The 1940 Army Cadets football team represented the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

in the

1940 college football season The 1940 college football season was the 72nd season of college football, intercollegiate football in the United States. Competition included schools from the 1940 Big Ten Conference football season, Big Ten Conference, the Pacific Coast Conferen ...

. In their third and final year under head coach

William H. Wood William H. Wood may refer to: * William H. Wood, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, 1889–90 * William H. Wood (American football) (1900–1988), American athlete, and football coach at the United States Military Academy * ...

, the Cadets compiled a 1–7–1 record and were outscored their opponents by a combined total of 197 to 54. The season was the first since 1899 in which the Army football team was outscored by its opponents. In the annual

Army–Navy Game The Army–Navy Game is an American college football rivalry game between the Army Black Knights of the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, and the Navy Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy (USNA) at Annapo ...

, the Cadets lost to the

Midshipmen A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

by a 14 to 0 score. The Cadets also suffered blowout defeats to Cornell (45-0) and Penn (48-0). No Army players were honored on the

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

team. Three weeks after the end of the 1940 season, the War Department ordered coach Wood back to active troop duty and named

Earl Blaik Earl Henry "Red" Blaik (February 15, 1897 – May 6, 1989) was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and United States Army officer. He served as the head football coach at Dartmouth College from 1934 to 1940 and at ...

as head coach for the 1941 season. Army was ranked at No. 119 (out of 697 college football teams) in the final rankings under the Litkenhous Difference by Score system for 1940.

Schedule

References

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Army Black Knights football seasons

Army Cadets football The Army Black Knights football team, previously known as the Army Cadets, represents the United States Military Academy in college football. Army is a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) member of the NCAA. The Black Knights play home ga ...

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