The 1938 College Football Season

The 1938 college football season was among recent history's most exciting and unpredictable. No clear favorites were heading into the season, and several teams emerged as contenders throughout the year.

Though the rules stayed the same, there were rumors that revisions to the passing game were wanted, especially throwing from out of the endzone. The proposal would be that a touchback would be awarded for a team that passed a ball from behind their goalline on fourth down. It was not very likely that this would have the opportunity to occur even if it would have become a rule.

One of the early favorites was the University of Pittsburgh, which had won the national championship the previous season. The Pitt Panthers were led by a solid running game and a stingy defense, and they were expected to be a significant force in the Eastern Conference. Pitt suffered a mid-season loss to cross-town rival Carnegie Tech and then an end-of-the-year setback to Number 3 Duke to complete the season at 8-2 for head coach Jock Sutherland.

Several other teams emerged as contenders as the season progressed, including Notre Dame, Michigan, Tennessee, Northwestern Carnegie Tech, and TCU. 

The Tartans were led by second-year head coach Bill Kern, who put together a pretty formidable roster of talent. The mid-season 0-7 loss to Notre Dame in South Bend hampered their rankings later in the year. Still, the signature victory over the Pitt Panthers and subsequent wins over Holy Cross and Duquesne propelled them into a Sugar Bowl match-up with Texas Christian.

The TCU Horned Frogs were another strong program during the '38 season, led by Heisman Trophy recipient Quarterback Davey O'Brien. The young signal-caller took over the reins of the TCU offense after observing former Frog QB Sammy Baugh, who was lost to graduation. O'Brien was an exciting player as he was a dual threat to throw or run with the ball. Davey accumulated 1457 yards passing with 19 TD tosses in 1938. The native of Dallas also took home the prestigious Maxwell Award. O'Brien was the fourth overall pick in the first round of the 1939 NFL Draft, held in December 1938. The Philadelphia Eagles drafted him, and owner Bert Bell offered him a $12,000 bonus and a two-year contract. O'Brien signed with the team in March, becoming the first Heisman Trophy winner to play in the NFL.

The Horned Frogs registered a perfect record in 1938 under fifth-year head coach Dutch Meyer. Critical wins for TCU that season were knocking off Texas A&M by the score of 34-6 in week four and winning a season finale showdown with Southern Methodist to propel them into the Sugar Bowl game on New Year's Day against Number 6 Carnegie Tech. The Sugar Bowl was very contested, in which TCU prevailed 15-7.
 

In Fritz Crisler's first season as the program's head coach, the Wolverines sported a 6-1-1 record. Their Only setbacks were a 6-7 loss at Minnesota in week three and a late-season scoreless tie versus Northwestern.

Minnesota had a big letdown game after knocking off Michigan. The victory over the Wolverines must have drained the Giophers because the next week, they fell to Northwestern 3-6 and a few weeks later got blanked by Notre Dame to finish with a 6-2 mark at season's end.

Northwestern suffered a loss of their own after the emotional win over Minnesota, falling to Wisconsin and Notre Dame and tying Michigan in their final three games after going 4-0-1.

Tennessee 1938 Campaign

The Volunteers of the University of Tennessee also finished with a perfect 11-0 record on the season. Head coach Robert Neyland fielded a Vols squad that registered some thrilling victories on the season, which included shutout wins over their last four opponents, including rivals Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Ole Miss, and an undefeated, Number 4 ranked Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. The Vols also blanked a strong Alabama team early in the season, and the Tide ended up ranking in the top ten best teams in the country. Tennessee featured three All-American players: Bob Suffridge at guard, Bowden Wyatt at end, and George Cafego at tailback.

Notre Dame football team 1938 season

The Dickinson System awarded the Fighting Irish the Knute Rockne Award for being the number-one team in the AP Poll at the end of the regular season. Under Head Coach Elmer Layden, Notre Dame had an unblemished record on their first eight outings, defeating two ranked teams in Carnegie Tech, Minnesota, and Northwestern. The weakness of the Dickinson and the AP Poll in defining the best team in the country was exposed when the Irish fell to USC 13-0 after the last AP poll was posted.

The Rose Bowl

University of Southern California and Duke University. Under Coach Howard Jones, the Trojans came out of the Pacific Coast Conference with an 8-2 record, while the Blue Devils, guided by the wisdom of Head Coach Wade Wallace, were riding high on a 9-0 ledger. Not one point had been allowed by this vaunted Duke defense known as the "Iron Dukes", led by co-captains Dan Hill and Eric Tipton during the scheduled season. The contest was scoreless after three quarters. The Blue Devils took the lead with a 23-yard field goal. Duke had not been scored upon all season but with a minute remaining Southern Cal QB Doyle Nave entered the game and completed four stright passes to Al "the Antelope" Krueger. On the final one, Krueger put a move on Blue Devil Eric Tipton and scored the winning touchdown with one minute remaining. Krueger's touchdown marked the first points scored against Duke during the season.USC triumphed in this one 7-3.

The loss took Duke out of contention for the title.

The USC Trojans were not a top contender even though they knocked off ND in the season finale because Southern Cal lost their opener to Alabama and a late-season conference game to Washington.

Texas Christian: AP Poll, National Championship Foundation, Helms
Tennessee: CFB Researchers
Notre Dame: Dickinson System & AP Poll

The Tip-Top 25 website  points to Tennessee being a stronger candidate for the National Championship as the Vols outscored their opponents 293-16, and the Tennessee opposition had a winning record as a group at season's end, while TCU's cumulative opponents were slightly under .500 for the year.

The 1938 college football season was memorable and is considered one of the greatest seasons in college football history.