page_title: Pittsburgh Panthers football
section_title: Jock Sutherland era (1924–1938)
hierarchical_section_title: Pittsburgh Panthers football / History / Jock Sutherland era (1924–1938)
caption_attribution_description: The Pittsburgh Panther undefeated National Championship team coached by Jock Sutherland. Members included in the picture are:Horton, Yocos, Kapurka, Soroka, Shea, Fleming, Herlinger, Shord, Stapulis, Goodell, Cassiano, Dalle Tezze, GoldbergBarr, Kish, Daddio, Urban, Curry, Peace, Schmidt, Raskowski, Morrow, Klein, C. Cambal, Richards, Patrick, Shaw, GrossmanMusulin, Walton, Michelosen, Adams, Lezouski, Stebbins, Asavitch, Merkovsky, Hensley, Souchak, Delich, Miller, Etze, SutherlandPetro, Farkas, J. Cambal, Corace, Chickerneo, Naric, Holt, Spotovich, Hafer, Dannies, Fullerton, Berger, Jackman, Kristufek, Dickinson
context_page_description: The Pittsburgh Panthers football program is the intercollegiate football team of the University of Pittsburgh, often referred to as "Pitt", in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Traditionally the most popular sport at the university, Pitt football has played at the highest level of American college football competition, now termed the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, since the beginning of the school's official sponsorship of the sport in 1890. As of the 2013 season, Pitt competes as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
  Pitt claims nine national championships and is among the top 20 college football programs in terms of all-time wins. Its teams have featured many coaches and players notable throughout the history of college football, including, among all schools, the 12th most College Football Hall of Fame inductees, the 12th most consensus All-Americans, and the fifth most Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees. The Panthers are currently coached by Pat Narduzzi.
context_section_description: A natural replacement for Warner was Dr. John Bain "Jock" Sutherland, Warner's former All-American guard on the 1915 and 1916 national championship teams and 1917 undefeated team. A native of Coupar Angus in Scotland, Sutherland had graduated from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Dentistry, where he later served as faculty. Sutherland had served a tour in the Army and later achieved success as the head coach of Lafayette College from 1919 to 1923, leading the Leopards to the 1921 Eastern Collegiate Championship and shutting out Warner's Pitt teams in 1921 and 1922. So it was in 1924 that Sutherland returned to his alma mater to assume the head coaching duties with the goal of constructing dominant teams built on power and speed. After a 5–3–1 record in his first season, Sutherland's second season kicked off the Panthers' first in the newly constructed Pitt Stadium and saw the team achieve an 8–1 record and win the 1925 Eastern Championship. The following year, the Panthers featured Gibby Welch, who led the nation in rushing in 1926 and helped Pitt to the Eastern Championship and its first bowl game, the Rose Bowl, in 1927. Pitt, ironically, lost the Rose Bowl 7–6 to a Stanford team headed by the Panthers' former coach, "Pop" Warner. In 1929, Pitt went undefeated in the regular season, the first of four undefeated regular seasons under Sutherland, and won the Eastern Championship, but lost its second appearance in the Rose Bowl to USC. Bowls at the time were still considered by many to be exhibition games, and the loss did not prevent football historian Parke Davis from naming Pitt as that season's national champion.
  The 1930 season, at 6–2–1, was a rebuilding one for Sutherland, and was marked by a loss to Notre Dame that would be the only meeting between Sutherland and Knute Rockne due to his death in a 1931 plane crash. The Irish also spoiled Pitt's perfect season in a 1931 game at South Bend, although the Panthers finished 8–1 with six shutouts, including a 40–0 dismantling of Nebraska. That season also saw Pitt defeat Penn State in State College, using only one first-string player, by a score of 41–6 en route to winning the Eastern Championship. These accomplishments would prompt Parke Davis to again name the Panthers national champions. Pitt would exact revenge at home the following season by shutting out Notre Dame 12–0, and would also upend undefeated Penn in Philadelphia, as well as shut out Stanford at home on their way to the 1932 Eastern Championship. However, the season ended when the Panthers, in their third Rose Bowl, were again defeated by USC. The 1933 season was spoiled only by a 7–3 loss at Minnesota in which the Panthers fumbled twice inside their own 5-yard line. Minnesota would best Pitt again in 1934, when the Panthers squandered a third quarter lead to lose 13–7 to the undefeated Gophers. However, in 1934 Pitt also won at Nebraska 25–6, shut out Notre Dame 19–0, its third victory in a row over the Irish, and got revenge for the previous Rose Bowl losses to USC by defeating the Trojans 20–6 at Pitt Stadium. With these victories Pitt was named Eastern Champions as well as being awarded a share of the national championship by Parke Davis. Pitt underwent rebuilding in 1935, going 7–1–2. Of historic note, in 1935, Pitt battled then football powerhouse Fordham, who featured the Seven Blocks of Granite which included guard Vince Lombardi, to the first of what would be three consecutive scoreless ties at New York City's Polo Grounds. Pitt ended the season with a 12–7 win at USC.
  One of the greatest back-to-back stretches in Pitt football history occurred during the 1936 and 1937 seasons which featured Heisman Trophy candidate and Hall of Fame running back Marshall Goldberg. In 1936, Pitt shut out five of its opponents, including a 34–0 win over West Virginia, a 6–0 victory at Ohio State, and a 26–0 win over Notre Dame in which the Irish did not achieve a first down until late in the third quarter. The Panthers also won at Nebraska 19–6 and defeated Penn State 24–7. Only the second of three consecut
caption: The 1937 undefeated national championship team
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