1933 American Football Season

The 1933 American football season was a landmark year that fundamentally reshaped the sport, particularly at the professional level. It marked the formal separation of rules between college and professional football, paving the way for the modern era of the game.

The NFL’s Great Revolution

Prior to 1933, the National Football League strictly followed college rules. This changed drastically in 1933 due to pivotal rule changes and structural shifts:

• The First Official Championship Game: The NFL split into two divisions (Eastern and Western) for the first time. On December 17, 1933, the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 23–21 at Wrigley Field in the inaugural NFL Championship Game.
• The Forward Pass Liberated: The NFL modernized the game by allowing a forward pass to be thrown from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage. In college football, passers still had to be at least five yards behind the line.
• Goal Posts Moved: To encourage more scoring and reduce tie games, the NFL moved the goalposts from the endline to the goal line.
• League Expansion: Three new franchises joined the league, all destined for long histories: the Pittsburgh Pirates (now the Steelers), the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Cincinnati Reds.

1933 College Football Highlights

College football remained immensely popular, navigating the hardships of the Great Depression with rigid defensive play and historic powerhouse runs:

• The National Champion: The Michigan Wolverines, led by head coach Harry Kipke, finished an undefeated 7–0–1 season. They were awarded the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy and recognized as the consensus national champion under the Dickinson System.
• The Rose Bowl Upset: The Columbia Lions pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the era, defeating the heavily favored Stanford Cardinal 7–0 in the January 1934 Rose Bowl.
• Defensive Dominance: Michigan’s legendary defense only allowed 18 total points across their 8-game season, averaging a staggering 2.2 points allowed per game.

A Deep Dive into 1933 Football History and Highlights

• January 2, 1933 – The USC Trojans dismantled the Pitt Panthers 35-0 in the 19th edition of the Rose Bowl.
• February 25, 1933 – Major NFL rule revisions took place regarding the field of play, as the League, after its first 13 seasons following NCAA gridiron rules, decided to write its own rulebook. 
• May 19, 1933 – Pittsburgh’s Art Rooney Sr. formally submitted an application to the NFL requesting a franchise charter.
• July 8, 1933 – National Football League President Joe Carr announced in a newsletter that Art Rooney Sr.’s application for franchise was approved to join the 10-team League in the fall of 1933 to fill a vacancy caused by the withdrawal of the Staten Island franchise. 
• September 20, 1933 – The Pittsburgh Steelers franchise, which was known as the Pirates from 1933 through the 1940 seasons, played its very first game. The home team, the Pirates, lost 23-2 to the New York Giants that day at old Forbes Field.
• October 1, 1933 – It was an NFL stat of the wild and weird: the New York Giants could not convert even one first down, yet somehow still won 10-7 when they played the Green Bay Packers at Borchert Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• October 8, 1933, Cliff Battles of the Boston Redskins made history by becoming the first player in NFL history to rush for 200 yards in a single game. Against the New York Giants, Battles carried the ball 16 times for 215 yards and a touchdown. This pioneering performance set the benchmark for single-game dominance in the running attack.
• October 15, 1933, Polo Grounds, New York, New York – The Philadelphia Eagles played in their very 1st NFL regular season game as they faced the New York Football Giants. The Giants won the game handily 56-0.
• November 5, 1933 – The Philadelphia Eagles register their first win in franchise history, a 6-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
• November 7, 1933 – Pennsylvania voters overturn a blue law by permitting sports to be played on Sundays. This was big news for both the Philadelphia Eagles’ new franchises—the Eagles and the Pittsburgh Pirates, later known as the Steelers.
• November 12, 1933 – Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – The 1st home NFL game for the Pittsburgh franchise. Remember, just a few days earlier, as discussed in our November 7 Football History Headlines, the voters in the Commonwealth of PA decided to let it be legal to play ball games on Sundays.
• December 3, 1933: Joe “The Midnight Express” Lillard, halfback/quarterback for the Chicago Cardinals, played his last game, becoming the final African-American in the NFL until the 1946 season after recording 494 rushing yards and 372 passing yards in his two seasons.
• December 9, 1933 – Athletic Park, Sarnia – According to thegreycup.com, the Toronto Argonauts edged out the Sarnia Imperials by the score of 4-3 in the 1933 Grey Cup. It was the 3rd Championship that the Argos had won since the Cup’s inception.
• December 17, 1933 – The First NFL Championship game was played at Wrigley Field, with the Chicago Bears defeating the New York Giants 23–21. Check out our full post and Video on this 1933 NFL Championship game.