1938 college football season The 1938 college football season ended with the Horned Frogs of Texas Christian University ( TCU ) being named the nation ’ s # 1 team by 55 of the 77 electors in the Associated Press writers ' poll . The AP poll was in its second year , and seven votes were taken during the final weeks of the 1937 season , starting with October 17 . Each writer listed his choice for the top ten teams , and points were tallied based on 10 for first place , 9 for second , etc . , and the AP then ranked the twenty teams with the highest number of points . September . September 24 Defending champion Pittsburgh beat West Virginia , 19 - 0 . California defeated St . Mary ’ s 12 - 7 . In Los Angeles , Alabama beat USC 19 - 7 . Minnesota defeated Washington 15 - 0 , and Dartmouth beat Bates 46 - 0 . October . October 1 Alabama defeated Samford 34 - 0 , Fordham beat Upsala 47 - 0 , Dartmouth beat St Lawrence 51 - 0 , and Notre Dame beat Kansas 52 - 0 . Pitt defeated Temple 28 - 6 , California beat Washington State 27 - 3 , and Minnesota beat Nebraska 16 - 7 . October 8 Minnesota defeated Purdue 7 - 0 . Alabama beat North Carolina State 14 - 0 . Dartmouth stayed unscored upon , winning at Princeton 22 - 0 . Pittsburgh beat cross - town rival Duquesne 27 - 0 . Fordham beat Waynesburg College 53 - 0 . California played a double - header for the fans , with the reserves beating the California Agricultural school ( lager UC - Davis ) 48 - 0 , and the varsity and reserves beating College of the Pacific 39 - 0 . In Atlanta , Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech 14 - 6 October 15 Pittsburgh won at Wisconsin 26 - 6 . California defeated UCLA 20 - 7 . Dartmouth beat Brown 34 - 13 , and Notre Dame beat Illinois 14 - 6 . Minnesota edged Michigan , 7 - 6 . Fordham was tied by Purdue 6 - 6 , and in Birmingham , Alabama was shut out by Tennessee , 13 - 0 . When the first round of balloting was finished , the defending champion Panthers were again # 1 , followed by Minnesota , California , Dartmouth and Notre Dame . October 22 # 1 Pittsburgh beat SMU 34 - 7 . # 2 Minnesota was idle . # 3 California won at Seattle over Washington 14 - 7 . # 4 Dartmouth won at Harvard 13 - 7 . # 5 Notre Dame beat # 13 Carnegie Tech 7 - 0 . In San Francisco , # 6 Santa Clara beat Arkansas 21 - 6 in San Francisco , while in Milwaukee , # 7 TCU beat Marquette 21 - 0 , and the two winners replaced Dartmouth and Notre Dame in the Top Five : 1 . Pittsburgh 2 . Minnesota 3 . California 4 . TCU 5 . Santa Clara . October 29 # 1 Pittsburgh beat # 9 Fordham , 24 - 13 . # 2 Minnesota fell to # 12 Northwestern , 6 - 3 . # 3 California beat Oregon State 13 - 7 . # 4 TCU beat Baylor 39 - 7 , and # 5 Santa Clara won at Michigan State 7 - 6 . # 6 Dartmouth won at Yale 24 - 6 and # 7 Notre Dame beat Army in Yankee Stadium , 19 - 7 , and both returned to the Top Five : 1 . Pittsburgh 2 . TCU 3 . California 4 . Notre Dame 5 . Dartmouth November . November 5 In Pittsburgh , the # 1 Panthers lost to # 19 Carnegie Tech , 20 - 10 . # 2 TCU won at Tulsa 21 - 0 . # 3 California lost at # 13 , USC 13 - 7 . In Baltimore , # 4 Notre Dame beat Navy 15 - 0 . # 5 Dartmouth beat Dickinson College , 44 - 6 . # 6 Tennessee beat Chattanooga 45 - 0 to extend its record to 7 - 0 - 0 . The Horned Frogs of TCU leaped into the top spot : 1 . TCU 2 . Notre Dame 3 . Pittsburgh 4 . Tennessee 5 . Dartmouth November 12 # 1 TCU beat Texas 28 - 6 . # 2 Notre Dame beat # 12 Minnesota 19 - 0 . # 3 Pittsburgh beat Nebraska 19 - 0 . # 4 Tennessee won at Vanderbilt 14 - 0 . # 5 Dartmouth lost at # 20 Cornell 14 - 7 . # 7 Duke remained unbeaten ( 7 - 0 - 0 ) , untied , and unscored upon with a 21 - 0 win at Syracuse . In the next poll , the Irish moved up to the top rung : 1 . Notre Dame 2 . TCU 3 . Tennessee 4 . Duke 5 . Pittsburgh November 19 # 1 Notre Dame won at # 16 Northwestern 9 - 7 . # 2 TCU won at Rice 29 - 7 . # 3 Tennessee was idle as it prepared for a holiday game . # 4 Duke beat N . C . State , 7 - 0 . # 5 Pittsburgh beat Penn State 26 - 0 . The rankings shuffled to 1 . Notre Dame 2 . TCU 3 . Duke 4 . Pittsburgh 5 . Tennessee . On Thanksgiving Day # 5 Tennessee beat Kentucky 46 - 0 , while # 6 Oklahoma beat OK State . Two days later , November 26 , # 1 Notre Dame remained idle . # 2 TCU beat SMU in Dallas , 20 - 7 . # 3 Duke and # 4 Pittsburgh met at Durham , with the hosts winning 7 - 0 . With a record of 9 - 0 - 0 , Duke had outscored its opponents 114 - 0 , but stayed in third in the final rankings : 1 . Notre Dame 2 . TCU 3 . Duke 4 . Pittsburgh 5 . Tennessee . On December 3 , # 1 Notre Dame lost in Los Angeles to # 7 USC , 13 - 0 , and fell from grace to fifth place . # 2 TCU received 55 first place votes and , as national champion , accepted a bid to the Sugar Bowl . # 4 Tennessee beat Ole Miss 47 - 0 in Memphis , and moved up to second place . Though the SEC champion would be Sugar Bowl bound in later years , a # 1 vs . # 2 match was not to be had , as Tennessee instead took a bid for the Orange Bowl . # 3 Duke stayed in third place , despite having never been scored upon in 1938 , and accepted an invitation to the Rose Bowl . # 5 Oklahoma , which beat Washington State 28 - 0 , and moved up to fourth place . Both unbeaten and untied at 10 - 0 - 0 , Tennessee and Oklahoma would meet in Miami , but the title had been awarded to 10 - 0 - 0 TCU . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Final Associated Press Poll . Prior to 1968 the final AP Poll was released before the bowl games were played .