College Football Media Poll Years: 1936

College football in 1936 proved to be significant and historic in many ways. This happened to be the first year that the Associated Press released a weekly top 20 poll in college football. However, the AP released the final poll of the season before the bowl game results, thus the regular season team that finished at the top spot was declared the national champions.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers, who were fresh off winning back-to-back national titles under head coach Bernie Bierman, were set to go for three in a row. The Gophers did have their work cut out for them as they had to travel to Seattle to play Washington as well as Texas and Nebraska at home. Minnesota was riding a 24-game unbeaten streak with their previous loss coming at that hands of Michigan on November 19, 1932.

Two other teams, LSU and Pittsburgh, were looking to dethrone the Gophers as national champions. LSU had tied Texas 6-6 in the second game of the season which did not help their cause later. The Tigers did win the SEC, and Minnesota had a chance later on to beat Texas which LSU failed to accomplish.

Pittsburgh did not give up a single point in their first three games while getting out to a 3-0 start. However, the Panthers fell victim at home to Duquesne in their fourth game losing, 7-0. Pittsburgh tied Fordham two weeks later which all but knocked them out of consideration on the polls.

Another team out west, Santa Clara, was looking to sneak up on the AP Poll as well. Though they had a favorable schedule against teams like Loyola Marymount, San Francisco, and San Jose State, they had their shot to make a statement against Auburn in a game played at San Francisco. Santa Clara did just that as they shutout the Tigers in route to a 12-0 victory.

Alabama, led by head coach Frank Thomas, had a shot to knock off the Gophers from winning their third straight title as well. The Crimson Tide got out to a 3-0 start before tying Tennessee in a scoreless game. They went on to win the rest of their games on the schedule.

Minnesota won a very tough game in Washington to open the season as future Oklahoma Sooners coaching legend Bud Wilkinson caught a 60-yard pass to put the Gophers in scoring position to win the game. Wilkinson added two extra points as the place kicker as well as they won, 14-7.

The Gophers then came home to beat Nebraska after holding them out of the endzone by the score of 7-0. Minnesota cruised to shutout victories in their next two games before having to travel to Northwestern. The game was scoreless until the Wildcats scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter and held on to beat the Gophers and snap their unbeaten streak in the process, 6-0. Northwestern appeared to be on track for the national title until getting hammered by Notre Dame, 26-6.

The Gophers shutout Iowa in the following game before destroying Texas, 47-19. Minnesota shutout Wisconsin in the season finale, 24-0.

In 1935, the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy was presented to halfback Jay Berwanger of Chicago in which was the very first recipient of the award. Following the death of the DAC director, John W. Heisman, the award was renamed the Heisman Trophy. Yale's Larry Kelley won the Heisman Trophy in 1936, and it is now the most prestigious individual award in all of sports.

The final AP Poll was released November 30 with Minnesota being named the No. 1 team, thus the national champions despite the loss to Northwestern. Santa Clara had lost to TCU after the polls were released, but did beat LSU in the Sugar Bowl, 21-14. Pittsburgh beat Washington in the Rose Bowl, 21-0. TCU's Sammy Baugh played his last collegiate game in the Cotton Bowl as the Horned Frogs beat Marquette, 16-6.

That Minnesota team is the last program to win three straight national titles in Division-1A football. There was controversy over who should have been No. 1 that year, but the Gophers had allowed only three of their eight teams scheduled to score. Minnesota was on top of the football world, and were looking to continue the dominance into 1937.

Sources: ESPN Almanac, gophersports.com, jhowell.net, infoplease.com