1936 College Football Recap
The first national championship chosen by the Associated Press sportswriters' poll was a controversial one. Minnesota, winner in seven of eight regular season games, was named No.1 but AP ranked Northwestern, the only team to beat the Gophers, a distant seventh. The Wildcats, who also went 7–1, ended Minnesota's 28–game unbeaten streak in late October and won the Western Conference (Big Ten) championship. They moved up to the top of the poll but three weeks later were trounced, 26–6, by No.11 Notre Dame.
LSU and Pittsburgh placed second and third in the voting. The Tigers were 9–0–1 through the regular season, but lost to Santa Clara by a touchdown in the Sugar Bowl. Pitt went 7–1–1 then shut out Washington, 21–0, for its first Rose Bowl victory in four attempts. Arkansas won the Southwest Conference, but Texas Christian was invited to the first Cotton Bowl. Why? It was Horned Frog quarterback Sammy Baugh's final college game. Baugh went out a winner, beating Marquette, 16–6.
In New York, Yale end Larry Kelley was named the outstanding player in the nation and given the second Downtown Athletic Club Trophy. The DAC renamed the award the “Heisman Trophy” in October following the death of former college coach and club athletic director John W. Heisman.
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