 Bowls at the time were still considered by many to be exhibition games, and the loss did not prevent football historian Parke Davis from naming Pitt as that season's national champion.The 1930 season, at 6–2–1, was a rebuilding one for Sutherland, and was marked by a loss to Notre Dame that would be the only meeting between Sutherland and Knute Rockne due to his death in a 1931 plane crash.The Irish also spoiled Pitt's perfect season in a 1931 game at South Bend, although the Panthers finished 8–1 with six shutouts, including a 40–0 dismantling of Nebraska.