In the 1968 NCAA University Division football season, the system of "polls and bowls" changed. The Associated Press returned to its pre-1961 system of ranking the Top 20 rather than the Top 10, and voted on the national champion after the bowl games, rather than before. During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the major college football teams in the University Division, later known as Division I-A.
The NCAA Football Guide, however, did note an "unofficial national champion" based on the top ranked teams in the "wire service" (AP and UPI) polls. The "writers' poll" by Associated Press (AP) was the most popular, followed by the "coaches' poll" by United Press International) (UPI). In 1968, the UPI issued its final poll before the bowls, but the AP Trophy was withheld until the postseason was completed.
The AP poll in 1968 consisted of the votes of as many as 49 sportswriters, though not all of them voted in every poll. With a Top 20 for the first time since the 1960 season, there were more matchups between ranked teams. Those who cast votes would give their opinion of the ten best teams. Under a point system of 20 points for first place, 19 for second, etc., the "overall" ranking was determined. In 1969, there were four regular season games that matched "Top Five" teams.
Rule changes
The 1967 punting rule requiring five linemen on the kicking team to remain at the line of scrimmage until the ball is punted was repealed.
Eliminating the "flex shift" (offensive linemen raising up then dropping back down into position, used by Kansas and UCLA the previous season and later popularized by the Dallas Cowboys) by requiring an offensive player to hold his position when he gets "on or near the ground".
The game clock will be stopped on all first downs to move the chains, then restarted again. This rule was modified in the 2023 season to only stop the clock for first downs inside of the final two minutes of each half.
The "tackle-eligible" pass play was declared illegal by requiring five offensive lineman numbered 50–79 to be on the line of scrimmage and declaring none of them are eligible receivers.
Prohibiting the receiver of a fair catch who does not catch the ball to then become a blocker.
Limiting the legal clipping zone to a rectangular point three feet by four yards on either side of the ball.
Defensive players who intercept a pass within five yards of the end zone and his momentum takes him into the end zone, the ball will be put in play at the spot of the interception if the defensive player does not attempt to advance the ball out of the end zone.
Length of time-outs are shortened from 120 seconds to 90 seconds.
Conference and program changes
Prior to the season, the Athletic Association of Western Universities officially renamed itself as the Pacific-8 Conference.
In the preseason poll released on September 9, the Purdue Boilermakers were picked No. 1, followed by the defending champion USC Trojans. Third was the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, followed by the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns. A second poll was taken on September 16 (with Texas and Oklahoma trading places), although most teams would not begin play until the 21st.
September 21 No. 1 Purdue beat Virginia 44–6, and No. 2 USC won 29–20 at No. 16 Minnesota. No. 3 Notre Dame beat No. 5 Oklahoma 45–21 at South Bend, while No. 4 Texas was tied 20–20 at home by No. 11 Houston. No. 6 Florida defeated Air Force 23–20 in Tampa, while No. 10 Penn State beat Navy 31–6. In a proud moment for football in Indiana, Purdue remained at No. 1, and Notre Dame rose to No. 2, days before the annual meeting between the two schools. The remainder of the top five was No. 3 USC, No. 4 Penn State, and No. 5 Florida.
September 28 No. 1 Purdue traveled to No. 2 Notre Dame and won, 37–22. No. 3 USC won 24–7 at Northwestern, No. 4 Penn State beat Kansas State 25–9, and No. 5 Florida won at Florida State 9–3. The next poll was No. 1 Purdue, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Florida, and No. 5 Notre Dame.
October
October 5 No. 1 Purdue won at Northwestern, 43–6, and No. 2 USC beat visiting No. 13 Miami (FL), 28–3. No. 3 Penn State won at West Virginia 31–20, No. 4 Florida beat Mississippi State 31–14, but fell from the Top Five, and No. 5 Notre Dame won at Iowa 51–28. With a 21–6 win over Oregon, No. 6 Ohio State moved up in the rankings. The next poll was No. 1 Purdue, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 5 Notre Dame.
October 12 No. 1 Purdue lost 13–0 at No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 2 USC won 27–24 at No. 18 Stanford. No. 3 Penn State won at UCLA 21–6, No. 5 Notre Dame beat Northwestern 27–7, and No. 6 Kansas won 23–13 at No. 9 Nebraska. The next poll was No. 1 USC, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Kansas, and No. 5 Purdue.
