1935 TCU Horned Frogs football team

The 1935 TCU Horned Frogs football team represented Texas Christian University (TCU) in the 1935 college football season. One of the 13 selectors recognized as official by the NCAA (Williamson) recognize the 1935 TCU team as the co-national champion.[1]

1935 TCU Horned Frogs football
National champion (Williamson) Sugar Bowl champion
Sugar Bowl, W 3–2 vs. LSU
Conference	Southwestern Conference
1935 record	12–1 (5–1 SWC)
Head coach	Dutch Meyer (2nd season)
Home stadium	Amon G. Carter Stadium (Capacity: 22,000)

1935 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
SMU $	6	–	0	–	0			12	–	1	–	0
TCU	5	–	1	–	0			12	–	1	–	0
Baylor	3	–	3	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Rice	3	–	3	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Arkansas	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Texas A&M	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Texas	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
$ – Conference champion

TCU was led by second-year head coach Dutch Meyer. TCU and SMU again met to decide not only the SWC title but the first trip to the Rose Bowl for a team from the SWC. Grantland Rice of the New York Sun called it the "Game of the Century" and reported the following:

In a TCU Stadium that seated 30,000 spectators, over 36,000 wildly excited Texans and visitors from every corner of the map packed, jammed, and fought their way into every square foot of standing and seating space to see one of the greatest football games ever played…this tense, keyed up crowd even leaped the wire fences from the top of automobiles…"[2]

SMU scored the first 14 points of the game. TCU, led by All-American quarterback Sammy Baugh, tied the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Then, with seven minutes left in the game SMU, on a 4th and 4 on the Frogs' 37 yard-line, lined up to punt. Quarterback Bob Finley threw a 50-yard pass to running back Bobby Wilson who made what is described as a "jumping, twisting catch that swept him over the line for the touchdown."[2] TCU would lose the game 20–14, but would be invited to play the LSU Tigers in the 1936 Sugar Bowl, where the Frogs would be victorious 3–2 at messy and muddy Tulane Stadium.[3]

Even with the loss to SMU, who later lost to Stanford in the 1936 Rose Bowl, TCU claims 1935 as a national championship year.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
September 21	at Howard Payne*	Brownwood, TX	W 41–0
September 28	North Texas State Teachers*	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX	W 28–11
October 5	at Arkansas	The Hill Fayetteville, AR	W 13–7
October 12	at Tulsa*	Skelly Field Tulsa, OK	W 13–0	9,000
October 19	Texas A&M	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX	W 19–14
October 26	Centenary*	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX	W 27–7
November 2	at Baylor	Carroll Field Waco, TX (rivalry)	W 28–0
November 8	at Loyola (LA)*	New Orleans, LA	W 14–0
November 16	at Texas	War Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)	W 28–0
November 23	Rice	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX	W 27–6
November 30	SMU	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX (rivalry)	L 14–20
December 7	at Santa Clara*	Kezar Stadium San Francisco, CA	W 10–6
January 1, 1936	vs. LSU*	Tulane Stadium New Orleans, LA (Sugar Bowl)	W 3–2	35,000
*Non-conference game

[4]

References

1. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). "National Poll Champions" (PDF). 2011 NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA.org. p. 73. Retrieved April 3, 2012.
2. Jenkins, Dan; Fitzgerald, Francis J., eds. (1996). Greatest Moments in TCU football. AdCraft Sports Marketing. p. 55. ISBN 1-887761-04-7.
3. "1936 Game Recap".
4. "1935 Texas Christian Horned Frogs". College Football at Sports-Reference.com.