1937 college football season

Template:Short description Template:Force cite load The 1937 college football season ended with the Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh being named the nation's No. 1 team (and "mythical national champion") by 30 of the 33 voters in the Associated Press writers' poll. The AP poll was in its second year, and seven votes were taken during the final weeks of the 1937 season, starting with October 18. Each writer listed his choice for the top ten teams, and points were tallied based on 10 for first place, 9 for second, etc., and the AP then ranked the twenty teams with the highest number of points. With 33 writers polled, Pitt received 30 first place votes and 3 second-place, for a total of 327 points.

The NCAA began keeping official game statistics in 1937.

Conference and program changes

School	1936 Conference	1937 Conference
Akron Zippers	Ohio Athletic	Independent
Saint Louis Billikens	Independent	Missouri Valley

September

September 25 The defending champion Minnesota Gophers opened their season with a 69–7 win over visiting North Dakota State. LSU beat Florida, 19–0. Alabama beat Samford 41–0. California won 30–7 over St. Mary's. In Seattle, Washington beat Iowa, 14–0. The day before, Pittsburgh had opened with a 59–0 win over Ohio Wesleyan.

October

October 2 Minnesota lost at Nebraska, 14–9. LSU defeated Texas 9–0. Pittsburgh won at West Virginia, 20–0. In Birmingham, Alabama beat Sewanee, 65–0. In Los Angeles, Washington defeated USC, 7–0. California beat Oregon State, 24–6. Yale beat Maine, 26–0.

October 9 In Houston, LSU defeated Rice, 13–0. Pittsburgh beat its cross-town rival, Duquesne, 6–0. Alabama beat South Carolina, 20–0. All three teams had held their opposition scoreless. California defeated Washington State 27–0. Washington lost to Oregon State, 6–3. Yale beat Penn, 27–7. Minnesota recovered from its Nebraska loss to beat Indiana 6–0.

October 16 LSU registered its fourth shutout in four starts, a 13–0 win over Ole Miss. Pittsburgh and Fordham played to a 0–0 tie in New York. Alabama yielded its first points, but won at Tennessee, 14–7. California beat the California Aggies (later UC-Davis) 14–0 and Pacific, 20–0, in a doubleheader. Yale defeated Army, 15–7. Minnesota won at Michigan, 39–6. In the first poll taken, California was No. 1, followed by Alabama, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and Yale. LSU, despite a 54–0 scoring edge over its opposition, was sixth.

October 23 No. 1 California beat No. 11 USC 20–6. In Washington, No. 2 Alabama defeated GWU, 19–0. No. 3 Pittsburgh won at No. 16 Wisconsin 26–6. No. 4 Minnesota was idle. No. 5 Yale beat No. 19 Cornell, 9–0. The next top five was No. 1 California, No. 2 Pittsburgh, No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 Minnesota, and No. 5 Yale

October 30 In Los Angeles, No. 1 California defeated UCLA 27–14, while in Pittsburgh, the No. 2 Pitt Panthers beat Carnegie Tech, 25–14. No. 3 Alabama beat Kentucky, 41–0. No. 4 Minnesota lost to Notre Dame, 7–6, and No. 5 Yale and No. 9 Dartmouth played to a 9–9 tie. No. 6 Baylor, which reached 6–0–0 with a 6–0 win over TCU, and No. 10 Fordham, which won at No. 15 North Carolina, 14–0, moved up to fourth and fifth place in the next Top Five, behind California, Alabama, and Pittsburgh.

November

November 6 No. 1 California and Washington played to a 0–0 tie. In New Orleans, No. 2 Alabama beat No. 19 Tulane, 9–6. No. 3 Pittsburgh won at No. 12 Notre Dame, 21–6 to take the top spot in the next poll. No. 4 Baylor lost to unranked Texas, 9–6. No. 5 Fordham beat Purdue, 21–3. No. 9 Dartmouth, which beat Princeton 33–9, reached the next Top Five: No. 1 Pittsburgh, No. 2 California, No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 Fordham, and No. 5 Dartmouth.