October 19 No. 1 USC beat Washington 14–7, and No. 2 Ohio State beat Northwestern 45–21. No. 3 Penn State was idle, No. 4 Kansas beat Oklahoma State 49–14, No. 5 Purdue edged Wake Forest 28–27, and No. 6 Notre Dame beat Illinois 58–8. The next poll was No. 1.USC, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Kansas, No. 4 Penn State, and No. 5 Notre Dame.
October 26 No. 1 USC was idle, and No. 2 Ohio State won at Illinois 31–24. No. 3 Kansas won at Iowa State 46–25, No. 4 Penn State won at Boston College 29–0, and No. 5 Notre Dame was upset at unranked Michigan State, 21–17. No. 6 Tennessee, which had reached 4–0–1 the week before with a 10–9 win over Alabama, moved up in the rankings. The next poll was No. 1 USC, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Kansas, No. 4 Penn State, and No. 5 Tennessee.
November
November 2 No. 1 USC won at Oregon, 20–13, and No. 2 Ohio State beat No. 16 Michigan State 25–20. No. 3 Kansas posted its seventh win, over visiting Colorado, 27–14. No. 4 Penn State slipped past Army, 28–24 and No. 5 Tennessee beat visiting UCLA 42–18. The top five remained the same.
November 9 No. 1 USC turned back No. 11 California 35–17, and No. 2 Ohio State stayed unbeaten as well, downing Wisconsin 43–8. No. 3 Kansas, however, lost to unranked Oklahoma, 27–23. No. 4 Penn State beat visiting Miami (FL) 22–7, but No. 5 Tennessee lost to No. 18 Auburn in Birmingham, 28–14. No. 7 Michigan, riding a seven-game winning streak after losing their opener to California, won 36–0 over Illinois. No. 9 Georgia, which had been tied by Tennessee and Houston but was otherwise unbeaten, defeated Florida 51–0 in Jacksonville. The next poll was No. 1 USC, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Michigan, and No. 5 Georgia.
November 16 No. 1 USC beat No. 13 Oregon State 17–13 and effectively clinched a Rose Bowl bid; the Beavers had been USC's only remaining rival for the Pac-8 title and this victory gave the Trojans the head-to-head advantage. No. 2 Ohio State won at unranked Iowa 33–27. No. 3 Penn State won its eighth straight at Maryland 57–13, and No. 4 Michigan beat Wisconsin 34–9. No. 5 Georgia won 17–3 at No. 12 Auburn. The top five remained the same.
November 23 No. 1 USC beat UCLA 28–16 to stay unbeaten and clinch an outright Pac-8 championship. No. 2 Ohio State, which also had an unblemished record, hosted No. 4 Michigan. In what would become a recurring pattern over the next decade, both teams were unbeaten in conference play and the game would determine who would represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl. Coach Woody Hayes' Buckeyes triumphed 50–14 over the Wolverines. No. 3 Penn State traveled and crushed Pittsburgh 65–9. No. 5 Georgia was idle. No. 7 Kansas finished its season with a 21–19 win at No. 13 Missouri. Kansas' only loss was to Oklahoma, their co-champions in the Big 8; the Jayhawks, who were ranked higher and had a better overall record than the Sooners, were chosen for the conference's spot in the Orange Bowl.
In the polls released on November 25, there was a disagreement between the AP writers and the UPI coaches as the AP made Ohio State its new No. 1.[2] Though USC had more first place votes than Ohio State (24½ vs 21½), the Buckeyes were 10 points ahead overall in the AP poll (935–925). In the UPI poll of coaches, however, USC remained in first place and Ohio State second. (332–321 in total points). Both polls rounded out the top five with No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Georgia, and No. 5 Kansas.
Also this week, Yale and Harvard (both of which were undefeated) met and ended their game in a 29–29 tie. The game was the basis of Harvard Crimson newspaper headline (and later the title of a documentary) Harvard Beats Yale 29–29.
