1929 college football season
Notre Dame receiving theAlbert Russel Erskine Trophy (for being named national champions)
Number of bowls	1
Bowl games	January 1, 1930
Champion(s)	Notre Dame[a] USC[b] Pittsburgh[c]
← 1928 · football seasons · 1930 →

The1929 college football season saw a number of unbeaten and untied teams. Purdue, Tulane, Notre Dame, Western Maryland, and Pittsburgh all finished the regular season with wins over all their opponents. Notre Dame was recognized as national champion by all three of the contemporary major selectors (theDickinson System,Dunkel System, andHoulgate System^[1]). Houlgate would later name USC (10–2) on the basis of post-season play. Eight of nine retrospective selectors later also named Notre Dame and USC as No. 1 teams.

Following the season, Pittsburgh traveled to Pasadena to meet USC in the Rose Bowl, at that time the only postseason college football game, where the Trojans defeated the Panthers, 47–14. Four years later, football historianParke Davis selected Pittsburgh as the "National Champion Foot Ball Team" for 1929, the only one of 12 major selectors to do so.^[2] Pittsburgh claims a 1929 national championship on this basis.^[3]

A major change in the rules for 1929 was that a fumbled ball was dead as soon as it struck the ground. Previously, a defending player could run with a recovered fumble, as in the case ofRoy Riegels in the1929 Rose Bowl.^[4]

• Three new conferences began play in 1929:
  • Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference – an NAIA conference active through the 1995 season
  • Big Four Conference – active through the 1932 season; replaced the newly-defunctOklahoma Intercollegiate Conference
  • Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference – an NAIA conference active through the 1973 season; replaced the newly-defunctOklahoma Intercollegiate Conference

TheDukeBlue Devils were independent in 1928 and joined theSouthern Conference in 1929.^{[citation needed]}

September 21 InDallas, Southern Methodist University (SMU) opened its season with a 13–3 win over North Texas State.

September 28SMU and Howard Payne College played to a 13–13 tie, andTCU rolled over visiting Daniel Baker College, 61–0. In Los Angeles,USC opened its season against crosstown rival UCLA, rolling over the Bruins 76–0.Pittsburgh beat Waynesburg State, 53–0California beat Santa Clara 27–6Pennsylvania beat Franklin & Marshall 14–7Tulane opened with a win over Northwestern State, 40–6

October 5

SMU andNebraska played to a 0–0 tie in Nebraska.Notre Dame opened its season with a 14–0 win at IndianaTCU beat Hardin Simmons, 20–0Illinois beat Kansas 25–0, andPurdue beat Kansas State, 26–14Pittsburgh won at Duke, 52–7USC beat Oregon State 21–7Pennsylvania defeated Swarthmore 20–6California and St. Mary's played to a 0–0 tie.Tulane beat Texas A&M, 13–10

October 12

In Baltimore,Notre Dame defeated Navy, 14–7.SMU beat Austin College, 16–0In Shreveport,TCU registered another shutout, beating Centenary College 28–0Nebraska won at Syracuse, 13–6USC won at Washington, 48–0, andCalifornia beat visiting Washington State, 14–0.Purdue beat Michigan 30–16 andIllinois beat Bradley 45–0Pittsburgh beat West Virginia 27–7Pennsylvania beat Virginia Tech, 14–8Tulane beat Mississippi State, 34–0

October 19

Pittsburgh handedNebraska its first loss, 12–7;TCU surrendered its first points, but beat Texas A&M, 13–7.Illinois and Iowa played to a 7–7 tie.Purdue beat DePauw 26–7Tulane beat Lafayette College of Louisiana, 60–0USC scored big again, with a 64–0 win over Occidental. At 4–0–0, the Trojans had outscored their opponents 209–7. In Chicago,Notre Dame defeated Wisconsin 19–0

In Philadelphia, (1–0–1)California and (3–0)Pennsylvania played, with California winning 12–7

October 26 During the weekend between October 24 and October 29, 1929 (seeWall Street Crash of 1929),SMU beat visiting Ole Miss, 52–0 andTCU, with a 131–7 aggregate lead over its opponents, won its fifth straight, a 22–0 win over Texas Tech. In Pittsburgh, thePitt Panthers beat Allegheny 40–0 andNotre Dame defeated Carnegie Tech 7–0.Illinois beat visiting Michigan 14–0, andPurdue won at Chicago 26–0TheUSC offense was held to single digits at Stanford, winning 7–0.California defeated the non-college Olympic Club, 21–19.Pennsylvania beat Lehigh 10–7 and in New Orleans,Tulane beat Georgia Tech, 20–14.Nebraska and Missouri played to a 7–7 tie.

