1942 Missouri Tigers football team

{{short description|American college football season}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox college sports team season

| year = 1942

| team = Missouri Tigers

| sport = football

| image =

| image_size =

| conference = Big Six Conference

| short_conf = Big 6

| record = 8–3–1

| conf_record = 4–0–1

| head_coach = Don Faurot

| hc_year = 8th

| captain =

| stadium = Memorial Stadium

| champion = Big 6 champion

}}

{{1942 Big Six Conference football standings}}

The 1942 Missouri Tigers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Missouri in the Big Six Conference (Big 6) during the 1942 college football season. The team compiled an 8–3–1 record (4–0–1 against Big 6 opponents), won the Big 6 championship, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 288 to 107.{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/missouri/1942-schedule.html|title=1942 Missouri Tigers Schedule and Results|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=SR/College Football|access-date=November 10, 2016}}{{cite web|title=2014 Mizzou Football Records Book|publisher=University of Missouri|page=40|access-date=March 23, 2019|url=http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/miss/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2014-15/misc_non_event/14-records-book.pdf|archive-date=September 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928041623/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/miss/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2014-15/misc_non_event/14-records-book.pdf|url-status=dead}} The team played its home games at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri.

The team's leading scorer was Bob Steuber with 121 points, a scoring title that remained a Missouri record for 65 years until Jeff Wolfert scored 130 points in 2007.2014 Mizzou Football Records Book, p. 26.

Missouri was ranked at No. 29 (out of 590 college and military teams) in the final rankings under the Litkenhous Difference by Score System for 1942.{{cite news|title=Litkenhous Rates Georgia No. 1, Ohio State No. 2|newspaper=Twin City Sentinel|author=Dr. E. E. Litkenhous|date=December 16, 1942|page=10|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123106326/litkenhous-rates-georgia-no-1-ohio/|via=Newspapers.com}}

During the 1942 season, Don Faurot was the head coach for the eighth of 19 seasons. In June 1943, after a younger brother was reported missing in action in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, the 41-year-old Faurot joined the United States Navy where he was commissioned as a lieutenant. A total of four Faurot brothers served in the military during World War II.{{cite news|title=Faurot Becomes Navy Lieutenant|newspaper=Monitor-Index and Democrat|location=Moberly, Missouri|date=June 18, 1943|page=6|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7399024/faurot_becomes_navy_lieutenant/}} Chauncey Simpson, who had been the school's head track coach and a backfield coach for the football team, was appointed to serve as "acting football coach" during Faurot's military service.{{cite news|title=Chauncey Simpson Appointed New Missouri U. Football Coach|newspaper=St. Louis Star-Times|date=July 19, 1943|page=16|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7399073/chauncey_simpson_appointed_new_missouri/}}