Purdue, Tulane, Notre Dame, Western Maryland, and Pittsburgh all finished the regular season with wins over all their opponents.
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.
Previously, a defending player could run with a recovered fumble, as in the case of Roy Riegels in the 1929 Rose Bowl.
[citation needed] September 21 In Dallas, Southern Methodist University (SMU) opened its season with a 13–3 win over North Texas State.
Illinois beat visiting Michigan 14–0, and Purdue won at Chicago 26–0 The USC offense was held to single digits at Stanford, winning 7–0.
Knute Rockne, who had been hospitalized with an infected leg, guided his team from a cot set behind the Notre Dame bench.
On the ensuing kickoff, -- Saunders ran the ball back 95 yards for a touchdown, but the point after failed, and Notre Dame held on to win 13–12.
November 30 In a season-ending matchup of the Southwest Conference's two best teams at Fort Worth, Texas Christian (9–0–0) hosted Southern Methodist (6–0–3).
The Trojans and the Fighting Irish were not able to agree on a rematch, and USC was given the right to invite another eastern powerhouse—the unbeaten (9–0–0) Pittsburgh Panthers.
Pitt's bid for a claim to the national championship started on the first play of the game, as Toby Uansa ran 68 yards before being tackled at the 11, but the Panthers failed to reach the end zone.
[12] Notre Dame and Pittsburgh, both with nine wins and no losses or ties (9–0) were ranked first and second by Dickinson, with the Irish getting the higher rating based on their opposition.
[13] As Grantland Rice noted in his column, "There is no questioning the fact that among the unbeaten teams who were not even tied, Notre Dame fought its way through the hardest field.