One human poll and several ranking methods determined the 1938 college football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, did not itself bestow a national championship.
The AP Poll and three other major rankings consider TCU as the season's champion. Eight major rankings consider Tennessee the season's champion. The Dickinson System considers Notre Dame the season's champion:
Note: AP poll, Boand System, Dickinson System, Dunkel System, Houlgate System, Litkenhous Ratings, Poling System, and Williamson System were given contemporarily. All other methods were given retroactively.
The scheduled final AP Poll was released on November 29, with Notre Dame No. 1, prior to their season-end game against Southern California.
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".
The revised final AP Poll was released on December 6, 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.
The top teams in the Litkenhous Ratings for 1938 were as follows:
1. Tennessee<br> 2. TCU<br> 3. USC<br> 4. Notre Dame<br> 5. Holy Cross<br> 6. Pittsburgh<br> 7. Cornell<br> 8. Fordham<br> 9. Minnesota<br> 10. Michigan<br> 11. Northwestern<br> 12. California<br>
1. Tennessee<br> 2. Notre Dame<br> 3. TCU<br> 4. USC<br> 5. California<br> 6. Oklahoma<br> 7. Duke<br> 8. Pittsburgh<br> 9. Holy Cross<br> 10. Minnesota<br> 11. Villanova<br> 12. Michigan<br>
1. Tennessee<br> 2. TCU<br> 3. USC<br> 4. Notre Dame<br> 5. California<br> 6. Oklahoma<br> 7. Duke<br> 8. Holy Cross<br> 9. Pittsburgh<br> 10. Minnesota<br> 11. Alabama<br> 12. Carnegie Tech<br>
1-2. Tennessee<br> 1-2. TCU<br> 3. Notre Dame<br> 4. Carnegie Tech<br> 5. Holy Cross<br> 6. Alabama<br> 7. USC<br> 8. Duke<br> 9. Oklahoma<br> 10. Pittsburgh<br> 11. Minnesota<br> 12. Villanova<br>