1928 college football season The 1928 college football season had the USC Trojans recognized as champions under the Dickinson System , but the Rose Bowl was contested between the # 2 and # 3 teams , California and Georgia Tech . The game was decided by a safety scored by Roy " Wrong Way " Riegels , which gave Georgia Tech an 8 - 7 win . Major conferences that existed in 1928 were the Western Conference ( precursor to the Big Ten Conference ) , the Pacific Coast Conference ( now the Pac - 10 ) , the Big Six ( forerunner of the Big 12 ) , the Southwest Conference , and the Southern Conference ( whose members later formed the SEC and the ACC ) . At season ' s end , the Rissman Cup was awarded to the team that finished first in the " Dickinson ratings " , which considered strength of schedule , in that a win , loss or tie against a " strong " opponent was worth more than one against a lesser team , and the results were averaged . September . September 29 . Army beat Boston University 35 - 0 . New York University ( NYU ) beat Niagara College 21 - 0 . Pennsylvania def Ursinus 34 - 0 . California beat Santa Clara 22 - 0 and USC beat Utah State , 40 - 12 . Texas beat its crosstown neighbor , Austin ' s St . Edward ' s College , 32 - 0 . October . October 6 . Nebraska opened its season with a 12 - 0 win at Iowa State . Army narrowly beat the visiting SMU Mustangs , 14 - 13 . NYU beat West Virginia Wesleyan , 26 - 7 . Pennsylvania def . Franklin & Marshall 46 - 0 . Texas beat Texas Tech 12 - 0 . After losing 2 games out of 3 to non - college opponents , Stanford won at Oregon 26 - 12 ; USC beat visiting Oregon State 19 - 0 . California beat St . Mary ' s , 7 - 0 Wisconsin beat visiting Notre Dame , 22 - 6 . Georgia Tech beat VMI , 13 - 0 . Illinois beat Bradley , 33 - 6 . Iowa played a Sunday game against Monmouth College , winning 26 - 0 . October 13 . Stanford beat visiting UCLA 45 - 7 , and California beat Washington State , 13 - 3 . USC defeated St . Mary ' s , 19 - 6 . In New Orleans , Georgia Tech beat Tulane , 12 - 0 , and in Dallas , Texas narrowly lost to Vanderbilt , 13 - 12 . Pennsylvania shut out Swarthmore 67 - 0 . NYU defeated Fordham * 34 - 7 . Army shut out Providence 44 - 0 . Nebraska beat Montana State , 26 - 6 . Iowa won at Chicago , 13 - 0 , while Illinois hosted Iowa ' s Coe College , winning 31 - 0 Wisconsin hosted Cornell College of Iowa , and North Dakota State University , with the varsity winning the first game 49 - 0 , and the reserves beating the Dakotans 13 - 7 . October 20 . In Berkeley , California and USC played to a 0 - 0 tie . With the exception of this game , USC played all of its other contests at home in Los Angeles in 1928 . Georgia Tech shut out Notre Dame at home , 13 - 0 . Army won at Harvard 15 - 0 . NYU beat Rutgers * 48 - 0 . Pennsylvania recorded its fourth shutout , beating Penn State 14 - 0 . In San Francisco , Stanford beat Idaho , 47 - 0 . Wisconsin and Purdue tied 19 - 19 , and Illinois beat Indiana 13 - 7 . Iowa beat Ripon College , 61 - 6 . Nebraska edged visiting Syracuse , 7 - 6 . Texas beat Arkansas , 20 - 7 . After its first two wins over Ashland College ( 65 - 0 ) and Thiel ( 38 - 13 ) , Carnegie Tech beat Washington & Jefferson , 19 - 0 . October 27 . Army won at Yale , 18 - 6 . NYU beat Colgate 47 - 6 . Pennsylvania ( 4 - 0 - 0 ) was upset by ( 1 - 3 - 0 ) Navy , 6 - 0 . Prior to that , Penn had outscored its opponents 161 - 0 . USC beat Occidental 19 - 0 . Stanford beat Fresno State , 47 - 0 . Wisconsin won at Michigan , 7 - 0 , and Iowa beat Minnesota , 7 - 6 , while Illinois beat Northwestern 6 - 0 . Carnegie Tech beat Pittsburgh , 6 - 0 . Georgia Tech yielded its first points , winning at North Carolina , 20 - 7 . Nebraska shut out Missouri , 24 - 0 , and Texas won at Rice , 13 - 6 . California lost