1938 Carnegie Tech Tartans football team

1938 Carnegie Tech Tartans football
Sugar Bowl, L 7–15 vs. TCU
ConferenceIndependent
Ranking
APNo. 6
Record7–2
Head coach
Home stadiumPitt Stadium
Seasons
← 1937
1939 →
1938 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Worcester Tech     6 0 0
No. 18 Villanova     8 0 1
No. 9 Holy Cross     8 1 0
Boston College     6 1 2
No. 15 Fordham     6 1 2
No. 12 Cornell     5 1 1
Army     8 2 0
No. 8 Pittsburgh     8 2 0
No. 6 Carnegie Tech     7 2 0
No. 20 Dartmouth     7 2 0
Vermont     4 2 1
Brown     5 3 0
Bucknell     5 3 0
Syracuse     5 3 0
CCNY     4 3 0
Penn     3 2 3
Manhattan     5 4 0
Harvard     4 4 0
La Salle     4 4 0
NYU     4 4 0
Boston University     3 4 1
Penn State     3 4 1
Princeton     3 4 1
Hofstra     2 3 1
Duquesne     4 6 0
Temple     3 6 1
Providence     3 5 0
Columbia     3 6 0
Massachusetts State     3 6 0
Colgate     2 5 0
Buffalo     2 6 0
Yale     2 6 0
Tufts     1 6 1
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1938 Carnegie Tech Tartans football team represented the Carnegie Institute of Technology during the 1938 college football season. The Tartans were led by second-year head coach Bill Kern and played their home games at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The team first came to national attention after winning a close game against Northeastern power Holy Cross, who were on a 13-game unbeaten streak.[1] Another big win came when the Tartans upset cross-town rival and defending national champion Pittsburgh, snapping their 22-game winning streak.[2]

They finished the regular season at 7–1 and were ranked sixth in the final AP Poll,[3] the only Carnegie Tech team to ever finish ranked.[4] The Tartans were awarded the third ever Lambert Trophy, distinguishing them as the best college football team in the East.[5] They were invited to their first and only bowl game in school history, the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans,[6] where they led at halftime but lost to national champion TCU, 15–7.[7][8]

  1. ^ "Carnegie Tech Knocks Holy Cross From Undefeated in Pittsburgh Thriller, Winning Out, 7 to 6". Daily Boston Globe. October 16, 1938.
  2. ^ "Carnegie Tech Upsets Pitt, 20-10". The Atlanta Constitution. November 6, 1938. p. 1B.
  3. ^ "1938 Final AP Football Poll". College Poll Archive. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  4. ^ "Carnegie Mellon Tartans School History". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  5. ^ "Carnegie Tech Officially Awarded Lambert Trophy". The Christian Science Monitor. Boston, MA. December 6, 1938. p. 12.
  6. ^ Smith, Chester L. (January 1, 1939). "Tartans primed for Sugar Bowl victory over TCU". Pittsburgh Press. p. 1, sports.
  7. ^ Smith, Chester L. (January 3, 1939). "'Too much O'Brien,' story of Tech's downfall". Pittsburgh Press. p. 22.
  8. ^ "52,000 see T.C.U. beat Tech, 15-7". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 3, 1939. p. 1.