1941 Purdue Boilermakers football team

The 1941 Purdue Boilermakers football team was an American football team that represented Purdue University during the 1941 Big Ten Conference football season. In their fifth season under head coach Mal Elward, the Boilermakers compiled a 2–5–1 record, finished in a tie for seventh place in the Big Ten Conference with a 1–3 record against conference opponents, and were outscored by their opponents by a total of 62 to 27.^[1]

1941 Purdue Boilermakers football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	2–5–1 (1–3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Mal Elward (5th season)
MVP	Bill Combs
Captains	Tom Melton Jim Miller
Home stadium	Ross–Ade Stadium
Seasons ← 1940 1942 →

1941 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 1 Minnesota $	5	–	0	–	0			8	–	0	–	0
No. 5 Michigan	3	–	1	–	1			6	–	1	–	1
No. 13 Ohio State	3	–	1	–	1			6	–	1	–	1
No. 11 Northwestern	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	3	–	0
Wisconsin	3	–	3	–	0			3	–	5	–	0
Iowa	2	–	4	–	0			3	–	5	–	0
Purdue	1	–	3	–	0			2	–	5	–	1
Indiana	1	–	3	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
Illinois	0	–	5	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Purdue was ranked at No. 50 (out of 681 teams) in the final rankings under the Litkenhous Difference by Score System for 1941.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 27	Vanderbilt*	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	L 0–3	17,000	[3]
October 4	at Pittsburgh*	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA	W 6–0	24,000	[4]
October 18	at No. 10 Ohio State	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	L 14–16	66,074	[5]
October 25	Iowa	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	W 7–6	22,000	[6]
November 1	at No. 3 Fordham*	Polo Grounds New York, NY	L 0–17	20,500	[7]
November 8	Michigan State*	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	T 0–0	17,000	[8]
November 15	at Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	L 0–13	25,000	[9]
November 22	at Indiana	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN (Old Oaken Bucket)	L 0–7	23,000	[10]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[11]

Roster

• John Andretich, HB
• Joe Benna, B
• Anthony Berto, HB
• Paul Bohm, G
• Jack Brown, HB
• Marion Carter, HB
• Bob Chester, HB
• Bill Combs, E
• Walter Cook, HB
• Charles Ehrlich, G
• Barry French, T
• John Galvin, HB
• Bob Hajzy, QB
• Bob Johnson, C
• Bob Kersey, QB-E
• LaVern King, E
• Francis Meakim, HB
• Tom Melton, G
• Jim Miller, G
• Ewell O'Bryan, T
• John Petty, FB
• William Powers, G
• Italo Rossi, T
• Jim Rush, E
• Bill Shimer, E
• Fred Smerke, QB-E
• Kenneth Smock, HB
• V. A. Snyder, FB
• Forrest Sprowl
• Wes Stevens, E-G
• Herman Timperman, T
• John Vecs, G
• Bruce Warren, T

^[12]