Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 17, 2026 51 at No. 5 with a 7-1-1 regular season mark before dropping a 21-0 decision to Pittsburgh in the Rose Bowl. Duquesne blanked No. 7 Marquette, 13-0, to finish the regular season 7-2 and ranked No. 14, then edged Mississippi State, 13-12, in the Orange Bowl. Crow- ley's Fordham Rams, who had risen to No. 3 in the country before tying Georgia, 7-7, were upset in their finale by NYU, 7-6, to finish 5-1-2 and come in at No. 15. Yet another pair of teams led by Notre Dame men squared off in the most un- usual bowl game location following the 1936 season — the Bacardi Bowl in Havana, Cuba. There, Villanova, led by Maruice "Clipper" Smith, tied Auburn, coached by former Irish end Jack Mea- gher, 7-7. And Layden's Fighting Irish? They fin- ished at No. 8 with a 6-2-1 record, losing to No. 9 Pitt and Navy, and tying South- ern Cal, 13-13, to finish the season. Notre Dame played a major role in deciding the national championship. By the second half of the season, Min- nesota and Northwestern were locked in a two-team race for the Big Ten title and the No. 1 ranking. On Halloween, the Wildcats knocked off the No. 1-ranked Golden Gophers, 6-0, in Evanston, tak- ing over the top spot. Northwestern's final game was a Nov. 21 visit to Notre Dame, with Coach Lynn "Pappy" Waldorf and his team confident after defeating Wisconsin and Michigan since taking care of Minne- sota. But Layden's men were ready, put- ting on an incredible display of power football in upsetting the visitors, 26-6. "Hitting its peak against an unde- feated Northwestern team that was headed for a national championship, Notre Dame scored one of the most stunning upsets of a dizzy football sea- son," reported the South Bend Tribune. "The Ramblers ran through and around a Northwestern line that was good enough to stop Minnesota cold on five different occasions. "The famous runs from far out in the field which characterized great Notre Dame teams in the past reappeared Sat- urday as (Bob) Wilke, (Bunny) McCor- mick and (Bill) McCarthy saw daylight in the Wildcat line and drove through be- hind some of the finest blocking ever ex- hibited in a major college football game." Bernie Bierman's Minnesota Go- phers rebounded from their only loss to hammer Iowa, 52-0; Texas, 47-19; and archrival Wisconsin, 24-0, to finish 7-1 and capture the first AP national cham- pionship. They were awarded the Rockne Trophy, which was instituted after his death in 1931 by the Four Horsemen. LSU finished second and Pitt third. The Rockne Trophy replaced the Jack F. Rissman Trophy, which Notre Dame had retired by winning it in 1924, 1929 and 1930 under Rockne. Minnesota would go on to take permanent posses- sion of the Rockne Trophy with their 1940 national championship, their third Dickinson System championship fol- lowing the titles of 1934 and 1936. Through all of the 1930s, Rockne's name and presence were felt in college football. ✦ Jim Lefebvre is an award-winning Notre Dame author and leads the Knute Rockne Memorial Society. He can be reached at: jim@ndfootballhistory.com For more informa on, please visit: www.RockneSociety.org The Knute Rockne Memorial Society is dedicated to preserving and promo ng the life story of Coach Knute Rockne and all he stood for. Through its annual Rockne Awards, the Rockne Society recognizes and inspires great achievement in athle cs…and in life.