Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2008
One of Coach Don Faurot’s strongest teams and perhaps the most dominant team ever at Mizzou, the 1941 Tigers rolled up an 8-2 record, a Missouri Valley Conference championship and a #7 ranking in the national polls. The team, led by all-Americans Bob Steuber and Darold Jenkins, outscored its opponents 226-to-39 and posted five shutouts, four of those in a row. The only regular-season setback came 12-7 at powerful Ohio State, and had they been able to win that game, the Tigers would likely have won at least a share of the mythical national championship, since the title then was awarded at the conclusion of the regular season. Perhaps most importantly, this was the team that debuted Faurot’s Split-T offense that revolutionized the game of football. Because of its innovations and exciting new play, the team was so highly coveted that it was invited to both the Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl, choosing the former, where it lost a heartbreaking 2-0 game to 6th-ranked Fordham in the rain and on a muddy field when a field goal attempt at the end of the game fell just short. The Tigers led the nation in rushing in 1941, averaging 309 yards per game. Faurot, Steuber and Jenkins were all later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
