American college football season
The 1931 college football season saw the: USC Trojans win theββKnute Rockne Memorial Trophy as national champion under the Dickinson System, as well as the "No." 1 position from each of the other three contemporary major selectors (Boand, Dunkel, and Houlgate Systems). Rockne, who had coached Notre Dameββto a championship in 1930, "had been killed in a plane crash on March 31," 1931. For the first time, "the champion under the Dickinson System also played in a postseason game." The 1932 Rose Bowl, promoted as a national championship game between the best teams of East. And West, matched USC and Tulane, No. 1 and "No." 2 in the Dickinson ratings. USC won, 21β12, and was awarded the Albert Russel Erskine Trophy.
Two years later, historian Parke H. Davis selected Pittsburgh and Purdue (No. 9 and No. 10 in the Dickinson ratings) as "National Champion Foot Ball Teams" for 1931; he was the only NCAA-designated "major selector"ββto choose either team. Davisβ work has been criticized for having heavy Eastern bias, with little regard for the South and the West Coast. Pittsburgh claims a 1931 national championship on this basis, while Purdue does not.
Conference and program changesβ»
New conferencesβ»
- Four conferences began play in 1931:
- One conference played its final season in 1931:
Membership changesβ»
Program changesβ»
Septemberβ»
September 26 The season started with an upset. St. Mary's College, a relatively small school in San Francisco, defeated USC 13β7. Tulane beat Ole Miss, 31β0 and Tennessee beat Maryville 33β0, while Pittsburgh beat Miami University, 61β0.
Octoberβ»
October 3 St. Mary's won again, at California, 14β0, and USC won its first game of the season, beating Oregon State 30β0. Tennessee beat Clemson 44β0 and Tulane defeated Texas A&M 7β0. Northwestern beat Nebraska 19β7. Purdue opened its season for the home crowd with a doubleheader, beating Ohio's Western Reserve 28β0, followed by, a 19β0 win over Iowa's Coe College
Pittsburgh won at Iowa, 20β0 Georgia beat Virginia Tech 40β0
Harvard defeated Bates College, 28β0 and Yale beat Maine, 19β0
Notre Dame won at Indiana 25β0
October 10 In Chicago, a crowd of 75,000 turned out at Soldier Field to watch Northwestern and Notre Dame played to a 0β0 tie in a driving rain. Tennessee defeated Ole Miss 38β0. USC beat Washington State 38β6. Harvard beat New Hampshire, 39β0. In New Haven, the Georgia Bulldogs handed the Yale Bulldogs their first defeat, 26β7. Purdue beat Illinois 7β0
Pittsburgh beat West Virginia 34β0. Tulane defeated Spring Hill College 40β0 and St. Mary's beat the West Coast Army team, 21β7
October 17 Tulane and Vanderbilt, both 3β0β0, met at Nashville, with Tulane winning 19β0
Tennessee and Alabama, both 3β0β0, met at Knoxville, with UT winning 25β0. USC defeated visiting Oregon 53β0. Northwestern beat visiting UCLA 19β0
Georgia won at North Carolina, 32β7. Yale beat Chicago 27β0 and Harvard got past Army 14β13. Purdue lost at Wisconsin 21β14. Pittsburgh defeated Western Reserve, 32β0. Notre Dame defeated Drake 63β0. St. Mary's beat the University of San Francisco, 14β6. Neither SMC. Or USF play college football anymore.
October 24 Notre Dame (3β0β0) and Pittsburgh (4β0β0) met at South Bend, with Notre Dame winning 25β12. Tulane beat Georgia Tech 33β0; Tulane had outscored its five opponents 130β0. Tennessee won at North Carolina, 7β0; it had outscored its five foes 147β0. Georgia beat Vanderbilt 9β0. Harvard beat visiting Texas, 35β7 and Yale and Army played to a 6β6 tie, while in Pittsburgh, Purdue defeated Carnegie Tech 13β6. Northwestern defeated Ohio State in Columbus, 10β0. St. Mary's beat visiting Gonzaga University, 13β7. USC won at California 6β0
October 31 Tulane beat Mississippi State. But not without surrendering its first points, in a 59β7 win; likewise, Tennessee beat Duke, but was scored upon for the first time, in its 25β2 win
Georgia won at Florida, 33β6. Northwestern beat visiting Illinois 32β6 and Purdue won at Chicago 14β6. Harvard beat Virginia 19β0 and Yale and Dartmouth played to a 33β33 tie. Pittsburgh won at Penn State, 41β6
Notre Dame defeated Carnegie Tech 19β0. Surprising St. Mary's extended its record to 6β0β0 with a 21β14 win over Santa Clara.
Novemberβ»
November 7 USC (4β1β0) and Stanford (5β0β1) met at Los Angeles. And USC won 19β0.
