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 only ...

and matched the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers (also known as the Fighting 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 Collegiat ...

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 ...

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

Tulane Stadium Tulane Stadium was an outdoor American football, football stadium in the Southern United States on the campus of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. It stood from 1926 to 1980 and was officially the Third Tulane Stadium, followin ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Background

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

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

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

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

early in the season. Santa Clara was an independent, which cost them an invite to the

Rose Bowl Rose Bowl or Rosebowl may refer to: * Rose Bowl Game, an annual American college football game * Rose Bowl (stadium), Pasadena, California, site of the football game, and the home stadium of the UCLA Football team * Rose Bowl (cricket ground), West ...

due to not being a

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a collegiate 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 (includin ...

member;

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

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 quarterback who played 16 seasons with the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the TCU Horne ...

and

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

on December 12 in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. 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), sometimes listed as Nello Frederick Falaschi, also known by the nicknames "Flash" Falaschi and "Gunner" Falaschi, was an American football player. He played college football for the Santa ...

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 Loyola University is one of several Jesuit Universities named for St. Ignatius of Loyola. Loyola University may refer to: Democratic Republic of the Congo *Loyola University of Congo, Kinshasa, Congo Spain * Loyola University Andalusia, Sevilla ...

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 Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

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