**Update 07/21/2024**: Through some research, some changes were needed. First, I removed all mentions of LSU from contender consideration – I discovered their listing in the FBS record book as a co-champion by Williamson System was erroneous. Williamson was one of, if not the only, contemporary selector that did a final ranking after the bowl games – LSU was #1 after the regular season, but the Sugar Bowl loss to TCU pushed the Horned Frogs to a post-bowl #1 in his system. I’ve kept the rest of existing work in place for most part, with some tweaks here and there. Now for the part that pretty much blew up existing work: AFCA’s Blue Ribbon Commission awarded not 1, but 2, retroactive trophies for this season. In addition, the 2 teams that received them were the 2 teams I thought had the lesser case.

By dumb luck back in March 2023, I stumbled across photos and videos of TCU’s Athletics Hall of Fame that showed 2 AFCA trophies being on display. Reddit user CindyBLUUWho was able to verify their existence and provided me photos. Then back in May, Reddit/X user (and fellow trophy nerd) NorthwestPurple brought to my attention that SMU had 1 for 1935 as well. I was able to verify and receive a photo thanks to Chris Smith, the public relations director for SMU Football. In looking at both, I noticed a difference in the wording on the face plate. TCU’s states AFCA “Honors The National Football Champion” on theirs, which was common on the AFCA trophies issued from 1990s through 2015 (the BRC trophies would’ve been last ones using the former AFCA logo and the fonts featured on the faceplate; those changed starting with the 2016 Coaches Trophy). SMU’s, meanwhile, states AFCA “Honors (SMU) For Their Championship Season”. This leads me to believe that the Blue Ribbon Commission determined TCU – by virtue of their Sugar Bowl win – was named either outright champion or was named a co-champ with one of the other schools who didn’t file a claim with AFCA. SMU, I’m going to assume, wasn’t named a champion by the commission due to the Rose Bowl loss, but since SMU went through the trouble and did have contemporary support at the time, AFCA still did up some hardware to honor that aspect.

1935 AFCA Blue Ribbon Commission Champion

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

	Minnesota	Princeton	SMU	Stanford	TCU
Overall Record	8-0	9-0	12-1	8-1	12-1
Opponent Win %	0.566	0.552	0.638	0.612	0.567
+.500 Opponent	5	5	9	5	7
Average PF-PA	24.3-5.8	28.4-3.6	22.2-3.0	13.4-1.4	20.4-5.6
FBS Record	7-0	6-0	9-1	7-1	10-1
FBS Opponent Win %	0.525	0.520	0.662	0.628	0.557
Average FBS PF-PA	24.0-5.7	31.0-3.2	17.1-3.3	10.8-1.6	17.8-5.0
Conference Record	5-0	Ind	6-0	4-1	5-1
Non-Home games	3	2	8	4	8
SOS (S-R/BR)	27/43	82/68	31/1	9/11	33/2

Looking at the 1935 season and the contenders, it’s pretty clear there’s a distinction among the group. There’s a set of 3 teams (SMU, Stanford, and TCU) that are all in the wash together: they’re pretty well tied together due to their schedules and games played. Those teams have arguably the best SOS numbers (depending on the math) and played the most games away from their home fields. They also had the lesser scoring numbers among FBS-level competition and more importantly, had blemishes on their records. Then there’s 2 schools (Minnesota and Princeton), who were pretty much disconnected from that group (or had very loose ties). Their schedules could be argued to be lesser than and played fewer road games, but had the best scoring numbers and were both undefeated.

TCU, who had put together a string of strong seasons under previous coaches Matty Bell and Francis Schmidt, would put together a special season during HOF coach Dutch Meyer’s 2nd season. Lead by consensus All-American Darrell Lester and future college/pro Hall of Famer Sammy Baugh, the Horned Frogs defeated 3 Top 25-caliber teams (Baylor, LSU, Rice) as well as MVC co-champ Tulsa and LSC champ North Texas. Even more impressive was their record was accumulated against a schedule featuring 9 games away from home. However, TCU would fall to archrival SMU at home in a match-up of unbeatens that determined both the SWC title and a berth to the Rose Bowl. The Horned Frogs had a few close games against lesser teams (5-5 Arkansas, 3-6 Santa Clara, and 3-7 Texas A&M), and the Sugar Bowl win over LSU was a sloppy affair with poor field conditions stymieing both teams. However, TCU was named #1 by the only postseason contemporary selector at the time, the Williamson System, giving them their 1st claimed title season.

SMU, like TCU, had a banner year as well in 1935 during HOF coach Matty Bell’s 1st season replacing Ray Morrison. Led by consensus All-Americans Bob Wilson and JC Wetsel, the Mustangs rolled through the regular season undefeated and winning the SWC title. Among those wins were 4 against Top 25-caliber competition (Baylor, Rice, TCU, UCLA). While the nonconference schedule outside of the UCLA contest would be either against noticeably weaker or non-FBS opposition, those teams managed to put together some accomplishments: Austin (Texas), North Texas (LSC), Tulsa (MVC), and Washington, MO (MVC) all won or shared their conference titles, while Hardin-Simmons was co-champion of the Sun Bowl. Given the list of victims and the fact that TCU was the only team to be within a touchdown of them in the regular season, it’s easy to see why the Mustangs were named national champs by the Dickinson and Houlgate systems at the conclusion of the regular season (SMU was also named co-champs in a poll by AP sports editor Alan Gould, which was the predecessor the AP sportswriter poll a year later). However, what should’ve been the highlight of their year – becoming the 1st Southwest team to be selected for the Rose Bowl – became a nightmare when 1-loss Stanford pulled off an upset victory. Despite the loss, SMU still received a couple retroactive selections in later years for their 1st claimed title season.

