1937 college football season The 1937 college football season ended with the Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh being named the nation ’ s # 1 team ( and mythical national champion ) by 30 of the 33 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 18 . 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 . With 33 writers polled , Pitt received 30 first place votes and 3 second - place , for a total of 327 points . Major conferences that existed in 1936 were the Western Conference ( today ' s Big Ten ) , the Pacific Coast Conference ( now the Pac - 10 ) , the Southeastern Conference ( SEC ) , the old Southern Conference ( whose members later played in the ACC ) , the Big Six ( later the Big 8 ) and the Southwest Conference . September . September 25 The defending champion Minnesota Gophers opened their season with a 69 - 7 win over visiting North Dakota State . LSU beat Florida , 19 - 0 . Alabama beat Samford 41 - 0 . California won 30 - 7 over St . Mary ’ s . In Seattle , Washington beat Iowa , 14 - 0 . The day before , Pittsburgh had opened with a 59 - 0 win over Ohio Wesleyan . October . October 2 Minnesota lost at Nebraska , 14 - 9 . LSU defeated Texas 9 - 0 . Pittsburgh won at West Virginia , 20 - 0 . In Birmingham , Alabama beat Sewanee , 65 - 0 . In Los Angeles , Washington defeated USC , 7 - 0 . California beat Oregon State , 24 - 6 . Yale beat Maine , 26 - 0 . October 9 In Houston , LSU defeated Rice , 13 - 0 . Pittsburgh beat its cross - town rival , Duquesne , 6 - 0 . Alabama beat South Carolina , 20 - 0 . All three teams had held their opposition scoreless . California defeated Washington State 27 - 0 . Washington lost to Oregon State , 6 - 3 . Yale beat Penn , 27 - 7 . Minnesota recovered from its Nebraska loss to beat Indiana 6 - 0 . October 16 LSU registered its fourth shutout in four starts , a 13 - 0 win over Ole Miss . Pittsburgh and Fordham played to a 0 - 0 tie in New York . Alabama yielded its first points , but won at Tennessee , 14 - 7 . California beat ( later UC - Davis ) 14 - 0 and Pacific , 20 - 0 , in a doubleheader . Yale defeated Army , 15 - 7 . Minnesota won at Michigan , 39 - 6 . In the first poll taken , California was # 1 , followed by Alabama , Pittsburgh , Minnesota and Yale . LSU , despite a 54 - 0 scoring edge over its opposition , was sixth . October 23 # 1 California beat # 11 USC 20 - 6 . In Washington , # 2 Alabama defeated GWU , 19 - 0 . # 3 Pittsburgh won at # 16 Wisconsin 26 - 6 . # 4 Minnesota was idle . # 5 Yale beat # 19 Cornell , 9 - 0 . The next top five was 1 . California 2 . Pittsburgh 3 . Alabama 4 . Minnesota 5 . Yale October 30 In Los Angeles , # 1 California defeated UCLA 27 - 14 , while in Pittsburgh , the # 2 Pitt Panthers beat Carnegie Tech , 25 - 14 . # 3 Alabama beat Kentucky , 41 - 0 . # 4 Minnesota lost to Notre Dame , 7 - 6 , and # 5 Yale and # 9 Dartmouth played to a 9 - 9 tie . # 6 Baylor , which reached 6 - 0 - 0 with a 6 - 0 win over TCU , and # 10 Fordham , which won at # 15 North Carolina , 14 - 0 , reached the next Top Five . The next top five was 1 . California 2 . Alabama 3 . Pittsburgh 4 . Baylor 5 . Fordham November . November 6 # 1 California and Washington played to a 0 - 0 tie . In New Orleans , # 2 Alabama beat # 19 Tulane , 9 - 6 . # 3 Pittsburgh won at # 12 Notre Dame , 21 - 6 to take the top spot in the next poll . # 4 Baylor lost to unranked Texas , 9 - 6 . # 5 Fordham beat Purdue , 21 - 3 . # 9 Dartmouth , which beat Princeton 33 - 9 , reached the next Top Five : 1 . Pittsburgh 2 . California 3 . Alabama 4 . Fordham 5 . Dartmouth November 13 # 1 Pittsburgh defeated visiting # 11 Nebraska , 13 - 7 . In Portland , # 2 California beat Oregon , 26 - 0 . In Birmingham , # 3 Alabama beat Georgia Tech , 7 - 0 . # 4 Fordham was idle . # 5 Dartmouth and Cornell played to a 6 - 6 tie . # 6 Yale returned to the Top Five with a 26 - 0 win over Princeton : 1 . Pittsburgh 2 . California 3 . Alabama 4 . Fordham 5 . Yale November 20 # 1 Pittsburgh beat Penn State , 28 - 7 . # 2 California won at # 13 Stanford , 13 - 0 , to finish at 9 - 0 - 1 . # 3 Alabama was idle . # 4 Fordham beat St . Mary ’ s , 6 - 0 . # 5 Yale lost its final game of the season , 13 - 6 , at Harvard . # 7 Minnesota closed its season with a 13 - 6 win over Wisconsin to return to the Top Five : 1 . Pittsburgh 2 . California 3 . Fordham 4 . Alabama 5 . Minnesota On Thanksgiving Day , # 4 Alabama beat # 12 Vanderbilt 9 - 7 in Nashville . Then , on November 27 # 1 Pittsburgh closed its season unbeaten ( 8 - 0 - 1 ) with a 10 - 0 win at # 18 Duke . # 3 Fordham closed its season unbeaten ( 7 - 0 - 1 ) with a 20 - 7 win over NYU at Yankee Stadium . # 2 California and # 5 Minnesota had completed their seasons . 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 .