At Dick Powell's initial appearance (11:40 into the film), he is standing in line at the college bursar's office when interrupted by entering students. The second person he shakes hands with is John Wayne in an uncredited five-second cameo appearance; this would be Wayne's last bit part. Later (15:10 into the film, followed by other scenes), in the brief role of assistant coach to Pat O'Brien's title character, is another unbilled player - Ward Bond - who, between 1929 and 1959, appeared with Wayne in 24 films.
The offer to coach Gore of $40,000 per year would equate to over $900,000 per year in 2022.
The film, which takes a rather harsh look at college football, is directed by the versatile and dynamic William A. Wellman (The Public Enemy, 1931; The Ox-Bow Incident, 1943) from a script by Niven Busch (The Postman Always Rings Twice, 1946).
Dick Powell, two years into his career as a baby-faced crooner, would be transformed a decade later into a tough-guy detective in such films as Murder, My Sweet (1944).
Pat O'Brien, frequently cast in football epics, would enjoy his most famous role seven years later as another -but much more sympathetic -coach in Knute Rockne, All-American (1940).