to the Olympic Club of San Francisco , 12 - 0 . Olympic , nominally an amateur team of former college players , had beaten Stanford 12 - 6 earlier . November . November 3 . In Los Angeles , USC ( 4 - 0 - 1 ) and Stanford ( 5 - 2 - 0 ) met , with the Trojans winning 10 - 0 . Wisconsin beat visiting Alabama , 15 - 0 , while 4 - 0 - 0 Illinois suffered its first loss , at Michigan , 3 - 0 . California beat Oregon , 13 - 0 . Nebraska won at Kansas , 20 - 0 . Texas lost to visiting SMU , 6 - 2 . Pennsylvania won at Chicago , 20 - 13 . NYU and Georgetown University , both 5 - 0 - 0 , with the Hoyas winning 7 - 2 . Army beat Indiana ' s DePauw College , 38 - 12 . Iowa defeated visiting South Dakota , 19 - 0 . Carnegie Tech extended its streak , with a 32 - 0 win over Westminster College of Pennsylvania , and Georgia Tech beat visiting Oglethorpe College 32 - 7 . November 10 . Army ( 6 - 0 - 0 ) hosted Notre Dame ( 4 - 2 - 0 ) . A crowd of 90 , 000 packed the stands while 5 , 000 others in the Bronx watched from roofs and fire escapes within view of Yankee Stadium . Though the Fighting Irish weren ' t having a good year , the score was 0 - 0 when Knute Rockne inspired his team at halftime by relating George Gipp ' s deathbed wish ( " When the team ' s up against it , when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys — tell them to go in there with all they ' ve got and win just one for the Gipper " ) . Though Army scored a touchdown in the third quarter , touchdowns by Jack Chevigny and Johnny O ' Brien gave the Irish a 12 - 6 lead . In the final minute , Army drove to within one foot of the goal line , but the whistle sounded before the Cadets could snap the ball . In the " New York Daily News " the following Monday , reporter Francis Wallace first related the story in an article entitled , " Gipp ' s Ghost Beat Army . " The big game in the South was in Atlanta , where Vanderbilt ( 6 - 0 - 0 ) visited Georgia Tech ( 5 - 0 - 0 ) , and the home team won 19 - 7 . Texas won at Baylor , 6 - 0 . Wisconsin defeated Chicago , 25 - 0 , and Iowa won at Ohio State , 14 - 7 . In Indianapolis , Illinois beat Butler , 14 - 0 . Pennsylvania won at Harvard , 7 - 0 NYU beat Alfred University , 71 - 0 . USC beat Arizona , 78 - 7 , Stanford beat Santa Clara 31 - 0 , and California won at Washington , 6 - 0 . Carnegie Tech won at Georgetown , 13 - 7 . Nebraska , which had not played Oklahoma during the last two seasons , renewed a rivalry that became one of the most notable in college football . Playing at Oklahoma , the Cornhuskers won 44 - 6 . November 17 . Iowa ( 6 - 0 - 0 ) hosted Wisconsin ( 6 - 0 - 1 ) in a meeting of unbeatens , with the visitors handing the Hawkeyes their first loss , 13 - 0 . Illinois won at Chicago , 40 - 0 . Georgia Tech beat Alabama at home , 33 - 13 . Nebraska ( 6 - 0 - 0 ) hosted the ( 5 - 2 - 0 ) Pitt Panthers , and were tied , 0 - 0 . Pennsylvania beat Columbia 34 - 7 NYU beat Missouri , 27 - 6 . Army beat Carleton , 32 - 7 . Texas beat a strong TCU team , 6 - 0 . USC won again , defeating Washington State , 27 - 13 , while Stanford beat Washington , 12 - 0 , California rolled over visiting Nevada , 60 - 0 . ( 6 - 0 - 0 ) Carnegie Tech won at ( 5 - 2 - 0 ) Notre Dame , 27 - 7 . November 24 . Carnegie Tech ( 7 - 0 - 0 ) and NYU ( 7 - 1 - 0 ) met at Pittsburgh . The Violets handed Tech its first defeat , 27 - 13 . Georgia Tech crushed visiting Auburn , 51 - 0 . Auburn won only 1 of its 9 games , and scored in only two of those contests . Army ( 7 - 1 - 0 ) and Nebraska ( 6 - 0 - 1 ) met at West Point , with the Cadets beating the visiting Cornhuskers , 13 - 3 Stanford and California tied at Berkeley , 13 - 13 . USC beat Idaho , 28 - 7 . November 29 . On Thanksgiving Day , Pennsylvania beat Cornell 49 - 0 . Overall , the Penn Quakers