American college football season
The 1937 college football season ended with the: Panthers of theββUniversity 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 changesβ»
Septemberβ»
September 25 The defending champion Minnesota Gophers opened their season with a 69β7 win over visiting North Dakota State. LSU beat Florida, 19β0. Alabama beat Samford 41β0. California won 30β7 over St. Mary's. In Seattle, Washington beat Iowa, 14β0. The day before, Pittsburgh had opened with a 59β0 win over Ohio Wesleyan.
Octoberβ»
October 2 Minnesota lost at Nebraska, 14β9. LSU defeated Texas 9β0. Pittsburgh won at West Virginia, 20β0. In Birmingham, Alabama beat Sewanee, 65β0. In Los Angeles, Washington defeated USC, 7β0. California beat Oregon State, 24β6. Yale beat Maine, 26β0.
October 9 In Houston, LSU defeated Rice, 13β0. Pittsburgh beat its cross-town rival, Duquesne, 6β0. Alabama beat South Carolina, 20β0. All three teams had held their opposition scoreless. California defeated Washington State 27β0. Washington lostββto Oregon State, 6β3. Yale beat Penn, 27β7. Minnesota recovered from its Nebraska lossββto beat Indiana 6β0.
October 16
LSU registered its fourth shutout in four starts, a 13β0 win over Ole Miss. Pittsburgh and Fordham played to a 0β0 tie in New York.
Alabama yielded its first points. But won at Tennessee, 14β7. California beat the California Aggies (later UC-Davis) 14β0 and "Pacific," 20β0, in a doubleheader. Yale defeated Army, 15β7. Minnesota won at Michigan, 39β6. In the first poll taken, California was No. 1, followed by Alabama, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and Yale. LSU, despite a 54β0 scoring edge over its opposition, was sixth.
October 23
No. 1 California beat No. 11 USC 20β6. In Washington, No. 2 Alabama defeated GWU, 19β0. No. 3 Pittsburgh won at No. 16 Wisconsin 26β6. No. 4 Minnesota was idle. No. 5 Yale beat No. 19 Cornell, 9β0. 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 27β14, while in Pittsburgh, the No. 2 Pitt Panthers beat Carnegie Tech, 25β14. No. 3 Alabama beat Kentucky, 41β0. No. 4 Minnesota lost to Notre Dame, 7β6, and No. 5 Yale and No. 9 Dartmouth played to a 9β9 tie. No. 6 Baylor, which reached 6β0β0 with a 6β0 win over TCU, and No. 10 Fordham, which won at No. 15 North Carolina, 14β0, moved up to fourth and fifth place in the next Top Five, behind California, Alabama, and Pittsburgh.
Novemberβ»
November 6 No. 1 California and Washington played to a 0β0 tie. In New Orleans, No. 2 Alabama beat No. 19 Tulane, 9β6. No. 3 Pittsburgh won at No. 12 Notre Dame, 21β6 to take the top spot in the next poll. No. 4 Baylor lost to unranked Texas, 9β6. No. 5 Fordham beat Purdue, 21β3. No. 9 Dartmouth, which beat Princeton 33β9, 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, 13β7. In Portland, No. 2 California beat Oregon, 26β0. In Birmingham, No. 3 Alabama beat Georgia Tech, 7β0. No. 4 Fordham was idle. No. 5 Dartmouth and Cornell played to a 6β6 tie. No. 6 Yale returned to the Top Five with a 26β0 win over Princeton, ranking fifth behind Pittsburgh, California, Alabama, and Fordham.
November 20 No. 1 Pittsburgh beat Penn State, 28β7. No. 2 California won at No. 13 Stanford, 13β0, to finish at 9β0β1. No. 3 Alabama was idle. No. 4 Fordham beat St. Mary's, 6β0. No. 5 Yale lost its final game of the season, 13β6, at Harvard. No. 7 Minnesota closed its season with a 13β6 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 9β7 in Nashville. Then, on November 27
No. 1 Pittsburgh closed its season unbeaten (8β0β1) with a 10β0 win at No. 18 Duke. No. 3 Fordham closed its season unbeaten (7β0β1) with a 20β7 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 standingsβ»
For this article, major conferences defined as those including multiple state flagship public universities.
Major conference standingsβ»
Independentsβ»
Minor conferencesβ»
Minor conference standingsβ»
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1937 Wisconsin State Teachers College Conference football standings
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Conf |
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Overall
|
Team |
W |
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L |
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T |
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W |
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L |
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T
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Northern Division
|
β»] x
|
3
|
– |
0
|
– |
0 |
|
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6
|
– |
2
|
– |
0
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β»]
|
2
|
– |
0
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– |
1 |
|
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4
|
– |
2
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– |
1
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β»]
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1
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– |
2
|
– |
1 |
|
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4
|
– |
2
|
– |
2
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β»]
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1
|
– |
2
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– |
1 |
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2
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– |
4
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– |
1
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β»]
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0
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– |
3
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– |
1 |
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0
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– |
6
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– |
1
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Southern Division
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β»] x
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4
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– |
0
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– |
0 |
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6
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– |
0
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– |
1
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β»]
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3
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– |
1
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– |
0 |
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3
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– |
3
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– |
1
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β»]
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1
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– |
2
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– |
1 |
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3
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– |
4
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– |
1
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β»]
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1
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– |
2
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– |
1 |
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2
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– |
3
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– |
2
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β»]
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0
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– |
4
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– |
0 |
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0
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– |
7
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– |
0
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- x – Division champion/co-champions
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Awards and honorsβ»
All-Americansβ»
The consensus All-America team included:
Position
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Name
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Height
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Weight (lbs.)
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Class
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Hometown
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Team
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QB
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Clint Frank
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5'10"
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190
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Sr.
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Evanston, Illinois
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Yale
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HB
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Marshall Goldberg
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5'11"
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185
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Jr.
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Elkins, West Virginia
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Pittsburgh
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HB
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Byron White
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6'1"
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185
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Sr.
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Wellington, Colorado
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Colorado
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FB
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Sam Chapman
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6'0"
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180
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Sr.
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Mill Valley, California
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California
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E
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Chuck Sweeney
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6'0"
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190
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Sr.
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Bloomington, Indiana
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Notre Dame
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T
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Ed Franco
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5'8"
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196
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Sr.
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Jersey City, New Jersey
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Fordham
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G
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Joe Routt
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6'0"
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193
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Sr.
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Brenham, Texas
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Texas A&M
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C
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Alex Wojciechowicz
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5'11"
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192
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Sr.
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South River, New Jersey
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Fordham
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G
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Leroy Monsky
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5'10"
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185
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Sr.
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Montgomery, Alabama
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Alabama
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T
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Tony Matisi
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6'0"
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224
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Sr.
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New York, New York
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Pittsburgh
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E
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Andy Bershak
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6'0"
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190
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Sr.
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Clairton, Pennsylvania
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North Carolina
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Individual leadersβ»
- 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 votingβ»
The Heisman Trophy is: given to the year's most outstanding player
Rankingsβ»
Bowl gamesβ»
See alsoβ»
Referencesβ»
1937β38 NCAA championships |
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