Houlgate System

The Houlgate System was a college football ranking method based on strength of schedule^[1] that was syndicated nationally in the 1930s through 1950s. The system was created by Carroll Everard "Deke" Houlgate (May 8, 1905—July 31, 1959), a Los Angeles-based college football statistician and historian.

Starting in 1945 Houlgate selected competitors for the Futility Bowl, a hypothetical post-season matchup between the nation's two lowest-ranked teams. This bowl game to determine the country's worst team would be held in Death Valley in an empty stadium.^[2]

Houlgate was the author of The Football Thesaurus, a leather-bound compilation of game scores, football history, and team facts.^[3] The thesaurus was released in two editions in 1946^[4] and 1954.^[5] Houlgate released annual supplements for the 1954–1958 seasons until his death in 1959.^[5]

The NCAA recognizes the Houlgate System as a "major selector" of college football national championships and lists the system's post-bowl selections, as published in the 1954 edition of The Football Thesaurus,^[5] in the official NCAA records book.^[6]

Houlgate was born in Peru, Nebraska, on May 8, 1905. He graduated from Ventura High School and attended the University of Southern California. He served in the Air Force during World War II and died at the Wadsworth Veterans Administration Hospital in Los Angeles, California, on July 31, 1959, at age 54.^[7] Houlgate's wife, Dorothy P. Houlgate, was considered "one of the leading feminine football experts" and assisted with the annual football ratings; she died in August 1959, less than a month after the death of her husband.^[8]

In his career in public relations for the American Gas Association, Houlgate is known for coining or popularizing the phrase "Now you're cooking with gas!" and planting the phrase with writers for Bob Hope's radio programs in an early example of product placement.^[9]