On February 15, Warren V. Miller and Joseph M. Cousins organized the New Orleans Mid-Winter Sports Association and by October, the group had enough funds to sponsor the Sugar Bowl.
Meanwhile, W. Keith Phillips and the Greater Miami Athletic Club worked in November at a January 1 game for Florida, and the Orange Bowl was created.
Once again, University of Illinois Professor Frank Dickinson's math system selected a Big Ten team as national champion, the undefeated Minnesota Golden Gophers.
William Boand and Professor Edward Earl Litkenhous also selected Minnesota at the end of the season.
The undefeated and eventual Rose Bowl champion Alabama Crimson Tide was selected as national champion by the other contemporary math system selectors, Dick Dunkel, Paul Williamson and Deke Houlgate.
Navy defeated William & Mary 20–7 while Pittsburgh beat Washington & Jefferson 26–6.
Columbia opened its season in New York with a 12–6 win over Yale, and Colgate beat St. Lawrence 32–0.
November 10 At Yankee Stadium, Tulane (6–0–0) faced Colgate (3–1–0), with the Red Raiders handing the Green Wave their first loss, 20–6.
In a meeting of unbeaten teams, Stanford (7–0–1) hosted Washington (4–0–0) and had a sixth straight shutout 24–0.
Previously unbeaten (6–0–0) Illinois was upset at Madison when it faced a (3–3–0) Wisconsin Badgers team, falling 7–3.
In Houston, previously unbeaten (8–0–1) Rice hosted (6–3–0) Texas Christian (TCU) and was upset, 7–2.
On Thanksgiving Day, November 29, Alabama beat Vanderbilt in Birmingham, 34–0, and was invited soon after to meet Stanford at the Rose Bowl.
At the Army–Navy Game, held in Philadelphia, Navy (7–1–0) beat Army (7–2–0) on a field goal, 3–0.
For this article, major conferences defined as those including multiple state flagship public universities.
Rankings from the Dickinson System In the first Sugar Bowl game, Tulane (9–1) hosted unbeaten Temple (7–0–2) before a crowd of 30,000 in New Orleans.
[4] Temple had closed its season with a scoreless tie against Bucknell, which finished at 6–2–2, and the Bison were invited to play the Miami Hurricanes in the first Orange Bowl.
In Honolulu, the Hawaii team beat vacationing California, 14–0, and in Houston, Tuskegee beat Prairie View, 15–6, in a New Year's Day game for HBCUs[7] The consensus 1934 College Football All-America Team included: