AFCA Blue Ribbon Commission Champion 1929

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

Other Possible Contenders

	Notre Dame	Pittsburgh	Purdue	Tennessee	Tulane	USC	Utah
Record	9-0	9-1	8-0	9-0-1	9-0	10-2	7-0
Opponent Win %	0.575	0.598	0.471	0.527	0.420	0.675	0.482
+.500 Opponents	6	8	3	6	4	8	4
Average PF-PA	16.1-4.2	29.1-9.0	23.4-5.5	33.0-1.3	31.0-5.0	41.0-5.8	31.3-3.5
FBS Record	9-0	7-1	7-0	6-0-1	7-0	8-2	6-0
FBS Opponent Win %	0.575	0.627	0.468	0.516	0.427	0.693	0.511
Average FBS PF-PA	16.1-4.2	24.8-10.4	23.0-5.3	28.1-1.9	25.6-5.6	36.0-6.2	31.3-3.8
Conference Record	Independent	Independent	5-0	6-0-1	6-0	6-1	6-0
Non-Home games	6^	4	3	3	2	4	3
SOS (S-R/BR)	3/8	28/27	24/25	66/32	78/57	11/5	69/50

I ultimately chose to withhold the following teams from in-depth analysis: Colgate, Fordham, and TCU. Colgate and Fordham each received a CFBDW selection and typically won by impressive margins (Fordham also held the CFB Belt at year’s end) but both teams had schedules that were lesser than. Add in that neither really faced a bonafide Top 25-caliber opponent and I’m already dealing with NCAA-designated selections with at least 1 blemish, they were easy to leave off. Same with SWC champ TCU, who played more teams in Top 25 consideration and more away games than the 2 teams mentioned and majority of the contenders. They also played 5 non-FBS teams and were tied by their lone Top 25-caliber opponent (SMU). They played no intersectional games and lacked any selector backing to help boost their case.

There are 2 teams in the contender pool that I think from the get-go won’t receive serious consideration. Pittsburgh had a great regular season, finishing as the top team in the East at the end of the regular season with 3 wins pushing Top 25 consideration (Carnegie Tech, Nebraska, Ohio State). The Panthers were picked to play in the Rose Bowl, only to get humiliated by Top 5-rated USC. Parke Davis’ selection of them as a national champion is very bad in that retrospect; the Panthers claiming this as a title season is even worse. Speaking of the Trojans, if you looked at their SOS, scoring numbers, and that they played 6 potential Top 25-caliber teams (California, Carnegie Tech, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Washington State) without seeing their overall record, you would probably assume that they were the best team in the nation – and 1 contemporary NCAA selector did. However, losses to the Bears and Fighting Irish would hamstring those title hopes by giving the Trojans the worst record among contenders.

Up next, we have 2 unbeatens from the South, Tennessee and Tulane. The Volunteers, who played 2 Top 25-caliber teams (Kentucky, Vanderbilt) and 1 that probably would’ve been pushing consideration (Alabama), have a better schedule and better scoring numbers against that schedule compared to Tulane. The Green Wave, meanwhile, only had 2 games against teams that would’ve been pushing Top 25 consideration (Georgia, Texas A&M). However, Tulane managed to finish with a perfect record and their nonconference win over the Aggies was better than anything on Tennessee’s non-conference slate (which was all non-FBS). The Volunteers suffered a tie to Kentucky that prevented them from finishing atop the SoCon standings with the Green Wave. In addition, Tulane had a better margin of victory over their lone common opponent, Auburn. The Volunteers probably have the edge overall, but I think their blemish negates their advantages over Tulane.

