The 1937 season
Pittsburgh finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 9–0–1 under Jock Sutherland. California also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 2 California 13, No. 4 Alabama 0 (Jan 1, 1938). 20 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents. Share
Heisman Trophy: Clint Frank, RB, Yale, who also won the Maxwell.
The Heisman vote: Clint Frank 524 points, Byron White 264
| Player | Points | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clint Frank RB/QB, Yale | 524 | ||||
| Byron White RB, Colorado | 264 | ||||
| Marshall Goldberg RB, Pittsburgh | 211 | ||||
| Alex Wojciechowicz C, Fordham | 85 |
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.
Scoreboards
Final AP poll
| 1 | Pittsburgh | Independent |
| 2 | California | Pacific Coast Conference |
| 3 | Fordham | Independent |
| 4 | Alabama | Southeastern Conference |
| 5 | Minnesota | Western Conference |
| 6 | Villanova | Independent |
| 7 | Dartmouth | Independent |
| 8 | LSU | Southeastern Conference |
| 9 | Notre Dame | Independent |
| 9 | Santa Clara | Independent |
| 11 | Nebraska | Big Six |
| 12 | Yale | Independent |
| 13 | Ohio State | Western Conference |
| 14 | Arkansas | Southwest Conference |
| 14 | Holy Cross | Independent |
| 16 | TCU | Southwest Conference |
| 17 | Colorado | Rocky Mountain Conference |
| 18 | Rice | Southwest Conference |
| 19 | North Carolina | Southern Conference |
| 20 | Duke | Southern Conference |
Biggest upsets
| Oct 30, 1937 | Notre Dame 7, 4Minnesota 6 |
| Nov 6, 1937 | Texas 9, 4Baylor 6 |
| Nov 20, 1937 | Harvard 13, 5Yale 6 |
| Oct 30, 1937 | Georgia Tech 14, 7Vanderbilt 0 |
| Nov 6, 1937 | Indiana 10, 8Ohio State 0 |
| Nov 13, 1937 | North Carolina 14, 8Duke 6 |
| Oct 23, 1937 | 20Vanderbilt 7, 6LSU 6 |
| Oct 30, 1937 | Rice 13, 12Auburn 7 |
| Nov 13, 1937 | SMU 13, 13Baylor 7 |
| Nov 6, 1937 | Auburn 20, 15Tennessee 7 |
| Nov 20, 1937 | TCU 7, 15Rice 2 |
| Nov 6, 1937 | Carnegie Mellon 6, 16Duquesne 0 |
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
Climbed
- Villanovaunranked → No. 6
- Notre Dameunranked → No. 9
- Arkansasunranked → No. 14
- DartmouthNo. 18 → No. 7
- TCUunranked → No. 16
Fell
- NorthwesternNo. 7 → unranked
- USCNo. 11 → unranked
- Texas A&MNo. 13 → unranked
- BaylorNo. 15 → unranked
- DukeNo. 10 → No. 20
From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.
National leaders
| Passing yards | Billy Patterson (Baylor) | 1,109 yds |
|---|---|---|
| Rushing yards | Byron White (Colorado) | 1,121 yds |
| Yards per carry | Dick Cassiano (Pittsburgh) | 9.0 |
| Receptions | Jim Benton (Arkansas) | 48 catches |
| Receiving yards | Jim Benton (Arkansas) | 814 yds |
| Yards per catch | Walter Nelson (Michigan State) | 21.6 |
| Points | Byron White (Colorado) | 122 pts |
| Points per game | Byron White (Colorado) | 15.25 |
| Total offense | Byron White (Colorado) | 1,596 yds |
The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.
Conference champions
Major college
- Big Six
- Nebraska
- Border Conference
- Texas Tech
- Missouri Valley Conference
- Tulsa
- Pacific Coast Conference
- California
- Rocky Mountain Conference
- Colorado
- Southeastern Conference
- Alabama
- Southern Conference
- Maryland
- Southwest Conference
- Rice
- Western Conference
- Minnesota
Small college
- Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference
- Central Arkansas
- Buckeye Conference
- Marshall
- Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
- Morgan State
- Far Western Conference
- Fresno State
- Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
- Illinois State
- Lone Star Conference
- East Texas A&M
- Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
- Southeast Missouri State
- Mississippi Valley Conference
- UT Martin
- New England Conference
- UConn
- North Central Conference
- North Dakota
- North State Conference
- App State
- Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
- Florida A&M
- 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
- EChuck Sweeney, Notre Dame
- EAndy Bershak, North Carolina
- OTEd Franco, Fordham
- OTTony Matisi, Pittsburgh
- OGJoe Routt, Texas A&M
- OGLeroy Monsky, Alabama
- CAlex Wojciechowicz, Fordham
- RBClint Frank, Yale
- FBMarshall Goldberg, Pittsburgh
- RBByron White, Colorado
- RBSam Chapman, California
Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1937 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1937 All-America teams page.
The 1937 awards
Every awardFrom the newspapers
Read the text
~ ASADENA, Calf, Jan. 3.-The – football team without a star won Rose Bowl game without developing a hero when the University of California overpowered the University of Alabama New Year Day, 13 to 0. All season California’s Bears have given a fine demonstration Of how to win without one player standing out over his fellows and the classic windup was no exception. Vic Bottari took his place among the comparatively few stalwarts who have scored two touchdowns in a Rose Bowl game. but Dave Anderson. John Meek and Sam Chapman uncovered some Of the most sensational blocking seen in a Rose Bowl game to get the powerful Bottari past the defenders.
Bowls and playoff
Scoreboard| Jan 1, 1938 | Auburn 6, Michigan State 0Orange Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1938 | 2California 13, 4Alabama 0Rose Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1938 | Rice 28, 16Colorado 14Cotton Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1938 | 8Santa Clara 6, 10LSU 0Sugar Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1938 | West Virginia 7, Texas Tech 6Sun Bowl |