1938 college football season

The 1938 NCAA football season ended with the Horned Frogs of Texas Christian University (TCU) being named the nation’s #1 team by 55 of the 77 voters in the final Associated Press writers' poll in early December. Tennessee is also recognized as a national champion; both teams won every game.

Conference and program changes

Conference changes

Membership changes

School1937 Conference1938 Conference
BYU CougarsRocky MountainMountain States (Big Seven)
Colorado BuffaloesRocky MountainMountain States (Big Seven)
Colorado A&M RamsRocky MountainMountain States (Big Seven)
Denver PioneersRocky MountainMountain States (Big Seven)
Utah UtesRocky MountainMountain States (Big Seven)
Utah State AggiesRocky MountainMountain States (Big Seven)
Wyoming CowboysRocky MountainMountain States (Big Seven)

September

September 24 Defending champion Pittsburgh beat West Virginia, 19-0. California defeated St. Mary’s 12-7. In Los Angeles, Alabama beat USC 19-7. Minnesota defeated Washington 15-0, and Dartmouth beat Bates 46-0.

October

October 1 Alabama defeated Samford 34-0, Fordham beat Upsala 47-0, Dartmouth beat St Lawrence 51-0, and Notre Dame beat Kansas 52-0. Pitt defeated Temple 28-6, California beat Washington State 27-3, and Minnesota beat Nebraska 16-7.

October 8 Minnesota defeated Purdue 7-0. Alabama beat North Carolina State 14-0. Dartmouth stayed unscored upon, winning at Princeton 22-0. Pittsburgh beat cross-town rival Duquesne 27-0. Fordham beat Waynesburg College 53-0. California played a double-header for the fans, with the reserves beating the California Agricultural school (lager UC-Davis) 48-0, and the varsity and reserves beating College of the Pacific 39-0. In Atlanta, Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech 14-6

October 15 Pittsburgh won at Wisconsin 26-6. California defeated UCLA 20-7. Dartmouth beat Brown 34-13, and Notre Dame beat Illinois 14-6. Minnesota edged Michigan, 7-6. Fordham was tied by Purdue 6-6, and in Birmingham, Alabama was shut out by Tennessee, 13-0. When the first round of balloting was finished, the defending champion Panthers were again #1, followed by Minnesota, California, Dartmouth and Notre Dame.

October 22 #1 Pittsburgh beat SMU 34-7. #2 Minnesota was idle. #3 California won at Seattle over Washington 14-7. #4 Dartmouth won at Harvard 13-7. #5 Notre Dame beat #13 Carnegie Tech 7-0. In San Francisco, #6 Santa Clara beat Arkansas 21-6 in San Francisco, while in Milwaukee, #7 TCU beat Marquette 21-0, and the two winners replaced Dartmouth and Notre Dame in the Top Five: 1.Pittsburgh 2.Minnesota 3.California 4.TCU 5. Santa Clara.

October 29 #1 Pittsburgh beat #9 Fordham, 24-13. #2 Minnesota fell to #12 Northwestern, 6-3. #3 California beat Oregon State 13-7. #4 TCU beat Baylor 39-7, and #5 Santa Clara won at Michigan State 7-6. #6 Dartmouth won at Yale 24-6 and #7 Notre Dame beat Army in Yankee Stadium, 19-7, and both returned to the Top Five: 1.Pittsburgh 2.TCU 3.California 4.Notre Dame 5.Dartmouth

November

November 5 In Pittsburgh, the #1 Panthers lost to #19 Carnegie Tech, 20-10. #2 TCU won at Tulsa 21-0. #3 California lost at #13, USC 13-7. In Baltimore, #4 Notre Dame beat Navy 15-0. #5 Dartmouth beat Dickinson College, 44-6. #6 Tennessee beat Chattanooga 45-0 to extend its record to 7-0-0. The Horned Frogs of TCU leaped into the top spot: 1.TCU 2.Notre Dame 3.Pittsburgh 4.Tennessee 5.Dartmouth

November 12 #1 TCU beat Texas 28-6. #2 Notre Dame beat #12 Minnesota 19-0. #3 Pittsburgh beat Nebraska 19-0. #4 Tennessee won at Vanderbilt 14-0. #5 Dartmouth lost at #20 Cornell 14-7. #7 Duke remained unbeaten (7-0-0), untied, and unscored upon with a 21-0 win at Syracuse. In the next poll, the Irish moved up to the top rung: 1.Notre Dame 2.TCU 3.Tennessee 4.Duke 5.Pittsburgh

November 19 #1 Notre Dame won at #16 Northwestern 9-7. #2 TCU won at Rice 29-7. #3 Tennessee was idle as it prepared for a holiday game. #4 Duke beat N.C. State, 7-0. #5 Pittsburgh beat Penn State 26-0. The rankings shuffled to 1.Notre Dame 2.TCU 3.Duke 4.Pittsburgh 5.Tennessee.

