1927 AFCA Blue Ribbon Commission Champion

Teams named national champions by NCAA-designated selectors
(Underline: claimed title season; +: co-champion/split selection)

Other Possible Contenders

	Army	Georgia	Illinois	Minnesota	Notre Dame	Texas A&M	Yale
Overall Record	9-1	9-1	7-0-1	6-0-2	7-1-1	8-0-1	7-1
Opponent Win %	0.611	0.613	0.568	0.546	0.704	0.564	0.646
+.500 Opponents	7	8	3	2	7	6	4
Average PF-PA	19.7-3.7	24.8-3.8	19.0-3.0	26.1-3.8	17.6-6.3	29.1-3.6	19.6-4.0
FBS Record	4-1	8-1	5-0-1	5-0-2	6-1-1	5-0-1	6-1
FBS Opponent Win %	0.761	0.619	0.551	0.552	0.719	0.574	0.664
Average FBS PF-PA	13.0-6.2	24.7-3.2	12.5-6.0	21.7-5.9	16.3-5.3	31.0-5.3	16.6-4.6
Conference Record	Ind	5-1	5-0	3-0-1	Ind	5-0-1	Ind
Non-Home games	3	6	3	3	6^	4	1
SOS (S-R/BR)	34/44	16/16	15/7	7/15	2/3	69/51	5/11

There were 2 teams that I had initially looked at considering but ultimately didn’t pull the trigger on: unbeatens Tennessee and Washington & Jefferson. The Volunteers claim a share of the SoCon title but played a fairly weak schedule that featured no intersectional games. The only true game of consequence they had was against Vanderbilt, which ended in a tie. Same goes with Presidents, who played 5 non-FBS teams. While they did manage to tie Rose Bowl participant Pittsburgh, they also suffered a tie against a bad West Virginia team. FWIW, the Presidents did capture the CFB Belt (college football’s ‘lineal championship’) during the season and retained it through the end of the year.

Notre Dame would’ve easily been the best candidate had they managed not to suffer a loss and tie. The Irish played arguably the best schedule, with 7 of their opponents posting winning records, 6 games away from home (7 if you wish to treat the USC game in Chicago as a neutral site game), and defeating 2 conference champions. 5 of the Irish’s opponents were Top 25-caliber (Army, Georgia Tech, Minnesota, Navy, USC) and another just outside of consideration (Detroit). The tie against Minnesota probably could’ve been overcome; however, the shutout loss to Army was too much to overcome. Same could be said for the Cadets, who played a weaker schedule (5 non-FBS teams offset playing 3 Top 25-caliber opponents) and lost to fellow contender Yale. A win or tie in New Haven would’ve likely made Army the top team of the year in my opinion; however, I think they’d most likely be on the outside looking in.

Next, we’re going to looks at a couple of Bulldogs – Georgia and Yale to be exact. Both teams, who met almost annually from 1923-1934, were coming off average at best seasons the year prior and sporting 1-0 records going into their early season contest. The southern Bulldogs would snap an 0-4 start in the series with a 14-10 victory to become the 1st team from the Deep South to defeat Yale. Georgia’s ‘Dream and Wonder’ team would then go on to win 7 more games – all by double digits – against a schedule that featured 3 Top 25-caliber teams (Furman, Georgia Tech, Yale) and 6 games away from home. However, Georgia’s dream season would be crushed by a 12-0 loss to the archrival Yellow Jackets at the end of the season. Georgia Tech, who had seen potential national title hopes end with a loss to Notre Dame and a tie to Vanderbilt, would spend 3 weeks playing only their reserves while the starters would solely focus on practicing for the Bulldogs. The loss in a rain-soaked affair would cost Georgia any claim to the SoCon title, perhaps a trip to the Rose Bowl (following back-to-back trips by conference mate Alabama), and a surefire case before the BRC.

Yale, meanwhile, rebounded with a home-heavy schedule to win 6 straight games to end the season. Among those games were 3 Top 25-caliber opponents who would suffer their only losses at the hands of the northern Bulldogs (Army, Dartmouth, Princeton). The Georgia Tech upset negates the transitive chain that would’ve existed from Georgia/Yale over fellow contenders Army and Notre Dame, while allowing for chains from other contenders to link to them. When trying to split the hairs between these 2, it really comes down to the inflection points of head-to-head, timing of losses, SOS, number of home and away games, scoring margins, etc. Another aspect to take into consideration is the eligibility of star player Bruce Caldwell. Caldwell, a senior who had become the star player for the Bulldogs during the course of the season, was removed from the team with 2 games left after it was revealed he had played 2 games on Brown’s freshman team in 1923. Yale, Harvard, & Princeton had an agreement in place that players who played for another college were ineligible to play for them. This would have also made him a 5th-year player during a period of college athletic reforms. Despite national protests, along with requests from Princeton and Harvard that he be allowed to finish the remainder of the season, Yale would remove Caldwell from the team. If Caldwell’s ineligibility were to be treated by the BRC under present day Coaches Poll rules (which bars teams serving NCAA penalty from being ranked or retroactively strips them of a title if NCAA penalty affects a season retroactively), would Yale even be seriously considered under those circumstances?

