The 1935 Pittsburgh Panthers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Pittsburgh as an independent during the 1935 college football season. In its 12th season under head coach Jock Sutherland, the team compiled a 7–1–2 record, shut out six of its ten opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 135 to 28. The team played its home games at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.
Schedule
Preseason
On March 18, Coach Sutherland and his assistants welcomed 63 football players for spring practice. After losing 14 seniors to graduation, Sutherland needed plenty of able-bodied replacements for his two-deep rotation. After five weeks of drills, Coach Sutherland invited Christie Flanagan and his Duquesne team to a scrimmage on Trees Field. It was a fun afternoon for both coaches and players. The game was run in regulation style, but the quarters were 10 minutes in length, players could substitute at will, coaches roamed the field and no touchdowns were scored. That exercise was a warm-up for the May 4 Varsity versus Alumni scrimmage to close the spring practice session. The varsity prevailed 10 to 0 on the strength of Leon Shedlosky's 62-yard touchdown scamper in the third quarter. Frank Patrick converted the extra point and followed that up with a 25-yard field goal to end the scoring. The Alumni made a last gasp attempt to score but were stopped at the two-yard line as time ran out.
On May 11, Jock Sutherland held his Fourth Annual Football Clinic at Pitt Stadium for 1500 high school coaches and players. He was aided by head coaches Andy Kerr of Colgate and Dick Harlow of Harvard, in addition to his Pitt assistants and varsity team. The all-day affair consisted of a morning session with demonstrations and exhibitions of offensive and defensive tactics on the field, lunch with lectures by the visiting coaches, and an afternoon session back on the field.
On September 8, Coach Sutherland began his twelfth season at Pitt by welcoming 52 potential squad members to the Camp Hamilton preseason training facility. Jess Carver of the Sun-Telegraph noted that Coach Sutherland "faces a fairly formidable schedule and the prospect of rebuilding, practically in its entirety his varsity riddled by the loss of outstanding stars from last year's powerful eleven. He needs to develop a new line and a new backfield, and when you've said that, you've covered the situation pretty well." After two weeks of two-a-day practices, the final day regulation game was won by the first team 14 to 0. Leon Shedlosky ran for two touchdowns and Frank Patrick added the extra points. The squad returned to campus for the start of classes and final preparation for the opening game versus Waynesburg.
The Pitt News reported: "Dr. John B. Sutherland, head football coach, Don Saunders, director of alumni publications, and a male quartet composed of University men, are on the air every Tuesday night in a 15-minute broadcast over radio station WCAE. Football. music and gridiron philosophy, as presented by Coach 'Jock' in informal interview chats with Saunders, will be presented in a 12-week series. Each week a flashback of heroic football play will be enacted. The series, sponsored by a food corporation, has already been acclaimed by Pittsburgh radio editors."
Coaching staff
Roster
Game summaries
Waynesburg
The Panthers opened the season against the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets. In 1897 the Jackets defeated the Western University of Pennsylvania 14 to 5. Pitt won the next four meetings, outscoring the Jackets 230 to 0. The Pittsburgh Press reported that Waynesburg coach Frank Wolf "entertained no false hopes of winning from Pitt. He has indicated he will be satisfied if the Jackets show some defensive spunk and gain a little ground on their own."
For the first time Coach Sutherland played 11 players who had never started a game for Pitt. He told The Pittsburgh Press: "We've had experimental games before but in all my experience, I can't recall one quite like the one we face tomorrow. I will experiment with as many men as I dare. If I see a combination that clicks, whether for one touchdown or half a dozen, there's my first team for the rest of the football season."