November 30 No. 1 Ohio State and No. 5 Kansas had finished their seasons, and No. 3 Penn State was idle. No. 2 USC was tied by visiting No. 9 Notre Dame, 21–21. No. 4 Georgia closed its season unbeaten at 8–0–2, with a 47–8 win at home over Georgia Tech. As the SEC champs, the Bulldogs went to the Sugar Bowl against SWC co-champion Arkansas. No. 6 Texas finished their season with a 35–14 victory over Texas A&M. After a loss and a tie in their first two games, the Longhorns won their final eight in a row, including a 39–29 win over Arkansas. The head-to-head victory gave Texas the conference's Cotton Bowl bid against SEC runner-up Tennessee.
The AP's final regular season poll was No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Georgia, and No. 5 Texas. Ohio State had 34 of the 39 first place votes cast. Following USC's 9–0–1 finish, the UPI coaches voted unbeaten and untied (9–0) Ohio State as the national champion in their final poll on December 3. At the time, the UPI did not do a poll following the postseason bowl games, and the result would have been unaffected by the OSU and USC meeting in the Rose Bowl. The result was 28 first place votes (and 334 points) for OSU, and only 4 first place (and 277 points) for USC.[3]
In the only significant regular season game played after the polls were taken, No. 3 Penn State remained undefeated by beating Syracuse 30–12 on December 7. The Nittany Lions prepared for a matchup against Kansas in the Orange Bowl.
Because No. 1 Ohio State (9–0) and No. 2 USC (9–0–1) were the champions of the Big Ten and Pac-8 conferences, respectively, they were automatically set to meet in the Rose Bowl. No. 3 Penn State (10–0) accepted an invite to the Orange Bowl. No. 6 Kansas (9–1), which shared the Big 8 crown with Oklahoma (even after losing to the Sooners) got the other bid. The Sugar Bowl featured the SEC champion against the SWC runner-up (No. 4 Georgia (8–0–2) vs. No. 9 Arkansas (9–1)) while the Cotton Bowl pitted the SWC champion against the SEC runner-up (No. 5 Texas (8–1–1) vs. No. 8 Tennessee (8–1–1))
When the sportswriters voted for the Top 20 after the bowl games, Rose Bowl winner Ohio State won the AP Trophy and the unofficial national championship, taking all but five of the 49 first place votes. Penn State, which had narrowly won the Orange Bowl, was second. The final poll was 1.Ohio State 2.Penn State 3.Texas 4.USC 5.Notre Dame 6.Arkansas 7.Kansas 8. Georgia 9.Missouri 10.Purdue 11.Oklahoma 12.Michigan 13.Tennessee 14.SMU 15.Oregon State 16.Auburn 17.Alabama 18.Houston 19.LSU and 20.Ohio University.
The NCAA was without a playoff for the major college football teams in the University Division, later known as Division I-A, during the 20th century. The NCAA recognizes Division I-A national champions based on the final results of polls including the "wire service", FWAA and NFF. The 1964 AP poll continued to rank only ten teams, compiling the votes of 55 sportswriters, each of whom would give their opinion of the ten best. Under a point system of 10 points for first place, 9 for second, etc., the "overall" ranking was determined.
The 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with a double overtime national championship game. Ohio State and Miami both came into the Fiesta Bowl undefeated. The underdog Buckeyes defeated the defending-champion Hurricanes 31–24, ending Miami's 34-game winning streak. Jim Tressel won the national championship in only his second year as head coach.
The 1980 NCAA Division I-A football season saw a university from the state of Georgia take its first national title since 1942.
The 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season saw the Alabama Crimson Tide bring home a national title with a perfect 12–0 season. The title was Alabama's 11th claimed, and their 6th Associated Press awarded title.
The 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season was the first season of Division I-A college football. Division I-A was created in January 1978 when Division I was subdivided into Division I-A and I-AA for football only. It was anticipated that 65 Division I football schools would transition to Division I-AA. Instead, just eight programs voluntarily opted for Division I-AA for the 1978 season, where they joined 35 schools that had reclassified from Division II. One school, UNLV, moved from Division II to I-A, bringing the total number of I-A institutions to 138 for the 1978 season.
