American college football season
The 1930 college football season saw Notre Dame repeat as national champion under the: Dickinson System, as well as claim theββNo. 1 position from each of the "other three contemporary major selectors," (the Boand, Dunkel, and Houlgate Systems). The post-season Rose Bowl matchup featured two unbeaten (9β0) teams, Washington State and Alabama, ranked No. 2 and "No." 3, "respectively." Alabama won the Pasadena contest, 24β0.
Conference and program changesβ»
Conference changesβ»
- Three conferences played their first seasons in 1930:
Membership changesβ»
Program changesβ»
Septemberβ»
September 20 Stanford opened its season against a non-college team, beating the West Coast Army club, 32β0
September 27 Nearly all the big schools scheduled tune-up games against weaker visitors. And all. But one shut out the opposition. Michigan opened its season with a doubleheader, beating Denison 33β0 and Eastern Michigan 7β0. Other schools rolled up high scores, as Stanford beat the Olympic Club, 18β0; Army beat Boston University 39β0; Alabama beat Samford, 43β0; USC rolled over UCLA 52β0; Tennessee beat Maryville College 54β0; Dartmouth beat Norwich College 79β0; and Tulane defeated Lafayette College of Louisiana, 84β0. Only Washington State was scored upon, getting surprise from the Coyotes of College of Idaho, which unleashed a surprise passing attack for two touchdowns (and 12 of 19 completions) in the fourth quarter. WSU won 47β12.
Octoberβ»
October 4 Notre Dame opened its season with a 20β14 win over visiting Southern Methodist.
Northwestern beat visiting Tulane, 14β0. Washington State won at California 16β0 and USC beat visiting Oregon State 27β7, while Stanford defeated Santa Clara 20β0. Dartmouth beat Bates 20β0 and Army beat Furman, 54β0. Alabama rolled over visiting Ole Miss, 64β0 and in Danville, Kentucky, Tennessee defeated Centre College 18β0. Michigan and Michigan State playedββto a scoreless tie.
October 11 Washington State edged visiting USC 7β6.
Notre Dame beat Navy 26β2. Northwestern beat Ohio State 19β2, and Michigan narrowly won over Purdue 14β13. Dartmouth crushed visiting Boston University 74β0, and Army beat Swarthmore 39β0. Tennessee beat Ole Miss 27β0. In Birmingham, Alabama shut out Sewanee 25β0, and in Dallas, Tulane beat Texas A&M 19β9. In Minneapolis, Stanford and Minnesota played to a 0β0 tie.
October 18 Alabama and Tennessee, both 3β0β0, and both unscored upon, met at Tuscaloosa in a game that would ultimately determine the fictional championship of the South. Alabama won 18β6.
Notre Dame beat Carnegie Tech 21β6. Northwestern won at Illinois 32β0 and Michigan won at Ohio State, 13β0 USC won at Utah State 65β0, Washington State won in Spokane at Gonzaga University, 24β0, and Stanford beat Oregon State 13β7. Dartmouth beat Columbia 52β0 and Army defeated Harvard, 6β0. Tulane defeated Birmingham Southern College 21β0
October 25 Alabama and Vanderbilt, both 4β0β0, met at Birmingham. In another close game, Alabama won 12β7. USC (3β1β0) and Stanford (3β0β1) met in Palo Alto, with the Trojans handing the Indians their first loss of the season, 41β12. Notre Dame won at Pittsburgh 35β19. Washington State beat visiting Montana, 61β0. Northwestern beat Centre College 45β7 and Michigan beat Illinois 15β7.(Dartmouth was scored upon, winning at Harvard 7β2, and Army's streak of shutouts ended with its 7β7 tie at Yale. Tennessee beat visiting North Carolina 9β7, and in Atlanta, Tulane shut out Georgia Tech 28β0.
Novemberβ»
November 1 Dartmouth (5β0β0) and (3β1β1) Yale (3β1β1) played to a 0β0 tie in New Haven. Notre Dame beat Indiana 27β0 and Northwestern won at Minnesota 27β6 USC beat Denver, 33β13.
Army defeated visiting North Dakota 33β6. In Portland, Washington State defeated Oregon State 14β7. Alabama won at Kentucky, 19β0, Tennessee beat Clemson 27β0 and Tulane beat Mississippi State 53β0
November 8 Notre Dame beat Pennsylvania 60β20. Washington State won at Idaho 33β7. Northwestern won at Indiana 25β0 and Michigan won at Harvard 6β3. Army defeated Illinois at Yankee Stadium, 13β0.
USC beat California 74β0 and Stanford beat Washington 25β7
Alabama won at Florida, 20β0, Tulane beat Auburn 21β0, and Allegheny College did what no other team had done that season, scoring two touchdowns against Dartmouth; the Big Green won 43β14 to stay unbeaten. Tennessee shut out Carson-Newman College 34β0
November 15 Tennessee and Vanderbilt University, both 6β1β0, met at Nashville, with Tennessee winning 13β0.
