The 1938 season

TCU finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–⁠0 under Dutch Meyer, after it beat Carnegie Mellon 15–⁠7 in the Sugar Bowl. Tennessee also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 3 Duke 7, No. 4 Pittsburgh 0 (Nov 26, 1938). 16 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents. Share

Heisman Trophy: Davey O’Brien, QB/DB, TCU, who also won the Maxwell.

The Heisman vote: Davey O’Brien 519 points, Marshall Goldberg 294

Player	Points		1st	2nd	3rd
Davey O’Brien QB, TCU	519
Marshall Goldberg RB, Pittsburgh	294
Sid Luckman QB, Columbia	154
Bob MacLeod RB, Dartmouth	78
Vic Bottari RB, California	67
Howard Weiss FB, Wisconsin	60
George Cafego RB, Tennessee	55
Ki Aldrich C, TCU	48
Whitey Beinor OL, Notre Dame	47
Dan Hill C, Duke	38

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 1938 Texas Tech teamPhoto: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The 1938 Texas Tech season →

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1	TCU	Southwest Conference
2	Tennessee	Southeastern Conference
3	Duke	Southern Conference
4	Oklahoma	Big Six
5	Notre Dame	Independent
6	Carnegie Mellon	Independent
7	USC	Pacific Coast Conference
8	Pittsburgh	Independent
9	Holy Cross	Independent
10	Minnesota	Western Conference
11	Texas Tech	Border Conference
12	Cornell	Independent
13	Alabama	Southeastern Conference
14	California	Pacific Coast Conference
15	Fordham	Independent
16	Michigan	Western Conference
17	Northwestern	Western Conference
18	Villanova	Independent
19	Tulane	Southeastern Conference
20	Dartmouth	Independent

Biggest upsets

Nov 5, 1938	Wisconsin 20, 7Northwestern 13
Nov 5, 1938	19Carnegie Mellon 20, 1Pittsburgh 10
Nov 12, 1938	Saint Mary’s (CA) 7, 8Santa Clara 0
Nov 12, 1938	Washington 7, 9USC 6
Oct 22, 1938	Michigan State 19, 10Syracuse 12
Nov 12, 1938	20Cornell 14, 5Dartmouth 7
Nov 19, 1938	Minnesota 21, 12Wisconsin 0
Nov 26, 1938	Stanford 23, 13Dartmouth 13
Jan 2, 1939	Saint Mary’s (CA) 20, 14Texas Tech 13
Oct 22, 1938	LSU 7, 16Vanderbilt 0
Oct 29, 1938	12Northwestern 6, 2Minnesota 3
Nov 5, 1938	13USC 13, 3California 7

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 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

USCunranked → No. 7
Holy Crossunranked → No. 9
Texas Techunranked → No. 11
Cornellunranked → No. 12
OklahomaNo. 14 → No. 4

Fell

Santa ClaraNo. 6 → unranked
DartmouthNo. 4 → No. 20
SyracuseNo. 10 → unranked
CaliforniaNo. 3 → No. 14
VanderbiltNo. 16 → unranked

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

National leaders

Passing yards	Davey O’Brien (TCU)	1,457 yds
Passing touchdowns	Davey O’Brien (TCU)	19 TD
Rushing yards	Len Eshmont (Fordham)	831 yds
Yards per carry	Parker Hall (Ole Miss)	6.5
Receptions	Sam Boyd (Baylor)	32 catches
Receiving yards	Sam Boyd (Baylor)	537 yds
Yards per catch	Elmer Tarbox (Texas Tech)	21.4
Points	Parker Hall (Ole Miss)	73 pts
Total offense	Davey O’Brien (TCU)	1,847 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: Oklahoma
Border Conference: New Mexico and New Mexico State (shared)
Missouri Valley Conference: Tulsa
Pacific Coast Conference: California and USC (shared)
Skyline Conference: Utah
Southeastern Conference: Tennessee
Southern Conference: Duke
Southwest Conference: TCU
Western Conference: Minnesota

Small college

Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference: Central Arkansas
Buckeye Conference: Ohio
Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: Northern Illinois
Lone Star Conference: East Texas A&M
North Central Conference: South Dakota
North State Conference: Elon
Rocky Mountain Conference: Montana State
Smoky Mountain Conference: East Tennessee State
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association: Memphis
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: Florida A&M
Southwestern Athletic Conference: Southern

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

13 playersAll 15 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1938 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1938 All-America teams page.

