Various selection methods comprised 1939 college football rankings, including the AP Poll. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, did not itself bestow a national championship.
The AP Poll and most other rankings consider Texas A&M the season's champion. The Dickinson System considers USC the season's champion. Litkenhous Ratings and the Sagarin Ratings Predictor method consider Cornell to have been the season's chamnpion.
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 final AP Poll was released on December 11, at the end of the 1939 regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.
The Boand System rankings (also known as "Azzi Ratem") were the only ratings released after the bowl games. Released in early January 1940, Boand's final rankings were as follows:
1. Texas A&M<br> 2. Cornell<br> 3. USC<br> 4. Tulane<br> 5. Duke<br> 6. Tennessee<br> 7. Georgia Tech<br> 8. Clemson<br> 9. Notre Dame<br> 10. UCLA<br>
The Dickinson System rankings released in December 1939 were as follows:
1. USC (25.73)<br> 2. Texas A&M (25.43)<br> 3. Cornell (25.26)<br> 4. Tulane (23.61)<br> 5. Tennessee (22.61)<br> 6. Notre Dame (22.59)<br> 7. Michigan (22.50)<br> 8. Duke (22.34)<br> 9. Missouri (22.29)<br> 10. UCLA (21.91)<br> 11. Iowa (21.02)<br> . Duquesne<br> . Georgia Tech<br> . Ohio State<br> . Princeton<br> . Santa Clara<br>
The final Litkenhous Ratings released in December 1939 provided numerical rankings to more than 600 college football programs. The top 100 ranked teams were:
1. Cornell<br> 2. Tennessee<br> 3. Texas A&M<br> 4. Tulane<br> 5. Ohio State<br> 6.Duke<br> 7. North Carolina<br> 8. Oklahoma<br> 9. Minnesota<br> 10. USC<br> 11. Holy Cross<br> 12. SMU<br> 13. Fordham<br> 14. Georgia Tech<br> 15. Missouri<br> 16. Michigan<br> 17. Ole Miss<br> 18. Boston College<br> 19. Mississippi State<br> 20. Clemson<br> 21. Notre Dame<br> 22. Alabama<br> 23. Nebraska<br> 24. Princeton<br> 25. Santa Clara<br> 26. Iowa<br> 27. Kentucky<br> 28. Wake Forest<br> 29. Dartmouth<br> 30. Northwestern<br> 31. Duquesne<br> 32. Villanova<br> 33. Purdue<br> 34. UCLA<br> 35. Pittsburgh<br> 36. Baylor<br> 37. San Jose State<br> 38. LSU<br> 39. Auburn<br> 40. Utah<br> 41. Columbia<br> 42. Georgetown<br> 43. Texas<br> 44. Detroit<br> 45. <br> 46. Arkansas<br> 47. TCU<br> 48. Penn<br> 49. NYU<br> 50. Oregon<br> 51. Penn State<br> 52. North Texas<br> 53. Oregon State<br> 54. Catholic Univ.<br> 55. Carnegie Tech<br> 56. Navy<br> 57. Harvard<br> 58. Colgate<br> 59. Fresno State<br> 60. Butler<br> 61. Kansas State<br> 62. Brown<br> 63. Illinois<br> 64. Marshall<br> 65. Arizona State<br> 66. Marquette<br> 67. Saint Mary's (CA)<br> 68. VMI<br> 69. Georgia<br> 70. Rice<br> 71. Temple<br> 72. Scranton<br> 73. Yale<br> 74. Michigan State<br> 75. Syracuse<br> 76. Richmond<br> 77. Virginia<br> 78. Wisconsin<br> 79. George Washington<br> 80. Gonzaga<br> 81. Washington Univ.<br> 82. Washington<br> 83. Manhattan<br> 84. Vanderbilt<br> 85. HardinâÂÂSimmons<br> 86. Canisius<br> 87. La Salle<br> 88. Miami (FL)<br> 89. Furman<br> 90. Texas Tech<br> 91. Army<br> 92. San Francisco<br> 93. Colorado Mines<br> 94. Bucknell<br> 95. Florida<br> 96. San Diego Marines<br> 97. Lafayette<br> 98. Rollins<br> 99. Oklahoma A&M<br> 100. Tulsa
The Williamson System rankings released in December 1939 were as follows:
1. Texas A&M<br> 2. Tulane<br> 3. Cornell<br> 4. Tennessee<br> 5. USC<br> 6. Clemson<br> 7. Duke<br> 8. Missouri<br> 9. Nebraska<br> 10. Iowa<br> 11. Boston College<br> 12. Notre Dame<br> 13. Georgia Tech<br> 14. Princeton<br> 15. UCLA<br> 16. Oregon State<br> 17. Alabama<br> 18. Duquesne<br> 19. Fordham<br> 20. Penn<br> 21. Oklahoma<br> 22. SMU<br> 23. Ohio State<br> 24. Pittsburgh<br> 25. Santa Clara<br> 26. North Carolina<br> 27. Purdue<br> 28. Kentucky<br> 29. Northwestern<br> 30. Auburn<br> 31. Mississippi State<br> 32. Minnesota<br> 33. Baylor<br> 34. Villanova<br> 35. Ole Miss<br> 36. Michigan<br> 37. St. Anselm<br> 38. LSU<br> 39. Catholic Univ.<br> 40. Georgetown<br> 41. Detroit<br> 42. Holy Cross<br> 43. San Jose State<br> 44. Washington Univ.<br> 45. Manhattan<br> 46. Arkansas<br> 47. Wake Forest<br> 48. Texas<br> 49. Oregon<br> 50. Indiana