The teams ranked highest in the final Associated Press poll in December 1941 were: Minnesota halfback Bruce Smith won the 1941 Heisman Trophy, and Virginia halfback Bill Dudley won the 1941 Maxwell Award.

The season's statistical leaders included Frank Sinkwich of Georgia with 1,103 rushing yards, Bud Schwenk of Washington University in St. Louis with 1,457 passing yards, Hank Stanton of Arizona with 820 receiving yards, and Bill Dudley with 134 points scored.

2 Duke lost to PCC champion Oregon State in the Rose Bowl, No.

14 Georgia defeated unranked TCU in the Orange Bowl, and No.

The Rose Bowl was moved from Pasadena, California, to Durham, North Carolina, due to security concerns on the West Coast following the December 7 attack on Pearl Harbor.

September 27 In Seattle, defending champion Minnesota beat Washington 14–6, while in New Orleans, Boston College fell to Tulane, 21–7.

In New York, Fordham beat SMU 16–10.

Elsewhere, it was Stanford over UCLA 33–0, Michigan over Iowa 6–0, Northwestern beating Kansas State 51–3 and Texas defeating LSU 34–0.

On October 16, the penalty flag was used for the first time in the 1941 Oklahoma City vs. Youngstown football game in Youngstown, Ohio.

October 25 The biggest game of the year[according to whom?]

took place in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as No.

5 Navy and Harvard played to a 0–0 tie.

Fordham, Duke, and Texas A&M rounded out the top five.

3 Fordham defeated Purdue 17–0, and in Atlanta, No.

1 the following week, followed by Minnesota, Fordham, Duke and Texas A&M, all unbeaten and untied.

3 Duke beat North Carolina 20–0.

5 behind Minnesota, Texas A&M, Duke, and Notre Dame.

1 Minnesota closed its season with a 41–6 win over Wisconsin in Minneapolis.

2 Texas A&M was idle as it prepared for its Thanksgiving game.

3 Duke won its season closer at N.C. State 55–6 to get a bid to Pasadena’s Rose Bowl.

5 Michigan closed its season with a 20–20 tie against No.

6 Duquesne (which had finished its season at 8–0–0) replaced Michigan at No.

December 2 the Houlgate System published its "final selections" ranking Minnesota first, Navy second, and Alabama No.

[3] The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7 called into question whether Southern California would be safe from a Japanese attack on New Year's Day.

On December 15, bowl officials and U.S. Army officers met in San Francisco and decided to hold the game at Duke's stadium in Durham, North Carolina.

[4] The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player [5] [5] [6] [6] [7] [8] [9] [9] [9] [10] The following were the scoring leaders for 1941.