November 2 In Los Angeles,USC (5–0–0) hostedCalifornia (4–0–1). California handed the Trojans their first loss, 15–7In Dallas, unbeaten (3–0–2)SMU and unbeaten and untied Texas (5–0–0) both stayed unbeaten, playing to 0–0 tie.Notre Dame beat visiting Georgia Tech 26–6In Columbus, Georgia,Tulane beat Georgia, 21–15

TCU beat North Texas State, 25–0Nebraska beat Kansas, 12–6Purdue won at Wisconsin 13–0, butIllinois lost at Northwestern, 7–0,Pittsburgh beat Ohio State, 18–2Pennsylvania defeated Navy, 7–2

November 9

SMU won at Texas A&M 12–7 andTCU beat Rice, 24–0Illinois beat Army, 17–7 andPurdue beat Ole Miss 27–7Pittsburgh beat Washington & Jefferson 21–0Notre Dame defeated Drake UniversityTulane beat Auburn, 52–0USC beat visiting Nevada, 66–0 andCalifornia beat Montana 53–18

At Philadelphia, (5–1–0) Penn State defeated (5–1–0)Pennsylvania, 19–7

November 16

In Chicago, a record crowd of 123,000 turned out at Soldier Field to watchNotre Dame (6–0–0) andUSC (6–1–0). Knute Rockne, who had been hospitalized with an infected leg, guided his team from a cot set behind the Notre Dame bench. In the third quarter, the Irish took a 13–6 lead, on—Savoldi's plunge and Frank Carideo's extra point. On the ensuing kickoff, -- Saunders ran the ball back 95 yards for a touchdown, but the point after failed, and Notre Dame held on to win 13–12.^[5]

Nebraska and visiting Oklahoma played to a 13–13 draw; at (2–1–3), the Cornhuskers had tied more games than they had won or lost.SMU beat Baylor, 25–6.TCU was (7–0–0) and had outscored its opposition 193–7; Texas (5–0–2) had an aggregate 120–0 lead on its opponents, though its last two games had been scoreless ties. When they met at Austin, Texas scored first, but Cy Leland returned the kickoff 90 yards for a TCU score. At halftime, TCU led 13–12 on the only extra point scored that day, and finished 15–12^[6]Illinois defeated Chicago 20–6 andPurdue beat Iowa 7–0Pittsburgh beat Carnegie Tech, 34–13Pennsylvania visited Columbia and won 20–0California beat Washington 7–0

Tulane defeated Sewanee 18–0

November 23Nebraska won at Kansas State, 10–6SMU beat Rice, 34–0TCU beat Baylor, 34–7Illinois beat Ohio State, 27–0, andPurdue won at Indiana 32–0 to finish its season unbeaten.Notre Dame won at Northwestern 26–6.USC beat visiting Idaho, 72–0Stanford (7–2–0) andCalifornia met in Palo Alto, with Stanford winning 21–6.

November 28, Thanksgiving Day;Pittsburgh beat Penn State 20–7Pennsylvania beat Cornell 17–7Nebraska closed its season with a 31–12 win over Iowa State, to finish at 4–1–3.

November 30In a season-ending matchup of the Southwest Conference's two best teams at Fort Worth, Texas Christian (9–0–0) hosted Southern Methodist (6–0–3). AlthoughSMU took a 7–0 lead in the third quarter, and held the Frogs once at the goal line, TCU reached the one on its next possession, and scored on third down. Hawks Green's kick staved off an upset, tied the Mustangs 7–7, and gaveTCU the conference title.^[7]

Notre Dame (8–0–0) closed its season at Yankee Stadium in New York, where it faced Army (6–2–1). The Fighting Irish won 7–0.USC beat Washington State, 27–7Tulane closed its season with a 21–0 win at LSU, to finish unbeaten at 9–0–0

OnDecember 14,USC defeated Carnegie Tech, 45–13.

USC had been beaten earlier in the year, at Chicago, by Notre Dame. The Trojans and the Fighting Irish were not able to agree on a rematch, and USC was given the right to invite another eastern powerhouse—the unbeaten (9–0–0) Pittsburgh Panthers. Pitt's bid for a claim to the national championship started on the first play of the game, as Toby Uansa ran 68 yards before being tackled at the 11, but the Panthers failed to reach the end zone. Six minutes into the game, Russ Saunders and --- Edelson connected on a 56-yard pass play for USC's first touchdown. By halftime, USC led 26–0. Pitt finally scored in the third quarter to trail 33–7. After seven USC touchdowns, the final score was USC 47, Pitt 14.^[8]