November 13 No. 1 Pittsburgh defeated visiting No. 11 Nebraska, 13–7. In Portland, No. 2 California beat Oregon, 26–0. In Birmingham, No. 3 Alabama beat Georgia Tech, 7–0. No. 4 Fordham was idle. No. 5 Dartmouth and Cornell played to a 6–6 tie. No. 6 Yale returned to the Top Five with a 26–0 win over Princeton, ranking fifth behind Pittsburgh, California, Alabama, and Fordham.

November 20 No. 1 Pittsburgh beat Penn State, 28–7. No. 2 California won at No. 13 Stanford, 13–0, to finish at 9–0–1. No. 3 Alabama was idle. No. 4 Fordham beat St. Mary's, 6–0. No. 5 Yale lost its final game of the season, 13–6, at Harvard. No. 7 Minnesota closed its season with a 13–6 win over Wisconsin and moved up to fifth place behind Pittsburgh, California, Fordham, and Alabama.

On Thanksgiving Day, No. 4 Alabama beat No. 12 Vanderbilt 9–7 in Nashville. Then, on November 27 No. 1 Pittsburgh closed its season unbeaten (8–0–1) with a 10–0 win at No. 18 Duke. No. 3 Fordham closed its season unbeaten (7–0–1) with a 20–7 win over NYU at Yankee Stadium. No. 2 California and No. 5 Minnesota had completed their seasons, and the top five remained unchanged from the previous week.

Conference standings

Major conference standings

Template:1937 Big Six Conference football standings	Template:1937 Big Ten Conference football standings	Template:1937 Border Conference football standings
Template:1937 Pacific Coast Conference football standings	Template:1937 Rocky Mountain Conference football standings	Template:1937 Southeastern Conference football standings
Template:1937 Southern Conference football standings	Template:1937 Southwest Conference football standings

Independents

Template:1937 Eastern college football independents records	Template:1937 Midwestern college football independents records	Template:1937 Southern college football independents records
Template:1937 Western college football independents records

Minor conferences

Conference	Champion(s)	Record
Alamo Conference	Texas A&I	—
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association	Morgan College	6–0
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Wichita	4–0
Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference	Drexel	3–1
Far Western Conference	Fresno State Normal	4–0
Indiana Intercollegiate Conference	Butler	3–0
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Saint Ambrose Upper Iowa	5–0 6–0
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference	Baker	4–1
Lone Star Conference	East Texas State Teachers	4–0
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Kalamazoo	4–0
Michigan-Ontario Collegiate Conference	Ferris State Lawrence Technological University	–
Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference	Cornell College	7–0
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Gustavus Adolphus	5–0
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Southeast Missouri State Teachers	5–0
Nebraska College Athletic Conference	Hastings	2–0–1
Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Nebraska State Teachers–Chadron	2–0
North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	North Dakota	3–0
North Dakota College Athletic Conference	North Dakota Science	4–0–1
Northern Teachers Athletic Conference	St. Cloud State Teachers	4–0
Northern Teachers Athletic Conference	Duluth State Teachers	3–0
Ohio Athletic Conference	Baldwin Wallace	4–0
Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference	Central State Teachers (OK)	5–0–1
Pacific Northwest Conference	Willamette	3–0
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference	Lock Haven State Teachers	5–0–1
South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference	Augustana (SD)	4–0
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	San Diego State	4–1
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Florida A&M College	5–0–1
Southwestern Athletic Conference	Texas College	5–0–1
Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference	Howard Payne	7–0
Tri-Normal Conference	Eastern Washington	2–0
Wisconsin State Teachers College Conference	North: Superior State Teachers South: Whitewater State Teachers	3–0 4–0

