Fordham and California, but were upset by Nevada, 9-7, and lost to UCLA, 6-0, and another national title had slipped away. The Gaels won the Cotton Bowl in January 1939 and lost in the Sugar Bowl in January 1946. That 1945 team won its first seven games and was ranked seventh in the AP poll entering the bowl game. They also lost in the 1946 Oil the following year. Many home games of this era were played to sold out crowds at Kezar Stadium in The football program was dropped after the 1950 revived as a club sport, and returned to varsity status in 1970 (College Division, later Division III), and moved up to Division II The team competed in NCAA Division I-AA as an independent from 1993 through 2003. In order to keep its overall athletics program at Division I, football was required to cease or move up to Division I-AA by 1993. (Rival Santa Clara discontinued football after 1992.) After eleven seasons as an I-AA independent, Saint Mary's ended its football program on March 3, 2004, citing budgetary reasons. Conference affiliation • 1892-1899: Independent • 1915-1924: Independent • 1925-1928: Far Western Conference • 1929-1950: Independent • 1970-1979: College Division-Division III Independent • 1980-1992: Division II Independent • 1993-2003: Division I-AA Independent Conference championships St. Mary's won four consecutive conference championships in a row in their only time associated in an athletic conference. The Gaels have been an independent all other years of existence. Bowl games Head coaches Slip Madigan and James Phelan are the only coaches that have lead the 'Galloping Gaels' to bowl games. Rivalries Oregon Oregon and Saint Mary's College competed in an annual Thanksgiving Day classic between 1929–1935, played at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The victors were awarded The Governors' Perpetual Trophy jointly by the governors of the states of California and Oregon. The Gaels hold a 7–3 lead in the series and final possession of the trophy. The rivalry is unlikely to be contested again, as Saint Mary's discontinued football in 1951 due to the national emergency resulting from the Korean War, and reinstated its program in 1970, only to discontinue it again after the 2003 football season. College Football Hall of Fame Pro Football Hall of Fame National Award Winners National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award Sean Laird (1997) All Americans Saint Mary's has 2 Consensus All-Americans