...shows just how much college football has changed in the last 70 years. The Associated Press began publishing its final poll of sports writers in 1936. The first "unofficial" national champion was Minnesota, a team ranked in the current top twenty-five just a week ago. But run down the list a little further and you will find Santa Clara (who?) ranked sixth ahead of Notre Dame, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Arkansas. In fact, a total of five Catholic schools made the list, the other three being Fordham, Marquette, and Duquesne (who?). Fordham's offensive line even had a nickname, "the seven blocks of granite," which included the legendary Vince Lombardi. Also, three teams from the Ivy League were represented: Penn, Yale, and Dartmouth.
In 1937, Fordham finished the season ranked number three, ahead of such modern-day powerhouses as Alabama and LSU. Again, five Catholic schools were represented as Villanova and Holy Cross joined the list. And the Ivy League had two teams, Dartmouth and Yale, that placed ahead of Ohio State.
The name that stands out the most in the rankings for 1938 is Carnegie Tech (who?) which came in at number six, ahead of USC, Alabama, and Michigan. Holy Cross finished in the top ten that year for the only time in their history and Texas Tech was ranked number eleven. I guess there's more of a tradition there than I realized.
1939 was notable as the only time an Ivy League team finished in the top five. Cornell came in at number four, ahead of Notre Dame, Ohio State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Michigan. Once again, five Catholic schools made the top twenty as Boston College joined their ranks for the first time. Apparently there was football at BC before Doug Flutie was even born.
In my next posting, we'll take a look at the 1940s. I found something really interesting there, too.
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