Next, our 2 contenders from the Midwest, Big 10 co-champs Illinois and Minnesota. Both teams went unbeaten against similar schedules. The Illini played 2 non-FBS games compared to the Gophers’ 1, but all of their opponents finished no worse than .500 (Minnesota had 2 teams finish below .500 on the schedule). Minnesota, however, played 2 legitimate Top 25-caliber teams (Michigan, Notre Dame) while Illinois only played 1 (Michigan). The only other team the Illini played that was close to Top 25 consideration was against .500 Chicago. Illinois’ win over non-FBS Butler (who won their conference) is a better result in terms of opponent strength than Minnesota’s win over North Dakota. Minnesota performed much better against their opposition on the scoreboard than the Illini, including against common opponents Iowa and Michigan. Both teams had head-scratching ties: the Illini to Iowa State, the Gophers to Indiana (both teams are rated close to each other, mostly in top 50 of power ratings I’ve come across). While Minnesota tied Notre Dame on the road, it was the strongest opponent faced outside of their shared opponent Michigan and could be argued as better than any other win on Illinois’ schedule. To be honest, I don’t get the selector love that Illinois received for this season, as given that Michigan was the only significant opponent they faced and being tied by a mediocre Iowa State team. The Big 10 performed well in nonconference games, going 10-5-2 against FBS teams, which is probably what’s helping the Illini and Gophers’ schedule ratings despite the straight record of most of their opponents.

Finally, we get to our final remaining unbeaten on the contender list, SWC champion Texas A&M. At first glance, you notice the Aggies have the best scoring numbers of the contenders listed. Another thing noticed is that, according to the numbers, A&M has the worst SOS of the contenders, and their only intersectional game was against lowly Sewanee. However, this was a pretty strong year for the Southwest region, as 3 of their opponents (Arkansas, SMU, Texas) were Top 25-caliber. Arkansas went 8-1 on the year, with nonconference wins over LSU and Oklahoma State. SMU went 7-2 and soundly defeated MVIAA champion Missouri. Texas went 6-2-1, was the only team to defeat Vanderbilt (who tied SoCon co-champs Georgia Tech and Tennessee) and defeated a MVIAA foe of their own (Kansas State). The Aggies’ victories gave them a clean sweep over Top 25-caliber opposition, something none of the other contenders accomplished besides Illinois (who only played 1 such game). In addition, their wins over those 3 teams give them transitive chains over all of the other contenders I’ve listed: none of the contenders have a transitive chain that leads back to the Aggies. While A&M did suffer a scoreless tie to TCU, the Horned Frogs would’ve been just outside of being a Top 25 team based on most ratings I’ve come across, making them a better opponent than the team that tied Illinois.

If nothing else, 1927 weaved a pretty tangled web over who should be the rightful champion. The Blue Ribbon Commission in real life might not view it the same way I do, but I feel that Texas A&M has the best case to receive the retroactive Coaches Trophy. The Aggies performed the best against their schedule, having the best average scoring margins and a clean sweep over Top 25-caliber opposition. Add in the transitive advantages over the rest, I think they are the spider weaving the web and not 1 of the flies caught in it. Illinois, by virtue of having the most favor from NCAA-designated selectors, is probably a viable co-champion contender. If that’s the case, however, then I think Minnesota should be right alongside them because their body of work stacks up just as well against the Illini in my opinion. Georgia and Yale are probably a step behind them because of having 1 loss and because of trying to separate who has the best case of those 2 (in addition to how Yale would be viewed due to the Bruce Caldwell situation).

All 5 probably have a fair case to go before the BRC, and 3 in particular should be trying to see who is either the rightful champion or claiming co-champion honors. Texas A&M didn’t start claiming this as a title season until joining the SEC in 2012: submitting a claim to AFCA would probably help further legitimize their claim (and because we all know the SEC likes to claim titles). 1927 was considered the last great season for Yale, as Hall of Fame coach Tad Jones’ departure and the East region’s decline in the 1920s added a 1-2 punch to the Bulldogs’ fortunes going forward. By the time Yale produced another undefeated season, the Big 3 that had dominated the first half-century of the sport (Harvard, Princeton, and Yale) had isolated themselves to the East region – along with several other successful teams, away from meaningful intersectional play – while the rest of the nation had caught up in national relevance. Illinois has a weaker case for their 1927 team compared to their 1923 team, but this is also their last appearance in the BRC window. If the Illini wish to have some hardware on display for this season, they should be trying to make their case since they have contemporary favor over the other teams in question.

Tier 1 (Best Case to be awarded AFCA Trophy): Texas A&M
Tier 2 (Legitimate case for champion/co-champion): Illinois, Minnesota
Tier 3 (Minor Contender, could make a case): Georgia, Yale
Tier 4 (Not Serious Contenders): Army, Notre Dame