The 1935 college football season rankings included (1) a United Press (UP) poll of sports writers, (2) a poll of sports editors conducted by the committee responsible for awarding the Toledo Cup to the nation's top college football team, and the (3) Boand, (4) Dickinson, and (5) Houlgate Systems.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers (8–0), led by head coach Bernie Bierman, were selected as national champions in the UP poll, the Toledo Cup voting, and the Boand System.
The SMU Mustangs (12–0 prior to losing the 1936 Rose Bowl), led by consensus All-Americans Bob Wilson and J. C. Wetsel, were selected as national champions by Dickinson and Houlgate.
Weekly top ten rankings were published by the Associated Press news service throughout the season.
[1] The rankings were made by Associated Press sports editor Alan Gould.
[1][2] Gould's final rankings on December 3, 1935, declared a three-way tie for first between SMU, Princeton, and Minnesota.
[2] Controversy surrounding his selections lead Gould to instead poll the nation's sportswriters in subsequent years; thus the AP Poll would officially begin in 1936.
[1] At the end of the regular season, the United Press (UP) polled 141 sports writers from all sections of the country.
[3][4] The leaders in the poll were: The following teams were ranked below the top 10: 11.
(tie) Marquette, Washington, Saint Mary's 26.
(tie) Temple, Dartmouth, NYU The Toledo Cup was presented to the college football national champion.
Overseen by a committee including westbrook Pegler, Avery Brundage, Gustavus Kirby, Lynn St. John, Wilbur C. Smith, Stewart Edward White, and Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the Toledo Cup award was based on input from a judge's committee of 250 sports editors of leading newspapers.
(tie) Dartmouth, Alabama, Northwestern, and Saint Mary's - 1 point each [5] The final vote of the committee was taken in January 1936 with the following results: 1.
Princeton - 22 votes [6] It was Minnesota's second consecutive year winning the Toledo Cup.
The Boand ratings released in early December 1935 were as follows: 1.
Auburn - 142 points [8] The Dickinson System was a mathematical rating system devised by University of Illinois economics professor Frank G. Dickinson.
In his 1935 rankings, Dickinson weighted each team's performance based on the strength of the conferences, reported as follows: Big Ten (+3.78), SWC (+3.31), East (0.00), Pacific Coast (-0.11), SEC (-0.12), Big Six (-1.95) and Southern (-6.15) [9] The final Dickinson System rankings for 1935 were released in December 1935, prior to SMU's loss to Stanford in the Rose Bowl.
Fordham (6-1-2) - 20.89 points Northwestern, North Carolina, and Dartmouth followed.
Tie: Holy Cross (9–0–1), Ohio State, Stanford 11.
Tie: Indiana (4–3–1), Michigan (4–4), Navy (5–4), Penn State (4–4), Western Maryland [11]