| 1929 college football season | ||
|---|---|---|
 Pittsburgh, co-champions | ||
| Number of bowls | 1 | |
| Bowl games | January 1, 1930 | |
| Champion(s) | ||
| ||
The 1929 college football season saw a number of unbeaten and untied teams. Purdue, Tulane, Notre Dame, 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 (the Dickinson System, Dunkel System, and Houlgate 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 historian Parke 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 of Roy Riegels in the 1929 Rose Bowl.[4]
- ^ McDonald, Neil (December 29, 1934). "Fanfare — Stanford Gets Trophy". Los Angeles Evening Post. p. 8.
- ^ Okeson, Walter R., ed. (1934). Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide 1934. New York: American Sports Publishing Co. pp. 206–208.
- ^ Borghetti, E.J.; Nestor, Mendy; Welsh, Celeste, eds. (2008). 2008 Pitt Football Media Guide (PDF). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh. pp. 16, 156. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 23, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
- ^ Alison Danzig, The History of American Football (Prentice-Hall, 1956) p 71