The 1938 awards

Every award

Player of the year

HeismanDavey O’Brien, QB/DB, TCU
MaxwellDavey O’Brien, QB, TCU

From the newspapers

The Evening star's story: Trojan Triumph Provides Most Bowl Thrills Final Football! Fling Marked by Violence, High Hysterio — The bowl8USC 7, 3Duke 31938 USC · 1938 DukeEvening star, January 3, 1939, page 13
Read the text
Trojan Triumph Provides Most Bowl Thrills Final Football! Fling Marked by Violence, High Hysterio Texas Christian and Tennessee got throwing holds on the national football championship and Dukes dreams Of football empire faded in the bleak atmosphere of the Arroyo Seco as the football season ended yesterday on note of violence and high hysteria. = Only boVl game to end all bowl games can settle the mythical title chase now. Texas Christian effectively drubbed Carnegie Tech, Is to 7, in the New Orleans Sugar Bowl yesterday, while Tennessee rolled steadily to a ITO win over Oklahoma, hitherto inviolate, in the Orange Bowl at Miami to preserve the seasons two most enviable records. But if the Horned Frogs and the Volunteers gained the greatest glory, twice-beaten Southern California provided the drama. With little over a minute to play and Duke protecting a 80 lead, Doyle Nave, fourth string quarterback, threw four complete passes to accomplish a 7–⁠3 triumph for the Trojans in the Rose Bowl as 1000, the days biggest crowd, looked on. This defeat ended season in which the Dukes from Durham, N. c., had marched through teir schedule undefeated, united and unscored upon, lone major aggregation to &C complish the feat Battling Keen in Texas. Elsewhere on the bowl horizon Utah slapped New Mexico, 26–⁠0, in the Sun Bowl game at Ell Paso with 1880 in. the stands and Texas Techs passes bounced back and bit the Red Raiders as ST. Marys won, 20-l3, in the Cotton Bowl at Dallas before 10000. In two intersectional all-star games the West drubbed the East by 14–⁠0 and the North punched out a hard-earned touchdown to whip the South, TO. Two of the Nations biggest foot ball regulations emerged unscathed in the bowl games. They belonged to Davy OBrien and Tennessee. OBrien completed II out of % passes, l for touchdown, and place. kicked field goal to lead the T. C. U. victory march. Trailing at the half for the first time this season, 7–⁠6, the Frogs scored on O’Brien’ S touchdown pass and Dayey’s field goal in the final periods to take a solid, willy Carnegie eleven. The Skibos also scored by air before $4,000, biggest gathering in Sugar Bowl history. Orange Bowl Fight Bitter. Tennessee and Oklahoma fought it out in a conflict that was just a shade behind the second battle of the Marine in bitterness. The fisticutting on both sides couldn’t OBJ scure the Vols all-around effective ness. however. They bottled up the Sooners’ aerial thrusts when the going got tough and broke George Cafego and Babe Wood, the run ming backs, loose at opportune moments as an overflow crowd of 32.l91 watched. Tennessee, like T. C. u, thus emerged from the season undefeated and united. These two have no more worlds to conquer. It was left to Southern Califor- MIA, whipped by Alabama and shaded by Washington, to burst the Duke bubble. The men of Troy had the better of it in the statistics all the way. But when Tony Ruffa, the stumpy Duke man of all work, place-kicked a field goal it seemed they were licked. Then Howard Jones lifted Grenville Lansdell and sent Nave in at quarter. He was the business. Nave drove pass to AL Kruger for IA yards and then aerialed to the same operative for 10. A short pass with two cooperating lost 2 yards. Then, with time running out, Nave threw one 18 yards and the Dukes were licked. = Texas Tech Starts Late. Utah’s triumph over New Mexico was high-l Lighted by steady ground gaining and first period in which the Utes got two touchdown jump on the Lobos. st. Mary’s worked in similar fashion against Texas Tech, holding a 300 lead at the start of the final period, the last touchdown coming as the result of Herbert Hoover Smiths return of an intercepted pass. The Red Raiders then started on their aerial game in dead earnest and scored two touchdowns, one on a screen pass which Elmer Tarbox carried 80 yards, the second on a 32-yard heave. Passing, which contributed might lily to the days events, was the dominant factor in the East-West
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 2, 1939	Saint Mary’s (CA) 20, 14Texas Tech 13Cotton Bowl
Jan 2, 1939	8USC 7, 3Duke 3Rose Bowl
Jan 2, 1939	4Tennessee 17, 5Oklahoma 0Orange Bowl
Jan 2, 1939	2TCU 15, 6Carnegie Mellon 7Sugar Bowl
Jan 2, 1939	Utah 26, New Mexico 0Sun Bowl