Which now brings us to Stanford, who has 1 CFBDW selection (2 were listed on CFBDW; Massey had Stanford #1 in an older rating but doesn’t on his current rating). The Cardinal were led on the field by the famed “Vow Boys” in their final year together, which featured unanimous All-American Bobby Grayson and consensus All-American Monk Moscrip. Coach Tiny Thornhill’s bunch weren’t as impressive offensively as any of the teams in contention but did boast the nation’s best defense, with 7 shutouts and 13 total points allowed. Their schedule is also considered Top 10-20 in terms of SOS, dependent on the math used. Stanford split 2 games at home against Top 10-caliber teams, losing to UCLA by 1 and shutting out archrival California. They also struggled in some lesser games, winning games against Santa Clara, USC, and Washington by 6 points or less. The Huskies would’ve been pushing Top 25 consideration, but the Broncos and Trojans were not good teams this year. Needing a tiebreaker vote from the PCC to receive their 3rd straight Rose Bowl berth, Stanford exorcised some demons by shutting down SMU’s pass-happy offense in a 7-0 upset victory. While no NCAA-designated selector chose Stanford, their Rose Bowl win gave them a head-to-head win over SMU and a transitive chain over TCU, Stanford is potentially sitting on a rightful but unclaimed title season. They should at least have a better say in the matter than the 2 SWC schools.

Now for Princeton, who was the top team to come out of the East this season. The Tigers, led by HOF coach Fritz Crisler and consensus All-American Jack Weller, put together their 2nd perfect season in 3 years and 3rd perfect season in the AFCA Blue Ribbon window. Princeton boasted Top 5 finishes in scoring offense and defense, outscoring their opponents by almost 25 points/game on average (almost 28 for FBS-only games). The biggest flaw with the Tigers: their schedule, which is easily among the bottom half of SOS numbers among 1935 teams. 3 of their 9 opponents were non-FBS and they played the most home-heavy schedule of the contenders. They also had 2 near-misses to start the year: defeating Penn by 1, and only defeating non-FBS Williams by a touchdown (FWIW, Williams was 7-1 this season and Princeton was the only team to score more than 6 points against them). Despite coming to life and winning all of their remaining games comfortably, they played no Top 25-caliber teams, only 2 top 50 teams (Dartmouth, Yale), and the Navy game was the closest thing to an intersectional contest. The Tigers would’ve really benefitted from a meaningful intersectional game in the regular season or scraping their no-bowl agreement with Harvard and Yale for a season to have something of consequence on the national level. That didn’t stop Dunkel (outright), Alan Gould (shared), or some other historians from considering Princeton the best team this season.

The team that generally gets the most favor this year is Big 10 co-champion Minnesota. The Gophers, led by HOF coach Bernie Bierman and featuring consensus All-Americans Ed Widseth and Dick Smith, put together their 2nd straight perfect season. The Gophers had only 1 Top 25-caliber opponent (Nebraska), but also had additional wins over 2 teams pushing Top 25 consideration (Iowa, Northwestern) and 3 other teams that would be top 50. In addition, their lone non-FBS opponent, NCC champ North Dakota State, was unbeaten outside of that contest. The Gophers even have some nice transitive chains through their victories: Iowa/Tulane (both defeated 7-3 Colgate), Northwestern (defeated 7-1-1 Notre Dame, who beat Big Ten co-champ Ohio State and 7-1-1 Pitt), Michigan (beat Penn by larger margin than Princeton did), and Purdue (beat 6-1-2 Fordham). While their opponent win percentage numbers are 2nd-lowest of the contenders, their SOS is generally considered among the top half this year – most likely due to the transitive web woven by their opposition. That also helps when you see how the Gophers did on the scoreboard, as they won their games by roughly 18 points/game on average. Minnesota swept the 3 contemporary selectors that didn’t go with SMU and received the majority of favor from retroactive selectors. In addition, the Gophers were named co-champs in Alan Gould’s AP Poll and finished 1st in a couple other known human polls done this year as well (Toledo Cup and United Press).

I ultimately think the Blue Ribbon Commission is down to 3 teams contending for the best case: Minnesota, Princeton, and Stanford. Minnesota and Stanford both had some solid opposition while also having some close games. The Gophers’ close wins were against teams that would’ve probably been in a Top 25 poll, while Stanford did suffer a loss and had a few close games against some weaker teams. However, the Cardinal played more games against Top 25-caliber teams and had a huge postseason win over a team that challenged Minnesota for contemporary favor as national champion (the Big 10 wouldn’t allow its teams to play in the postseason until 1946). Ultimately, I think Minnesota gets the edge for Tier 1 as the team with the best case for a retroactive Coaches Trophy due to the undefeated record and favor from contemporary selectors. However, Stanford’s big postseason win over SMU probably would’ve went over great if the BRC were to look at bodies of work in the manner of a Top 25 pollster. They’re my Tier 2 due to the Rose Bowl win, although the loss will probably weigh heavy when trying to make a case to be viewed as equal to or better than the Gophers. This is Princeton’s final time in the BRC window and this is their weakest case for a retroactive Coaches Trophy, as they lacked a strong schedule like the 1922 team or a win over a highly-rated opponent like the 1933 team. Therefore, they fall to Tier 3 status.

Tier 1 (Best Case to be awarded AFCA Trophy): Minnesota
Tier 2 (Legitimate case for champion/co-champion): Stanford
Tier 3 (Minor Contender, could make a case): Princeton
Tier 4 (Not Serious Contenders): SMU, TCU