1943 NCAA football rankings

One human poll comprised the 1943 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship, instead that title is bestowed by one or more different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll. The Coaches' Poll began operation in 1950; in addition, the AP Poll did not begin conducting preseason polls until that same year.

AP Poll
The final AP Poll was released on November 29, at the end of the 1943 regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.

Litkenhous Ratings
The final Litkenhous Ratings released in December 1943 provided numerical rankings for 253 college and military service football programs. The top 100 ranked teams were:

1. Notre Dame (131.9) 2. Michigan (127.6) 3. Northwestern (120.9) 4. Duke (118.3) 5. Iowa Pre-Flight (113.5) 6. Navy (112.8) 7. Great Lakes Navy (112.3) 8. Purdue (112.1) 9. Georgia Tech (108.8) 10. Memphis NATTC (108.3) 11. Army (104.9) 12. SW Louisiana (104.3) 13. Texas (103.9) 14. 176th Infantry (103.6) 15. Fort Riley (100.7) 16. Indiana (100.7) 17. Ohio State (99.3) 18. North Carolina (97.0) 19. Penn (97.0) 20. Del Monte Pre-Flight (96.8) 21. Minnesota (96.4) 22. Camp Grant (95.6) 23. Marquette (94.9) 24. Bainbridge NTS (94.7) 25. March Field (94.6) 26. Arkansas A&M (93.6) 27. Dartmouth (92.9) 28. Southwestern (TX) (92.0) 29. Tulsa (91.7) 30. 300th Infantry (91.6) 31. Pacific (91.6) 32. Saint Mary's Pre-Flight (90.5) 33. Colorado College (90.2) 34. Iowa (90.2) 35. Illinois (89.6) 36. Texas A&M (88.6) 37. Tulane 38. Camp Lejeune 39. Oberlin 40. Georgia Pre-Flight 41. Oklahoma 42. Washington 43. Holy Cross 44. Emory and Henry 45. USC 46. Wisconsin 47. Fourth Air Force 48. Randolph Field 49. Bunker Hill NAS 50. Miami (OH) 51. DePauw 52. Jacksonville NATTC 53. San Diego NTS 54. LSU 55. Alameda Coast Guard 56. Missouri 57. Cornell 58. Penn State 59. Western Michigan 60. Colgate 61. Kessler Field 62. Colorado 63. Camp Davis 64. Miami (FL) 65. Pittsburgh 66. South Carolina 67. LSU ASTU 68. Fort Warren 69. North Texas 70. Iowa State 71. SMU 72. Georgia 73. Pittsburg State 74. Ottumwa NAS 75. Rochester 76. California 77. Richmond 78. Villanova 79. North Carolina Pre-Flight 80. Wake Forest 81. 124th Infantry 82. New Mexico 83. Franklin & Marshall 84. Sampson NTS 85. Norman NAS 86. Yale 87. Kenyon 88. Lowry Field 89. Bucknell 90. Rice 91. Arkansas 92. UCLA 93. TCU 94. Texas Tech 95. Swarthmore 96. Brown 97. Saint Mary's 98. Lubbock AAF 99. Kirtland Field 100. St. Joseph ATC