Now to take a look at a pair of undefeated conference champions, Utah and Purdue. The Utes put together better overall scoring numbers and had better opponent win percentage numbers than the Boilermakers. However, Purdue ends up with better SOS numbers. I believe a large part of this is due to the Rocky Mountain region being so insular, playing games mostly against each other and with any games outside the footprint being mostly against smaller schools. Utah’s only non-conference game was against a non-FBS Nevada that finished below .500, while Purdue had 2 FBS-level opponents in non-conference play and their lone non-FBS opponent (DePauw) finished right at .500. Purdue ended up played 3 teams that would’ve been Top 25-caliber (Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin) along with top 50 Chicago, while the Utes had no opponents that would’ve been Top 25-caliber or a consensus top 50. In addition, while Purdue’s overall opponents finished below .500 collectively, their foes helped garner them some reach. Michigan defeated 5-2-1 Harvard (who had wins over 8-2 Florida and 5-2-1 Yale). Iowa helped give superiority paths over Illinois and Minnesota (who were 2nd and 3rd in the Big 10 standings and had a combined record of 12-3-1). Wisconsin, despite a 4-5 record, handed Colgate their only loss on the year. Kansas State, despite a 3-5 record, handed Missouri their only loss in Big 6 play this season. I’ll say that Purdue ends up getting an edge because of the subsequent reach of their body of work over Utah’s.

(Wanted to get this out of the way before the next section, because if folks look at Purdue and Utah deep enough, they’re going to see some of the same disqualifying arguments I used for Colgate, Fordham, and TCU and call BS. While some of those do exist – and Utah did average out with lesser ratings compared to Colgate and TCU – the Boilermakers and Utes posted a perfect record where those teams didn’t. I’m also taking into consideration the BRC’s use of Richard Billingsley’s research in their process. 1929 Utah’s ranking and SOS in Billingsley’s system – which is a NCAA-designated selector – are pretty close to the 1945 Oklahoma State team that was named champion by the BRC. Purdue’s ranking and SOS is actually better than the 1945 Cowboys. With that context, I would assume the BRC would probably be more favorable to Purdue and Utah than those other teams.)

Finally, we have Notre Dame. who rebounded from a tough 5-4 season the year prior to finish with their 4th perfect season under Knute Rockne, who was limited in his coaching duties due to illness this season (assistant Tom Lieb served as interim coach in the games Rockne was unable to attend). The Irish had one of the top schedules in the country, playing 2 Top 25-caliber teams (Northwestern, USC) and 3 teams that would’ve been around a Top 25 cutoff (Carnegie Tech, Navy, Wisconsin). In addition, they technically played all their games on the road due to construction of a new football stadium in South Bend (their 3 ‘home’ games on the year were played at Soldier Field in Chicago). The Irish had several close calls during the season, much more than one might like to see from a national title contender. However, the Irish continued to find a way to win: whether it was a leaping 4th & goal conversion for a touchdown against Carnegie Tech, edging USC by a point thanks to 2 missed PATs, or averting disaster after a blocked punt by Army with a 96-yard interception return for the game’s only points. Notre Dame was named the top team by the contemporary Dickinson and Dunkel systems (1929 was the 1st season of the Dunkel System) and received the majority of retroactive selections from human and math selectors.

Just like we’ve seen a few times already, it ultimately boils down to what matters to the Blue Ribbon Commission more, the Irish’s run of perfection with some close calls over a tough schedule or another team’s eye-test over a lesser-than schedule. I think that Purdue would be the team with the best case to go up against the Irish, as their schedule is considered closer to Notre Dame’s than any of the other contenders (aside from 2-loss USC). In addition, Purdue compares very well to the Irish when you compare their results against top 50 competition. However, considering that Notre Dame played no true home games and had to do so with their head coach incapacitated for most of the season, that makes their accomplishments for this season all the more remarkable. Add it the head-to-head result over USC and transitive chain over Pitt (the other 2 teams with NCAA-designated selections), and the Irish are the team with the best case for a retroactive Coaches Trophy. The Boilermakers are my Tier 2 team: while probably not worthy of co-champion status, they definitely have the next best case should Notre Dame never claim. Tennessee, Tulane, and Utah I think are further down on the pecking order, but might be able to plead their cases should neither Notre Dame or Purdue try to do so.

Tier 1 (Best Case to be awarded AFCA Trophy): Notre Dame
Tier 2 (Legitimate case for champion/co-champion): Purdue
Tier 3 (Minor Contender, could make a case): Tennessee, Tulane, Utah
Tier 4 (Not Serious Contenders): Pittsburgh, Southern California

[1] – The Southern Conference didn’t officially recognize conference champions for the 1922-1932 seasons, as there were as many as 23 teams in the league during a given season. Any team claiming an outright or shared SoCon title during that stretch is doing so by virtue of an unbeaten SoCon record that year.