Minor conference standings

Template:1937 Alamo Conference football standings	Template:1937 Buckeye Athletic Association football standings	Template:1937 Central Intercollegiate Conference football standings
Template:1937 Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings	Template:1937 Dixie Conference football standings	Template:1937 Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference football standings
Template:1937 Far Western Conference football standings	Template:1937 Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings	Template:1937 Indiana Intercollegiate Conference football standings
Template:1937 Iowa Conference football standings	Template:1937 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference football standings	Template:1937 Lone Star Conference football standings
Template:1937 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings	Template:1937 Middle Atlantic Athletic Association football standings	Template:1937 Middle Three Conference football standings
Template:1937 Midwest Conference football standings	Template:1937 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings	Template:1937 Missouri College Athletic Union football standings
Template:1937 Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings	Template:1937 Missouri Valley Conference football standings	Template:1937 Nebraska College Athletic Conference football standings
Template:1937 Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings	Template:1937 New England Conference football standings	Template:1937 North Central Conference football standings
Template:1937 North Dakota Intercollegiate Conference football standings	Template:1937 Northern Teachers College Conference football standings	Template:1937 North State Conference football standings
Template:1937 Northwest Conference football standings	Template:1937 Ohio Athletic Conference football standings	Template:1937 Oklahoma Collegiate Conference football standings
Template:1937 Pennsylvania State Teachers Conference football standings	Template:1937 Smoky Mountain Conference football standings	Template:1937 South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference football standings
Template:1937 Southern California Conference football standings	Template:1937 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings	Template:1937 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings
Template:1937 Texas Conference football standings	Template:1937 Tri-Normal League football standings	Template:1937 West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings
Template:1937 Wisconsin State Teachers College Conference football standings

Awards and honors

All-Americans

The consensus All-America team included:

Position	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Class	Hometown	Team
QB	Clint Frank	5'10"	190	Sr.	Evanston, Illinois	Yale
HB	Marshall Goldberg	5'11"	185	Jr.	Elkins, West Virginia	Pittsburgh
HB	Byron White	6'1"	185	Sr.	Wellington, Colorado	Colorado
FB	Sam Chapman	6'0"	180	Sr.	Mill Valley, California	California
E	Chuck Sweeney	6'0"	190	Sr.	Bloomington, Indiana	Notre Dame
T	Ed Franco	5'8"	196	Sr.	Jersey City, New Jersey	Fordham
G	Joe Routt	6'0"	193	Sr.	Brenham, Texas	Texas A&M
C	Alex Wojciechowicz	5'11"	192	Sr.	South River, New Jersey	Fordham
G	Leroy Monsky	5'10"	185	Sr.	Montgomery, Alabama	Alabama
T	Tony Matisi	6'0"	224	Sr.	New York, New York	Pittsburgh
E	Andy Bershak	6'0"	190	Sr.	Clairton, Pennsylvania	North Carolina

Individual leaders

• Rushing yards (total): Byron White, Colorado, 1,121 yards
• Rushing yards (per carry): Dick Cassiano, Pittsburgh, 9.0 yards/carry
• Passing yards (total): Billy Patterson, Baylor, 1,109 yards
• Receiving yards (total): Jim Benton, Arkansas, 814 yards
• Points scored: Byron White, Colorado, 122 points
• Punting: Johnny Pingel, Michigan State, 42.9 yards/punt

Heisman Trophy voting

The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player

Player	School	Position	Total
Clint Frank	Yale	HB/QB	524
Byron White	Colorado	HB	264
Marshall Goldberg	Pittsburgh	HB	211
Alex Wojciechowicz	Fordham	C	85

Bowl games

Bowl game	Winning team		Losing team
Rose Bowl	No. 2 California	13	No. 4 Alabama	0
Sugar Bowl	No. 9 Santa Clara	6	No. 8 LSU	0
Orange Bowl	Auburn	6	Michigan State	0
Cotton Bowl Classic	No. 18 Rice	28	No. 17 Colorado	14
Sun Bowl	West Virginia	7	Texas Tech	6
Charity Bowl	Fresno State	27	Arkansas State Teachers	26

See also

• 1937 College Football All-America Team