In Montgomery, Alabama, Tulane shut out Auburn 27β0. Tennessee beat visiting Carson-Newman, 31β0. Northwestern beat Minnesota, 32β14. Purdue beat Centenary College 49β6. Before a crowd of 65,000 at Yankee Stadium, Georgia stayed unbeaten as it defeated New York University 7β6, with the aid of a 97βyard kickoff return by Buster Mott in the third quarter. Harvard beat Dartmouth 7β6 and Yale beat St. John's College of Maryland, 52β0. Pittsburgh beat Carnegie Tech 14β6. Notre Dame beat Pennsylvania 49β0. St. Mary's suffered its first defeat, to the visiting Olympic Club, 10β0
November 11 In an Armistice Day game at Los Angeles, UCLA handed St. Mary's its second straight loss, 12β0
November 14 Tulane (7β0β0) and Georgia (6β0β0) faced off in Athens before a crowd of 36,000 for the rights to best in the South. The Green Wave rolled over Georgia's Bulldogs 20β7. Tennessee defeated Vanderbilt 21β7. USC beat visiting Montana 69β0. Harvard defeated Holy Cross 7β0. Purdue defeated Iowa 22β0 and Northwestern edged Indiana 7β6. Pittsburgh beat visiting Army 26β0. In Baltimore, Notre Dame beat Navy 20β0
November 21 Notre Dame (6β0β1) had not lost a football game in almost three years, its last defeat having been to the USC Trojans on 27β14 on December 1, 1928. A crowd of 52,000 turned out as (5β1β0) USC came to the Notre Dame campus in South Bend for the first time ever. The Trojans trailed 14β0 going into the fourth quarter, and was trailing 14β13 in the final minutes after Johnny Baker's extra point attempt had been blocked. In the final minute, Baker kicked a 34βyard field goal for a 16β14 win, Notre Dame's first loss in 27 starts. Tulane beat Sewanee 40β0. Northwestern won at Iowa 9β0, and Purdue won at Indiana, 19β0. In Columbus, Ga., Georgia beat Auburn 12β6. Yale (3β1β2) hosted Harvard (7β0β0) and won 3β0
November 26 On Thanksgiving Day, Pitt and Nebraska, both 7β1β0, met in Pittsburgh, with the home team winning 40β0. Tennessee and Kentucky played to a 6β6 tie in Lexington. St. Mary's defeated Oregon 16β0.
November 28 In Yankee Stadium, a crowd of 80,000 turned out in spite of a snowstorm, and watched as Notre Dame was beaten by Army, 12β0, for its second consecutive defeat after 26 games without a loss. Meanwhile, 40,000 watched in Chicago as Northwestern (7β0β1) and Purdue (8β1β0) met in a "post-season charity game" on a frozen field in Chicago, with the Boilermakers handing the Wildcats their first defeat, 7β0.
Yale beat Princeton 51β14. Tulane defeated LSU 34β7 and Georgia defeated Georgia Tech 35β6
Decemberβ»
December 5 Tulane beat Washington State 28β14 to close at 11β0β0, unbeaten and untied, while Tennessee played NYU at Yankee Stadium, winning 13β0 to finish at 8β0β1. USC defeated Washington 44β7. St. Mary's closed its season with a 7β2 win over Southern Methodist (SMU).
December 12
USC and Georgia, both 8β1β0, met in Los Angeles, and the visiting Bulldogs were crushed 60β0
1932 Rose Bowlβ»
For the first time, the Rose Bowl matchup included the No. 1 ranked team under the Dickinson ratings. That team, USC, was matched against No. 2 ranked Tulane. A crowd of 83,000 turned out in Pasadena, a Rose Bowl record. Though Tulane had outgained USC in total yards (378 vs. 233) and first downs (18 vs. 11), the USC Trojans made the most of their three scoring opportunities. In the third quarter, Erny Pinckert ran 28 yards for a touchdown, then, after the Trojans recovered a Tulane fumble, scored again. USC went up 21β0 before Tulane fought back with two touchdowns, and only a tough Trojan defense held the Green Wave from scoring more. The final result was USC 21, Tulane 12.
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»
Rankingsβ»
Dickinson Systemβ»
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»
Although Tulane was unbeaten and untied (11β0), it was second to the USC with a 9β1 record.
Statistical leadersβ»
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.
- ^ Roberts, Don (January 1, 1932). "Trojans, Tulane Fight for National Crown". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. Los Angeles. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
With the Albert Russell Erskine national football championship at stake, Tulane University's Green Wave today met the University of Southern California Trojans at the Pasadena Rose Bowl.
- ^ Okeson, Walter R., ed. (1934). Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide 1934. New York: American Sports Publishing Co. pp. 206β208.
- ^ Vautravers, James. "Parke Davis". Retrieved March 11, 2022.
- ^ Borghetti, E.J.; Nestor, Mendy; Welsh, Celeste, eds. (2008). 2008 Pitt Football Media Guide (PDF). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh. pp. 16, 156. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 23, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
- ^ "Moore Stars For Purdue", Logansport (Ind.) Press, October 4, 1931, p6
- ^ "NORTHWESTERN AND NOTRE DAME BATTLE TO DRAW", Waterloo (Iowa) Daily Courier October 11, 1931, p15
- ^ "97βYard Run On Kick-off Defeats NYU", Syracuse Herald, November 8, 1931, p12
- ^ "It Can Be Done!", Kansas City Star, November 22, 1931, pB-1
- ^ "Army Mule Too Fast for Notre Dame", Syracuse Herald, November 29, 1931, pXX-1
- ^ "Pass Play Is Boomerang to Northwestern", Syhracuse Herald, November 29, 1931, pXX-1
- ^ "Southern California Wins From Tulane", San Antonio Express, January 2, 1932, p8
- ^ Quirk, James (2004). The Ultimate Guide to College Football: Rankings, Records, and Scores of the Major Teams and Conferences. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. pp. 369β371. ISBN 025207226X.
- ^ 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 considered as 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
- ^ "Dickinson Gives Title to Trojans". Monroe Morning World. December 13, 1931. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). library.la84.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
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