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The 1936 season

Minnesota finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 7–⁠1 under Bernie Bierman. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 3 Northwestern 6, No. 1 Minnesota 0 (Oct 31, 1936). 22 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Larry Kelley, E, Yale.

The Heisman vote: Larry Kelley 213 points, Sam Francis 47
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Larry Kelley E, Yale213
Sam Francis RB, Nebraska47
Ray Buivid RB, Marquette46
Sammy Baugh QB, TCU40
Clint Frank RB/QB, Yale33
Ace Parker RB, Duke28
Ed Widseth OT, Minnesota25

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published. Two finishers show identical ballots in the source, which is likely a copying error there.

The 1936 Pittsburgh team
The 1936 Pittsburgh teamPhoto: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The 1936 Pittsburgh season →

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1MinnesotaWestern Conference
2LSUSoutheastern Conference
3PittsburghIndependent
4AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
5WashingtonPacific Coast Conference
6Santa ClaraIndependent
7NorthwesternWestern Conference
8Notre DameIndependent
9NebraskaBig Six
10PennsylvaniaIndependent
11DukeSouthern Conference
12YaleIndependent
13DartmouthIndependent
14DuquesneIndependent
15FordhamIndependent
16TCUSouthwest Conference
17TennesseeSoutheastern Conference
18ArkansasSouthwest Conference
18NavyIndependent
20MarquetteIndependent

Biggest upsets

Oct 24, 1936Tennessee 15, 2Duke 13
Oct 31, 1936Colgate 14, 6Army 7
Nov 26, 1936New York University 7, 8Fordham 6
Oct 23, 1936West Virginia Wesleyan 2, 11Duquesne 0
Nov 7, 1936California 13, 11USC 7
Oct 31, 1936Dartmouth 11, 12Yale 7
Nov 7, 1936Texas A&M 22, 12SMU 6
Oct 31, 1936Temple 3, 13Holy Cross 0
Nov 7, 1936Navy 3, 13Notre Dame 0
Nov 21, 193620Duquesne 13, 7Marquette 0
Nov 21, 1936Centenary (LA) 3, 14Texas A&M 0
Nov 21, 193611Notre Dame 26, 1Northwestern 6

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 1936, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6FinalPennsylvania: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 20, Wk 3 No. 15, Wk 4 No. 11, Wk 5 No. 10, Wk 6 No. 13, Final No. 1010 PennsylvaniaNebraska: Wk 1 No. 15, Wk 2 No. 11, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 13, Wk 6 No. 10, Final No. 99 NebraskaNotre Dame: Wk 1 No. 7, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 13, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 9, Final No. 88 Notre DameNorthwestern: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 7, Final No. 77 NorthwesternSanta Clara: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 19, Wk 3 No. 9, Wk 4 No. 9, Wk 5 No. 9, Wk 6 No. 5, Final No. 66 Santa ClaraWashington: Wk 1 No. 8, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 10, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 6, Final No. 55 WashingtonAlabama: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 14, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 8, Wk 6 No. 3, Final No. 44 AlabamaPittsburgh: Wk 1 No. 9, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 4, Final No. 33 PittsburghLSU: Wk 1 No. 13, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 No. 7, Wk 4 No. 7, Wk 5 No. 5, Wk 6 No. 2, Final No. 22 LSUMinnesota: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 1, Final No. 11 Minnesota
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. Alabamaunranked → No. 4
  2. Santa Claraunranked → No. 6
  3. Pennsylvaniaunranked → No. 10
  4. Dartmouthunranked → No. 13
  5. LSUNo. 13 → No. 2

Fell

  1. ArmyNo. 3 → unranked
  2. PurdueNo. 5 → unranked
  3. USCNo. 6 → unranked
  4. Saint Mary’s (CA)No. 12 → unranked
  5. Texas A&MNo. 14 → unranked

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

Conference champions

Major college

Big Six
Nebraska
Border Conference
Arizona
Missouri Valley Conference
Tulsa
Pacific Coast Conference
Washington
Rocky Mountain Conference
Utah State
Southeastern Conference
LSU
Southern Conference
Duke
Southwest Conference
Arkansas
Western Conference
Northwestern

Small college

Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference
Central Arkansas
Buckeye Conference
Miami (OH) and Ohio (shared)
Dixie Conference
Samford
Lone Star Conference
North Texas
Mississippi Valley Conference
UT Martin
New England Conference
UConn
North Central Conference
North Dakota
North State Conference
Elon
Tri-Normal Conference
Eastern Washington

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

12 playersAll 11 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1936 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1936 All-America teams page.

The 1936 awards

Every award

Player of the year

From the newspapers

The Evening star's story of the game
The bowl4Pittsburgh 21, 6Washington 01936 Pittsburgh · 1936 WashingtonEvening star, January 2, 1937, page 28
Read the text

- There no longer is any blot left on Pittsbursh’S Rose Bowl es- cutcheon. Here was Panther who belonged to the jungle and not to The soo-a fast, hard driving slashine panther who put both fang and claw to work in beating Washington’s Huskies, 21 to 0. before $1,000 chilly witnesses. 1t was Panther power that wrote this story along the grounds fast charging line that worked in front or fast, pile-driving backs that ripped the big Huskie forward wall wide open as Patrick, Larue, Goldberg, Stebbins and others ripped their way up and down the field with the finest blocking I’ve seen all year. Washington had no defense strong enough to stop this con- ? tinued headlong assault that marched 81 yards for the FIRST touchdown In the first quarter and then stepped IS yards In the third period with .another ANC sAAat AO0uo OHS EI8uA Patrick the damaging spearhead. On these two power attacks. Pitts burgh located an open boulevard through the center Of Washington’s waiting, drifting line and the Panthers used this boulevard as . speedway planted with the no-stop sign. . On the second drive, after Larue’s 43-yard sprint deep into Huskie terri tory, Patrick bludgeoned his way for 81 yards in three line plays that carried the ball S yards behind the Huskie goal line. In the wake of these two devastating ground attacks Bill Daddio, Pitts crack end, grabbed a backward lateral from Byron Haines and. after q flying start. ran 10 yards In the fourth period for the Panthers’ final count. To show Pittsburgh’s complete superiority. the Panthers were set on Washington’s 5-yard line when the final whistle sounded Jock Sutherland’s Panthers came into this game deter mined to wipe out their last two Rose. Bowl showings and, At the same time, silence all the squawks about taking L. S. us place in Pasadena’s big show.

Public domain, from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through American Stories (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Jan 1, 193712Duquesne 13, Mississippi State 12Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 19374Pittsburgh 21, 6Washington 0Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 19375Santa Clara 21, 2LSU 14Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 193718TCU 16, 15Marquette 6Cotton Bowl