After the season ended, sports writers debated over which college football team should be recognized as the national champion. The leading contenders were Yale,Illinois, andGeorgia.[14][15] Among selectors who have sought to name a retroactive national champion, most have chosen Illinois or Georgia. Yale was chosen in 1937 by theBoand System[1] and later by theCollege Football Researchers Association.[16]
In the second game of the season, Yale lost to Georgia in head-to-head competition. A Yale fumble at its own nine-yard line set up an early Georgia touchdown, and the Bulldogs led by a 14-to-10 score at halftime. Neither team was able to score in the second half. Later in the game, Yale drove toward a potential game-winning touchdown, but Yale halfbackBruce Caldwell fumbled as he was about to cross the goal line.[7] Georgia was later shut out in the final game of the season in itsrivalry game againstGeorgia Tech. Both teams ended the season with one loss.
HalfbackBruce Caldwell was the team's leader on offense. After Caldwell had scored 47 points in early games, Princeton challenged Caldwell's eligibility on grounds that he had played in two games while a freshman atBrown.[17] As a result, Caldwell was not permitted to play in the final two games against Princeton and Harvard.[12][13]
^abcReiss, Malcolm, ed. (1937). "Ranking the Champions; A Review of National Football Ranking for the Past 13 Years".Illustrated Football Annual 1937. New York City: Fiction House, Inc. pp. 86–87.The final revision of the AZZI RATEM System was completed in the spring of 1936. This revision was used to re-rate previous years.
^National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2015)."National Poll Rankings"(PDF).NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA. p. 108.Archived(PDF) from the original on May 21, 2016. RetrievedJanuary 13, 2016.
^"Football Award Winners"(PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. p. 6.Archived(PDF) from the original on October 22, 2017. RetrievedOctober 21, 2017.