On Thanksgiving Day #5 Tennessee beat Kentucky 46-0, while #6 Oklahoma beat OK State. Two days later, November 26, #1 Notre Dame remained idle. #2 TCU beat SMU in Dallas, 20-7. #3 Duke and #4 Pittsburgh met at Durham, with the hosts winning 7-0. With a record of 9-0-0, Duke had outscored its opponents 114-0, but stayed in third in the final rankings: 1.Notre Dame 2.TCU 3.Duke 4.Pittsburgh 5.Tennessee.

On December 3, #1 Notre Dame lost in Los Angeles to #7 USC, 13-0, and fell from grace to fifth place. #2 TCU received 55 first place votes and, as national champion, accepted a bid to the Sugar Bowl. #4 Tennessee beat Ole Miss 47-0 in Memphis, and moved up to second place. Though the SEC champion would be Sugar Bowl bound in later years, a #1 vs. #2 match was not to be had, as Tennessee instead took a bid for the Orange Bowl. #3 Duke stayed in third place, despite having never been scored upon in 1938, and accepted an invitation to the Rose Bowl. #5 Oklahoma, which beat Washington State 28-0, and moved up to fourth place. Both unbeaten and untied at 10-0-0, Tennessee and Oklahoma would meet in Miami, but the title had been awarded to 10-0-0 TCU.

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1938 Big 6 football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 4 Oklahoma $ 5 –0 –0  10 –1 –0
Iowa State 3 –1 –1  7 –1 –1
Missouri 2 –3 –0  6 –3 –0
Nebraska 2 –3 –0  3 –5 –1
Kansas State 1 –3 –1  4 –4 –1
Kansas 1 –4 –0  3 –6 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1938 Big Ten football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 10 Minnesota $ 4 –1 –0  6 –2 –0
No. 16 Michigan 3 –1 –1  6 –1 –1
Purdue 3 –1 –1  5 –1 –2
No. 17 Northwestern 2 –1 –2  4 –2 –2
Wisconsin 3 –2 –0  5 –3 –0
Ohio State 3 –2 –1  4 –3 –1
Illinois 2 –3 –0  3 –5 –0
Iowa 1 –3 –1  1 –6 –1
Indiana 1 –4 –0  1 –6 –1
Chicago 0 –4 –0  1 –6 –1
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1938 IIAC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Northern Illinois State $ 4 –0 –0  6 –1 –1
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1938 NCAA independents football records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 18 Villanova   –    8 –0 –1
No. 9 Holy Cross   –    8 –1 –0
No. 5 Notre Dame   –    8 –1 –0
No. 8 Pittsburgh   –    8 –2 –0
Army   –    7 –2 –0
No. 6 Carnegie Tech   –    7 –2 –0
No. 20 Dartmouth   –    7 –2 –0
Boston College   –    6 –1 –2
No. 15 Fordham   –    6 –1 –2
St. Mary's (CA)   –    6 –2 –0
Navy   –    4 –3 –2
Penn State   –    3 –4 –1
Rankings from AP Poll
1938 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Tulsa $ 3 –1 –0  4 –5 –1
Washburn 1 –0 –0  6 –3 –0
Creighton 1 –0 –1  6 –1 –1
Washington University 2 –1 –1  6 –3 –1
Drake 1 –1 –1  5 –4 –1
Saint Louis 0 –1 –1  3 –5 –2
Oklahoma A&M 0 –4 –0  2 –8 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
1938 MSC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Utah $ 4 –0 –2  7 –1 –2
BYU 3 –2 –1  4 –3 –1
Denver 3 –2 –1  4 –4 –1
Colorado 3 –2 –1  3 –4 –1
Utah State 3 –3 –0  4 –4 –0
Wyoming 1 –4 –1  2 –5 –1
Colorado A&M 0 –4 –2  1 –5 –2
  • $ – Conference champion
1938 PCC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 7 USC + 6 –1 –0  9 –2 –0
No. 14 California + 6 –1 –0  10 –1 –0
UCLA 4 –3 –1  7 –4 –1
Oregon State 4 –3 –1  5 –3 –1
Oregon 4 –4 –0  4 –5 –0
Washington 3 –4 –1  3 –5 –1
Idaho 2 –3 –1  6 –3 –1
Stanford 2 –5 –0  3 –6 –0
Washington State 1 –7 –0  2 –8 –0
Montana 0 –1 –0  5 –3 –1
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll
1938 RMFAC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Montana State 1 –0 –1  3 –5 –1
Northern Colorado 1 –1 –1  3 –4 –1
  • $ – Conference champion
1938 SEC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 2 Tennessee $ 7 –0 –0  11 –0 –0
No. 13 Alabama 4 –1 –1  7 –1 –1
No. 19 Tulane 4 –1 –1  7 –2 –1
Ole Miss 3 –2 –0  9 –2 –0
Georgia Tech 2 –1 –3  3 –4 –3
Vanderbilt 4 –3 –0  6 –3 –0
Florida 2 –2 –1  4 –6 –1
Auburn 3 –3 –1  4 –5 –1
Georgia 1 –2 –1  5 –4 –1
LSU 2 –4 –0  6 –4 –0
Mississippi State 1 –4 –0  4 –6 –0
Kentucky 0 –4 –0  2 –7 –0
Sewanee 0 –6 –0  1 –8 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1938 Southern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 3 Duke $ 5 –0 –0  9 –1 –0
Clemson 3 –0 –1  7 –1 –1
VMI 4 –0 –3  6 –1 –4
North Carolina 4 –1 –0  6 –2 –1
Richmond 3 –2 –1  6 –3 –1
Washington and Lee 2 –2 –0  4 –4 –1
NC State 3 –3 –1  3 –7 –1
South Carolina 2 –2 –0  6 –4 –1
Wake Forest 3 –4 –1  4 –5 –1
VPI 2 –3 –2  3 –5 –2
The Citadel 2 –3 –0  6 –5 –0
Maryland 1 –2 –0  2 –7 –0
Davidson 2 –6 –0  4 –6 –0
Furman 0 –4 –1  2 –7 –1
William & Mary 0 –4 –0  3 –7 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
1938 Southwest Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 1 TCU $ 6 –0 –0  11 –0 –0
SMU 4 –2 –0  6 –4 –0
Baylor 3 –2 –1  7 –2 –1
Rice 3 –3 –0  4 –6 –0
Texas A&M 2 –3 –1  4 –4 –1
Arkansas 1 –5 –0  2 –7 –1
Texas 1 –5 –0  1 –8 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