During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the major college football teams in the University Division, later known as Division I-A. The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of "wire service" polls. The "writers' poll" by Associated Press (AP) was the most popular, followed by the "coaches' poll" by United Press International) (UPI). Prior to 1965, both services issued their final polls at the close of the regular season, but before teams competed in bowl games. For the 1965 season, the AP took its final poll after the postseason games, an arrangement made permanent in 1968. The Associated Press presented the "AP Trophy" to the winner.
The 1966 University Division football season was marked by some controversy as the year of "The Tie", a famous 10–10 game between the two top-ranked teams, Michigan State and Notre Dame on November 19. Both teams were crowned national champions by various organizations after the regular season concluded, and neither participated in a bowl game. Alabama finished the regular season undefeated and was third in the AP poll, while Georgia was fourth. Alabama went on to win the Sugar Bowl in dominant fashion. During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the major college football teams in the University Division, later known as Division I-A.
The 1967 NCAA University Division football season was the last one in which college football's champion was crowned before the bowl games. During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the major college football teams in the University Division, later known as Division I-A and now as the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
The 1969 NCAA University Division football season was celebrated as the centennial of college football.
The 1970 NCAA University Division football season was marked by tragedy, due to two airplane crashes. On October 2, one of the planes carrying the Wichita State football team crashed on the way to a game against Utah State, killing 31 people on board, including 14 players. Then, on November 14, the charter for the Marshall Thundering Herd crashed on the way home from a game against East Carolina, killing all 75 persons.
The 1971 NCAA University Division football season saw Coach Bob Devaney's Nebraska Cornhuskers repeat as national champions. Ranked a close second behind Notre Dame in the preseason poll, Nebraska moved up to first place the following week, remained there for the rest of 1971, and convincingly won the Orange Bowl 38–6 in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 game against Alabama.
The 1972 NCAA University Division football season saw the USC Trojans, coached by John McKay, go undefeated and win the national championship as the unanimous choice of the 50 AP panelists. Eighth-ranked in the preseason, the Trojans were narrowly voted No. 1 in the first AP poll, and stayed out front for the rest of the year.
The 1973 NCAA Division I football season was the first for the NCAA's current three-division structure. Effective with the 1973–74 academic year, schools formerly in the NCAA "University Division" were classified as Division I. Schools in the former "College Division" were classified into Division II, which allowed fewer athletic scholarships than Division I, and Division III, in which athletic scholarships were prohibited.
The 1974 NCAA Division I football season finished with two national champions. The Associated Press (AP) writers' poll ranked the University of Oklahoma, which was on probation and barred by the NCAA from postseason play, No. 1 at season's end. The United Press International (UPI) coaches' poll did not rank teams on probation, by unanimous agreement of the 25 member coaches' board. The UPI trophy went to USC.
The 1975 NCAA Division I football season saw University of Oklahoma repeat as national champion in the Associated Press (AP) writers' poll, and were ranked No. 1 in the United Press International (UPI) coaches' poll, just ahead of runner up Arizona State, runner-up in both final polls, despite having an undefeated 12–0 season and a win over Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl.
The 1976 NCAA Division I football season ended with a championship for the Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh. Led by head coach Johnny Majors, the Pitt Panthers brought a college football championship to the home of the defending pro football champions, the Steelers. Pitt also had the Heisman Trophy winner, Tony Dorsett; the Panthers had been ranked ninth in the preseason AP poll.
The 1977 NCAA Division I football season was one in which the top five teams finished with 11–1 records. Notre Dame, which beat top-ranked and undefeated Texas in the Cotton Bowl, became the national champion.
The 1954 college football season was the 86th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. It saw three major college teams finish unbeaten and untied:
The 1947 college football season finished with Notre Dame, Michigan, and Penn State all unbeaten and untied, but the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame were the first place choice for 107 of the 142 voters in the final AP Poll in early December, and repeated as national champions. Michigan was selected for the top spot by six contemporary math systems.
The 1939 college football season concluded with the Aggies of The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas being named as the national champions by the voters in the Associated Press writers' poll. Led by consensus All-American fullback John Kimbrough, the Aggies went undefeated at 11–0 and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 212 to 31, with the defense allowing just 54 first downs and 763 yards all season, or 1.71 yards per play. On New Year's Day, Texas A&M defeated Tulane, 14–13 in the Sugar Bowl.
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