The 1937 Sugar Bowl was the third edition of the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

and matched the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

and the

Santa Clara Broncos The Santa Clara Broncos are athletic teams that represent Santa Clara University. The school colors are red and white. The nicknames for teams is The Broncos and the student fans are referred to as the "Ruff Riders". The Broncos compete in the NC ...

. It was played on Friday, January 1, 1937, at

Tulane Stadium Tulane Stadium was an outdoor football stadium that stood in New Orleans from 1926 to 1980. It was officially the Third Tulane Stadium and replaced the "Second Tulane Stadium", which was located where the Telephone Exchange Building is now. Th ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Background

LSU had allowed only 33 points during the regular season while cruising to a second straight

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

championship with an undefeated regular season, with a non-conference tie at

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

early in the season. Santa Clara was an independent, which cost them an invite to the Rose Bowl due to not being a

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including a ...

member;

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

won the PCC. The Broncos were 7–0 when the Sugar invitation was made, but then were shut out by

Sammy Baugh Samuel Adrian Baugh (March 17, 1914 – December 17, 2008) was an American professional football player and coach. During his college and professional careers, he most notably played quarterback, but also played as a safety and punter. He ...

and TCU on December 12 in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. LSU was spurned by the Rose Bowl committee as well, paving the way for Santa Clara's first bowl game and LSU's second straight Sugar Bowl. In the final AP poll released in late November, LSU was second and Santa Clara was sixth.

Game summary

Rain that had started the previous day continued throughout the game, which contributed to sixteen turnovers and 25 punts. LSU could not overcome a sloppy first quarter in which they had no first downs and allowed the Broncos to score twice. Manny Gomez caught a touchdown pass from

Nello Falaschi Nello Donald Falaschi (March 19, 1913 – July 29, 1986) was an American football player in the National Football League for the New York Giants. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971. Early life Falaschi was born in ...

and Norman Finley caught a touchdown pass from Bruno Pellegrini, both in a span of seven minutes. LSU narrowed the lead in the second quarter on Gus Tinsley's touchdown catch from Bill Crass, and Santa Clara led at halftime. Falaschi scored on a touchdown run in the third quarter to give the Broncos a 21–7 lead. Rocky Reed caught a touchdown pass late in the game to close the margin to but the game was already sealed as neither team threatened again, affected by the wet weather. Notably, Shaw loaned shoes from nearby Loyola University to give his team an advantage on the wet field in the second half.

Aftermath

LSU reached their third consecutive Sugar Bowl the following year, in a rematch with Santa Clara, and the Broncos won again in the rain.

Statistics

References

{{Santa Clara Broncos bowl game navbox

Sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

Sugar Bowl LSU Tigers football bowl games Santa Clara Broncos football bowl games