21 14 Season 1936 Date 1 January 1937 | LSU 0 Attendance 38,483 Stadium Tulane Stadium | |
Champion Santa Clara Broncos football Location Tulane Stadium, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States Similar 1997 Independence Bowl, 2014 Music City Bowl, 1946 Sugar Bowl, 2015 Texas Bowl, 1972 Sugar Bowl | ||
The 1937 Sugar Bowl matched the Santa Clara Broncos and the LSU Tigers.
Contents
Background
LSU had allowed only 33 points the whole season while cruising to a second straight Southeastern Conference championship with an undefeated regular season. Santa Clara was an independent, which cost them an invite to the Rose Bowl due to not being a Pacific Coast Conference member. They were 7–0 before a loss to TCU, though that was after the invite. 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.
Game summary
Rain that had started the previous day continued through most of the day, continuing throughout the day which contributed to 16 combined 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 and Norman Finley caught a touchdown pass from Bruno Pellegrini, both in a span of seven minutes. Gus Tinsley narrowed the lead in the 2nd on his touchdown catch from Bill Crass, but in the second half Falaschi scored on a touchdown run to make it 21–7. Rocky Reed caught a touchdown pass late in the game to make it 21–14, 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, facing Santa Clara once again.