| Year: | 1943 |
| Team: | DePauw Tigers |
| Sport: | football |
| Conference: | Independent |
| Record: | 5–0–1 |
| Head Coach: | Ray Neal |
| Hc Year: | 14th |
| Stadium: | Ira B. Blackstock Memorial Stadium |
The 1943 DePauw Tigers football team was an American football team that represented DePauw University as an independent during the 1943 college football season. In their 14th season under head coach Ray Neal, the Tigers compiled a 5–0–1 record, shut out five of six opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 206 to 6. They were ranked at No. 51 among the nation's college and military service football teams in the final 1943 Litkenhous Ratings.[1]
The team played its home games at Ira B. Blackstock Memorial Stadium in Greencastle, Indiana.
DePauw became a Navy training center during World War II, and its football program in 1943 benefited from incoming transfers as part of the V-5 and V-12 Navy College Training Programs. Harold Harrison of the Associated Press wrote that "the Navy started dropping football players on the DePauw campus", and DePauw became "the little Indiana college that has suddenly found itself with a major league football team and a minor league schedule."[3]
The most important Navy trainee to join the DePauw football team in 1943 was halfback Bob Steuber who in 1942 had played for Missouri, received All-America honors, and was the nation's second-leading rusher with 1,098 yards.[3]
Steuber did not play in DePauw's opening game tie with Oberlin. He was the star in the five remaining games, scoring 129 points. He reportedly scored 100 points in his first 135 minutes of playing time at DePauw.[3]
Steuber's individual game performances at DePauw included:
Other significant Navy transfers in 1943 were ends Kenneth Maikkula (from Connecticut) and Ralph Weiger (from Wisconsin), tackle Ralph Zilly (from Northwestern), center Bob Johnson (from the Green Bay Packers), quarterback Robert "Red" Johnson (from Carthage), fullback Bill Biddle (from William and Mary), halfback Vic Schwall (from Northwestern, later of the Chicago Cardinals), and guard George Petty.[3]