) т	Northwestern (4–1–1)	Michigan (5–1–1)	Texas Tech (9–0)	Alabama (7–1–1)	Northwestern (4–2–2)	17.
18.	Northwestern (2–0–1)	Alabama (4–1)	Iowa State (6–0)	Michigan (5–1) (1)	Fordham (4–1–2)	Fordham (5–1–2)	Tulane (7–2–1)	Villanova (8–0–1)	18.
19.	North Carolina (3–1)	USC (4–1)	Carnegie Tech (4–1) т	Villanova (5–0–1)	Texas Tech (8–0)	Santa Clara (6–1)	Northwestern (4–2–2)	Tulane (7–2–1)	19.
20.	Villanova (3–0)	Ohio State (2–1–1)	Texas A&M (3–2–1) т	Cornell (4–1)	Alabama (6–1–1)	Georgetown (8–0)	Dartmouth (7–2)	Dartmouth (7–2)	20.
	Week 1 Oct 17[10]	Week 2 Oct 24[11]	Week 3 Oct 31[12]	Week 4 Nov 7[13]	Week 5 Nov 14[14]	Week 6 Nov 21[15]	Week 7 (Scheduled final) Nov 28[16]	Week 8 (Extended final) Dec 6[2]
		Dropped: Baylor North Carolina Syracuse Vanderbilt	Dropped: Ohio State Villanova	Dropped: Iowa State Texas A&M	Dropped: Minnesota	Dropped: Alabama Wisconsin	Dropped: Georgetown Santa Clara	None

Houlgate System

	Week Final[17] December 6
1.	Tennessee (A 35)	1.
2.	Notre Dame (B 30)	2.
3.	Duke (A 27)	3.
4.	Oklahoma (A 25)	4.
5.	Texas Christian (A 24)	5.
6.	Southern California (C 23)	6.
7.	California (B 22)	7.
8.	Pittsburgh (C 22)	8.
9.	Holy Cross (B 21)	9.
10.	Alabama (C 20)	10.
	Week Final[17] December 6

Litkenhous Ratings

The top teams in the Litkenhous Ratings for 1938 were as follows:

1. Tennessee
2. TCU
3. USC
4. Notre Dame
5. Holy Cross
6. Pittsburgh
7. Cornell
8. Fordham
9. Minnesota
10. Michigan
11. Northwestern
12. California

^[18]

Boand/Azzi Ratem

1. Tennessee
2. Notre Dame
3. TCU
4. USC
5. California
6. Oklahoma
7. Duke
8. Pittsburgh
9. Holy Cross
10. Minnesota
11. Villanova
12. Michigan

^[18][19]

Poling

1. Tennessee
2. TCU
3. USC
4. Notre Dame
5. California
6. Oklahoma
7. Duke
8. Holy Cross
9. Pittsburgh
10. Minnesota
11. Alabama
12. Carnegie Tech

^[18]

Williamson

1-2. Tennessee
1-2. TCU
3. Notre Dame
4. Carnegie Tech
5. Holy Cross
6. Alabama
7. USC
8. Duke
9. Oklahoma
10. Pittsburgh
11. Minnesota
12. Villanova

^[18]

See also

• 1938 College Football All-America Team