100 Day Bulldog Countdown: 41 Days – Remembering the historic 1941 season

Jeff Lebby’s era of Mississippi State football has arrived.

The Bulldogs are on their third coach in as many years as Mike Leach’s tragic passing opened the door for defensive coordinator Zach Arnett’s debut as head coach last year. That experiment failed before the year even ended for State and now it’s Lebby’s turn to take the wheel.

While there is always a risk in hiring first time head coaches, Lebby brings to Starkville an exciting offensive scheme that has been productive everywhere he’s been. The coach has also brought with him some swagger that has the fanbase ready to see what’s next.

Over the course of the next 100 days, we will take a look at Lebby’s roster and even some fun historical rewinds that will bring back memories for Dawg fans of all ages.

Today, we look back at arguably State’s greatest season ever.

100 Day Bulldog Countdown: 41 Days – Remembering the historic 1941 season

There have been a stories told of the 1940s football players, their incredible coach and his teams during this countdown, but we’ve yet to talk about this 1941 season which still stands as the only SEC title in school history.

Allyn McKeen set the standard from the moment he arrived at State College, and he didn’t always have the most talented team. What McKeen did as a head coach worked and it worked at a higher level than the school had ever seen and would see for another half decade.

The previous season should have been an even more rewarding year for McKeen and MSU as they went 10-0-1 and were 4-0-1 in the SEC. They tied with Auburn which would ultimately keep them from grabbing the SEC title, but they finished with the highest ranking ever in the Associated Press poll at No. 9 and beat Georgetown in the Orange Bowl.

That was the year that McKeen predicted an undefeated season and MSU produced two All-Americans in offensive guard Hunter Corhern and two-way star “Buddy” Elrod who would also take home SEC Most Valuable Player honors. It was the first time ever that an MSU player had been an All-American or MVP in the conference.

When the calendar turned to 1941, expectations grew for McKeen. He had taken a mediocre program and won eight and 10 games in his first two years and was 7-2-1 in SEC play. He was creating a bonafide title contender, but at the same time was replacing some major talent from the 1940 season.

A big reason for the Bulldogs’ success as a program, however, were the assistant coaches. Namely, McKeen had brought some coaches from Tennessee like Bowden Wyatt and Murray Warmath that were helping MSU become a stout defensive squad as they gave up just 44 points in 11 games in ’40 and that was going to carry over to ’41.

It helped the program get over the fact that they had just four starters coming back on both sides of the line. MSU shutout its first three opponents with the LSU game ending in a 0-0 tie. They lost just one game that year with a 16-0 defeat to No. 13 Duquesne, but for the second-straight year no SEC team was able to hand them a loss.

State won on its defense as they shut out four oppoents and allowed double figures just twice in 11 games on the way to an 8-1-1 record and a 4-0-1 SEC mark. Their thrilling win in Oxford over rival Ole Miss was the cherry on top of the first SEC championship. Running back Jennings Moates would rumble 38 yards for the only touchdown in the game to take a 6-0 victory.

But the thrill of victories that season were quelled by the reality of the home front. There was a war raging just as MSU closed the season with a 26-13 win at San Francisco. As they were returning back to Starkville from that trip, Pearl Harbor was bombed and the Japanese told the USA that it was officially game on. Some MSU players would go to war soon thereafter and in 1943, the entire season was called off at MSU due to the numbers that went overseas to fight.

Though that ’41 season didn’t end in a bowl game, it’s registered as quite possibly the best in school history because it ended with MSU being the best in the conference. No other team has been able to call itself SEC champs. Many on that squad and McKeen himself would probably not say it was the most talented, but it was certainly the most successful in the end.

After that year, McKeen put together two more seasons of eight wins. He had a career record of 65-19-3 in nine seasons and only one of those was .500. McKeen never had a losing season in nine years and would have long been MSU’s leader in coaching wins had politics not come into play ultimately leading to his dismissal after his long 4-4 season.

In 1991, McKeen was appreciated for his work at MSU by being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame posthumously. He left MSU and the Bulldogs fell below even mediocrity. After he won 29 games in SEC play over the course of nine years, MSU would not reach that mark for 15 years.

McKeen was done with coaching after leaving Starkville, but he left his mark. He will forever be remembered as the most consistently successful coach in Bulldog history.