In their fifth year under head coach Dutch Meyer, the Horned Frogs compiled a perfect 11–0 record, won the SWC championship, finished the season ranked No.
1 in the AP Poll, defeated Carnegie Tech in the 1939 Sugar Bowl, and outscored opponents by a total of 269 to 60.
At the end of the 1938 season, TCU quarterback Davey O'Brien won both the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award as the outstanding football player in the United States.
[2][3] He was the fourth player to receive the Heisman Trophy and the first from outside the Midwest or East.
[4] Two TCU players, O'Brien and center Ki Aldrich, were consensus first-team picks on the 1938 All-America college football team.