Minor conferences

Conference Champion(s) Record
Alamo Conference Texas A&I —
Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association New Mexico
New Mexico A&M		 4–2–0
4–1–0
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association Virginia State College 6–0–1
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Wichita 4–0–0
Far Western Conference Pacific (CA) 4–0–0
Indiana Intercollegiate Conference Manchester College 6–1–0
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Luther 4–0–1
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Ottawa (KS) 5–0–0
Lone Star Conference East Texas State Teachers 4–0–0
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Hillsdale 4–0–0
Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference Lawrence 5–0–0
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Saint John's 5–0–0
Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association Northwest Missouri State Teachers 5–0–0
Nebraska College Athletic Conference Doane
Midland Lutheran		 3–1–0
Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Association Nebraska State Teachers
State Normal and Teachers (NE)		 2–0–1
North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference South Dakota 5–0–0
North Dakota College Athletic Conference North Dakota Science 5–0–0
Northern Teachers Athletic Conference Duluth State Teachers
Mankato State Teachers		 3–0–0
Ohio Athletic Conference John Carroll 4–0–1
Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference Central State Teachers (OK) 5–0–0
Pacific Northwest Conference Pacific (OR)
Willamette		 4–1–0
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Mansfield State Teachers 5–0–0
South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference Yankton 5–1–0
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Pomona 4–0–1
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Florida A&M College 6–0–0
Southwestern Athletic Conference Langston
Southern		 2–0–3
4–1–1
Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference Howard Payne 6–0–1
Washington Intercollegiate Conference Western Washington College 2–0–0
Wisconsin State Teachers College Conference North: River Falls State Teachers
Co-South: Milwaukee State Teachers
Co-South: Platteville State Teachers		 4–0–0
3–1–0
3–1–0

Conference standings

1938 Far Western Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Pacific (CA) $ 4 –0 –0  7 –3 –0
Fresno State 2 –1 –0  7 –3 –0
Nevada 1 –2 –0  2 –3 –1
Chico State 0 –2 –1  2 –5 –1
Cal Aggies 0 –2 –1  2 –6 –1
  • $ – Conference champion
1938 SCIAC football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Pomona $ 4 –0 –1  6 –0 –1
Whittier 3 –0 –2  7 –1 –2
San Diego State 3 –1 –1  5 –2 –1
Redlands 2 –3 –0  3 –5 –0
Occidental 2 –4 –0  3 –5 –0
Santa Barbara State 0 –3 –0  2 –8 –0
Caltech 0 –3 –0  1 –7 –0
  • $ – Conference champion

Final polls

Bowl games

Bowl Winning Team Losing Team
Cotton St. Mary’s Gaels 20 #11 Texas Tech Red Raiders 13
Orange #2 Tennessee Volunteers 17 #4 Oklahoma Sooners 0
Rose #7 USC Trojans 7 #3 Duke Blue Devils 3
Sugar #1 TCU Horned Frogs 15 #6 Carnegie Tech Tartans 7
Sun Utah Utes 26 New Mexico Lobos 0

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
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