[4][5] Ohio State, a team that Wisconsin defeated, was selected as national champion in the AP Poll.
[9] [2][3] End Dave Schreiner received the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the Big Ten's most valuable player.
[14] Schreiner and tackle Bob Baumann joined the United States Marine Corps and were killed in action during the Battle of Okinawa in June 1945.
[15] Journalist and author Terry Frei, the son of Wisconsin guard and decorated P-38 pilot Jerry Frei, wrote a critically acclaimed 2007 book, Third Down and a War to Go, about the '42 Badgers and the team's virtually universal heroism in World War II in both theaters.
In addition to Schreiner, other Wisconsin players receiving All-America or All-Big Ten honors in 1942 were: Three players from the 1942 Wisconsin team have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: Dave Schreiner in 1955;[19] Elroy Hirsch in 1974;[20] and Pat Harder in 1993.