AP's final poll (released before bowl season) named Pitt champion; most major selectors, contemporary and retroactive, concur.
Pittsburgh’s 1937 schedule1937 National Champion: And Who Else Claims It
MULTIPLEDISPUTEDPittsburgh took the AP crown on its unbeaten regular season; California's rival claim comes from the Dunkel, Helms, and Williamson systems after an unbeaten, Rose Bowl-winning season.
The case for each side
Claimed by the program: no recognized selector picked them
10-0-1, shut out seven opponents, then blanked No. 4 Alabama in the Rose Bowl; named national champion by the Dunkel, Helms, and Williamson systems, not by AP.
California’s 1937 scheduleNo national title game was played after the 1937 season: before 1998 there was no mechanism to play one, which is why so many of these seasons were settled by vote instead.