The 1934–1935 Tigers – coached by Harry Rabenhorst, and keyed by the play of first LSU All-American Sparky Wade – finished the season at 14–1, defeating a Pittsburgh Panthers team that shared the Eastern Intercollegiate Conference championship and finished with an 18–6 overall record in the American Legion Bowl by a score of 41–37 in their final game of the season. LSU's lone defeat came to the Southwest Conference co-champion Rice Owls by a score of 56–47 in Houston in one of LSU's three road games. LSU has claimed a national championship for the 1935 season (pre-NCAA Tournament), but not on the basis of any determination by an external selector. (LSU is the only school that officially claims a national championship on the basis of a win in the American Legion Bowl, an event that made no claim to determine a national champion. The Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively named the 19–1 NYU Violets its national champion for the 1934–35 season. The retroactive Premo-Porretta Power Poll also ranked the Violets as its 1935 national champion. The Premo-Porretta poll ranked LSU fifth, behind second-ranked Richmond (20–0), third-ranked Duquesne (18–1), and fourth-ranked Kentucky (19–2); the poll ranked Pittsburgh—LSU's final opponent–16th nationally.)