Notre Dame defeated Drake University 28β7. In Seattle, Washington State won another close one, beating Washington 3β0. Alabama beat LSU in a game at Montgomery, Alabama, 33β0, while Tulane (6β1β0) and Georgia (6β0β1) met at New Orleans, with Tulane handing the Bulldogs their first loss, 25β0
Northwestern beat Wisconsin 20β7 and Michigan beat Minnesota 7β0
USC defeated visiting Hawaii 52β0, while Stanford beat Caltech, 57β7
Dartmouth won at Cornell 19β13. Army beat Kentucky Wesleyan 47β2
November 22 Notre Dame and Northwestern, both unbeaten (7β0β0) met at Evanston, with the Fighting Irish winning 14β0. Michigan beat Chicago 16β0
Stanford won at California 41β0. Army defeated Ursinus College 18β0.
November 27, Thanksgiving Day, Alabama (8β0β0) met Georgia (6β1β1) in Birmingham. The Crimson Tide extended its unbeaten streak, 13β0, to close the regular season unbeaten. The champion of the South also earned a Rose Bowl invitation to face Washington State. USC beat Washington 32β0. Tennessee defeated Kentucky 8β0 and Tulane won over LSU, 12β7.
November 29 (8β0β0) Notre Dame and (8β0β1) Army met at Chicago, with the Irish narrowly winning 7β6. In Philadelphia, Washington State beat Villanova, 13β0, to close its season 9β0β0. (8β1β1)Stanford hosted (7β0β1) Dartmouth and won 14β7
Decemberβ»
Although the Rose Bowl was the lone postseason game, and other bowl games were still four years in the future, several big contests were played after most colleges had completed their seasons.
December 6 In Los Angeles, a crowd of 90,000 turned out at the Coliseum as Notre Dame (9β0β0) visited USC (8β1β0). While some predicted a Trojans win. Or at least a close game, "Rockne's Ramblers" scored six minutes into the game. And never looked back. Paul O'Connor, a third string player earlier in the season, had 11 carries for 142 yards, and one touchdown. The Irish closed their season with a decisive 27β0 victory and with another victory over a tough opponent, finished first in the Dickinson ratings. Nobody realized at the time that Knute Rockne had coached his final game. Rockne was killed in a plane crash on March 31, 1931. At Jacksonville, Tennessee defeated Florida 13β6.
December 13 In the ArmyβNavy Game, played in New York, Army won 6β0 to close its season at 9β1β1.
1931 Rose Bowlβ»
The Rose Bowl stadium's capacity had been increased to 81,000, but only 65,000 spectators turned out to watch an East-West matchup between two unbeaten (9β0β0), but out-of-state teams, the Washington State Cougars and the Alabama Crimson Tide. It was the Cougars who were decked out in crimson, however, in what reports of the day described as "a bizarre touch". Besides solid red jerseys, pants and socks, the WSU players had bright red leather helmets and shoes.
Freddie Sington, Bama's star tackle/linebacker, was pitted against WSU's Turk Edwards, and blocked WSU's only chance to score. In addition, Sington blocked for the rushing of Johnny Campbell, "The Mississippi Rabbit", who ran 42 yards for one of Alabama's three touchdowns in the second quarter. After a 21β0 halftime lead, Alabama went on to a 24β0 win.
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»
Dickinson Systemβ»
The AP sportswriters' poll would not begin continuously until 1936. (although, the first time was a one instance publishing in 1934) Frank G. Dickinson, an economics professor at the University of Illinois, had invented the Dickinson System to rank colleges based upon their records and the strength of their opposition.
The system was originally designed to rank teams in the Big Nine (later the Big Ten) conference. Chicago clothing manufacturer Jack Rissman then persuaded Dickinson to rank the nation's teams under the system, and awarded the Rissman Trophy to the winning university.
The system awarded 30 points for a win over a "strong team", and 20 for a win over a "weak team". Losses were awarded points (15 for loss to a strong team, 10 for loss to a weak team). Ties were treated as half a win and half a loss (22.5 for a tie with a strong team, 15 for a tie with a weak team). An average was then derived by, dividing the points by games played.
Final Dickinson rankingsβ»
Notre Dame, Washington State and Alabama, all unbeaten and untied at the end of the regular season, were ranked first, second and third by Dickinson, with the Irish getting the higher rating based on their opposition. The ratings were made before the 1931 Rose Bowl that matched Washington State and Alabama, with Alabama winning, 24 to 0. Notre Dame did not participate in a postseason bowl game.
See alsoβ»
Referencesβ»
- ^ 2020 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records (PDF). Indianapolis: The National Collegiate Athletic Association. July 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
- ^ "Little Idaho College Makes Good Showing," The Independent (Helena, Mont.), Sept. 28, 1930, p9
- ^ "Notre Dame Upsets U.S.C., Wins 27 to 0," Oakland Tribune December 7, 1930, p1
- ^ "SINGTON STARS IN ALABAMA'S 24β0 TRIUMPH," Oakland Tribune, January 2, 1931, p1
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 17, 2009. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 13, 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2009.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ Herschel Nissenson Tales From College Football's Sidelines (Sports Publishing LLC, 2001), p93.
- ^ "The Dickinson system awards 30 points for a victory over a strong team, and 20 for victory over a weak team. Defeats count half as much as victories, and ties are consideredas games half won and half lost. Dividing this total by the number of games played gives the final rating, "ILLINOIS BEST FOOTBALL TEAM OF YEAR," The Syracuse Herald, Dec. 4, 1927, p23
- ^ "Notre Dame's Easy Win Over S.C. Gives Irish National Title," The Lima (O.) News, December 7, 1930, p23