The 1932 college football season saw the Michigan Wolverines win the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy as national champion under the math-based Dickinson System.

Because the "Big Nine" conference didn't permit its teams to play in the postseason, however, the Wolverines were not able to accept a bid to the Rose Bowl.

Tennessee beat Ole Miss 33–0 and TCU defeated Daniel Baker College 55–0.

TCU won at Texas A&M 17–0, USC defeated Loyola Marymount 6–0 and Notre Dame beat Drake 62–0.

Michigan beat Illinois 32–0, Purdue tied at Northwestern 7–7, and Wisconsin shut out Iowa's Coe College 39–0.

Colgate's Red Raiders won 21–0 to close the season with a 264–0 edge on its opposition.

December 6 Jack F. Rissman, sponsor of the original Dickinson System trophy, announced that the Dickinson title and Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy would go to USC with a season-ending win over Notre Dame.

[3] December 10 In Los Angeles, USC (9–0–0) hosted Notre Dame (7–1–0) and won 13–0.

That night, going against Rissman's proclamation, Professor Dickinson named 8–0 Michigan as national champions with 9–0 USC No.

[5] USC had beaten Pitt in the 1933 Rose Bowl, 47–14, and the rematch three years later resulted in a larger defeat.

Before a crowd of 84,000 the previously unbeaten Pitt Panthers reached the "red zone" only twice.

In the second quarter, a long run gave the Panthers first down on the USC 24 yard line, but Warren Heller's pass fell in the end zone, and under the rules of the day, the result was a turnover (and a touchback, with USC given first down on the 20).

With the help of holes opened up by Trojan halfback, USC scored five touchdowns (including three in the final quarter) and won 35–0.

With New Year's Day falling on a Sunday, the Rose Bowl took place on Monday, January 2, 1933 [6] For 1932, Professor Dickinson announced that "differential points" would be factored in for an "intersectional game", with ratings of 0.00 for East schools, higher points for "Middlewest" (+4.77) and Southwest (+1.36), negatives for the South (-2.59), the Big Six (-2.60) and the Pacific Coast (-2.71).

The higher weight put four Big Ten Conference teams in Dickinson's top 11: Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue, and Wisconsin.

In 1932, the national championship trophy was presented to the winning school by the Four Horsemen of the 1924 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team: Harry Stuhldreher, Jim Crowley, Don Miller, and Elmer Layden.