had outscored their opponents 271 to 26 , and finished 8 - 1 - 0 . NYU closed its season with a 25 - 13 loss to visiting Oregon State , and finished 8 - 2 - 0 . Wisconsin hosted Minnesota , and suffered its first loss , a 6 - 0 defeat , to close at 7 - 1 - 1 . After starting the season 6 - 0 , Iowa closed with a second loss , at Michigan , 10 - 7 , to finish 6 - 2 - 0 . Illinois closed at 7 - 1 - 0 after beating visiting Ohio State , 8 - 0 . Nebraska closed its season with an 8 - 0 win over Kansas State , and Texas wrapped with a 19 - 0 win over Texas A & M . December 1 . Army and Stanford met at Yankee Stadium , with Stanford shutting the Cadets out , 26 - 0 . In Los Angeles , USC hosted Notre Dame , winning 27 - 14 , to close its season at 9 - 0 - 1 . December 8 . Georgia Tech hosted Georgia and won 20 – 6 , closing regular play at 9 – 0 , before the Yellow Jackets ' trip to the Rose Bowl . The Jackets finished 7 – 0 in Southern Conference play , assuring themselves of at least a share of the conference title . In one of the final games of the 1928 season , once - tied Tennessee hosted unbeaten Florida in Knoxville . For coach Charlie Bachman ' s Florida Gators , a share of the Southern Conference title stake was at stake ; coach Robert Neyland ' s Tennessee Volunteers were playing for pride . Tennessee edged Florida , 13 – 12 . Florida finished 8 – 1 , Tennessee 9 – 0 – 1 , and unbeaten and untied Georgia Tech won the conference championship outright . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Dickinson System . The AP sportswriters ' poll would not begin continuously until 1936 . ( although , the first time was a one instance publishing in 1934 ) 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 rankings . Professor Dickinson concluded that the University of Southern California Trojans were " the national football champions of America for 1928 " . Unbeaten and untied Georgia Tech was ranked third because , Dickinson said , " its schedule was easier than the other contenders " . The final ratings : On January 4 , 1929 , the Jack F . Rissman national intercollegiate trophy was presented by Professor Dickinson to the USC football squad , and Coach Howard Jones , at a student rally on the Los Angeles campus . For the benefit of the crowd , Dickinson added " that even had he taken into consideration the victory of Georgia Tech over California on New Year ' s Day that the University of Southern California would have still be rated at the top , " though Georgia Tech would have ranked second instead of third after its Rose Bowl win 1929 Rose Bowl . As the lone post - season college football game , the Rose Bowl matched the California Golden Bears , co - champions ( with USC ) of the Pacific Coast Conference , against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets , nicknamed the " Golden Tornado " as well as the " champions of the South " . In the second quarter , the Jackets were on their own 25 yard line , when Warner Mizell fumbled the football . Playing linebacker , California center Roy Riegels scooped up the fumble at the 34 and dashed , unimpeded , toward the end zone . Unfortunately , Riegels had gotten turned around and ran downfield toward the California goal . Though Riegels was not tackled in his own end zone , California chose to punt from there on first down , and Benny Lom ' s kick was blocked by Tech ' s Tom Jones , and Cal ' s Stan Barr fell on the ball for the safety . Georgia Tech ' s 2 - 0 lead at halftime was extended to 8 - 0 after Stumpy Thomason ran for 15 yards for a score , and the conversion failed . Lom ' s pass to Irv Phillips , and Barr ' s extra point , made it 8 - 7 with a minute left . An onside kick attempt failed , and Georgia Tech ran out the clock to win the other mythical national championship .