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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/stayclassypeople on 2024-07-12 12:11:50+00:00.

There is no official standard because there is no official national champion. It all depends on the standard the school wishes to utilize. The national champion is in the eye of the beholder."

— Kent Stephens, historian

1964

This is the fourteenth post in a series covering the 1950-1973 seasons. Each year I will cover the big games the shaped the race for #1 and how they performed in the bowls. Season by season you’ll see the gradual evolution of how college football went from a regular season only sport into a game into a sport where bowls would become national championship events. This is my amateur attempt at understanding college football’s bizarre journey in declaring who is #1.

Master Post (check out prior seasons here)

A Brief History of the bowls and Polls

News & Notes

Georgia Tech left the SEC to become an Independent. The primary reason was the 140 Rule. To quote an article from “The Athletic:”

The 140 rule limited the number of scholarships each school could offer per year, including a cap of 45 football and men’s basketball scholarships. Many coaches got around it by cutting players they didn’t want anymore. Georgia head coach Bobby Dodd refused to do that.

That’s the simplified version of it. Ultimately the SEC would change this rule just 9 years later, proving the decision to be short sighted . . . especially when you look at the status of modern day conferences.

***

  • Oregon and Oregon St were admitted to the AAWU, rejoining their former conference rivals from the PCC days.
  • Fun fact, did you know the Big 8’s official name wasn’t the “Big 8” until this season? Officially it was the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The Big 7/8 was just it’s nickname until they made it official in 1964.
  • Preseason #1: Ole Miss
  • Bowl Tie Ins’
    • Rose: AAWU & Big 10 champs
    • Sugar: an SEC team (unofficially)
    • Cotton: SWC champ
    • Orange: Big 8 champ
  • Heisman winner: Notre Dame QB John Huarte. He would go onto play for 5 NFL teams and won Super Bowl IV as a backup QB for the Kansas City Chiefs. He is in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Big Games

  • Sept 26th
    • #1 Ole Miss (1-0) fell to conference rival Kentucky by a score of 21-27. This would be a sign of things to come as they stumbled to a 5-5-1 season.
    • #2 Oklahoma (1-0) was waxed by USC 14-40. Similar to Ole Miss, their season would be a struggle, finishing 6-4-1.
  • Oct 10th
    • #2 Illinois (2-0) fell to #4 Ohio St (2-0) 26-0.
  • Oct 17th
    • Defending champ, #1 Texas (4-0) met #8 Arkansas (4-0) for an epic SWC showdown in Austin. The Razorbacks led 14-7 when Texas scored a late 4th quarter TD to make it 14-13. The Horns went for 2 for the win but were stopped short. The Hogs won by that score and took control of the SWC race and put the rest of college football on notice.
    • #5 Michigan (3-0) would suffer it’s only defeat of the season in a narrow 20-21 defeat to the Purdue Spoiler makers.
  • Oct 24th
    • 5-0 #3 Alabama, led by future NFL legend Joe Namath, met 4-0 #9 Florida for a mid season SEC showdown. The Tide prevailed 17-14 to take control of the SEC race.
  • Nov 7th
    • #1 Ohio St (6-0) got absolutely molly-whopped by 3-4 Penn St, 27-0 in Columbus
  • Nov 14th
    • Notre Dame, Alabama, Arkansas, and Nebraska all won, making it 4 undefeated teams with only two weeks to go in the regular season. The resurgent Irish seemed to be a favorite for the pollsters heading into the final stretch of the season.
  • Nov 21st
    • #3 Arkansas (9-0) blanked Texas Tech to finish a perfect 10-0, for their 5th straight shutout to end the season. They were assured a Cotton Bowl bid, but were stuck behind unbeaten Alabama and Notre Dame, who both had 1 game to go the following week.
    • #4 Nebraska (9-0) looked well on it’s way to it’s first perfect season in the poll era. A national title wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, but they would need help by having Arkansas, Notre Dame, and Alabama losing. Instead Oklahoma spoiled their party with a 17-7 upset. The number of unbeatens dropped to three.
    • #7 Ohio St met #6 Michigan for a de facto Big 10 title. The Wolverines handed the Buckeyes their 2nd shutout loss of the season, 10-0 to earn a Rose Bowl bid.
  • Nov 26th
    • Three undefeated teams entered the final week of the regular season. #3 Arkansas’ season was complete, meaning that only Notre Dame and Alabama seemed to be in the running for #1.
    • #2 Alabama survived an Auburn Iron Bowl upset with a 21-14 victory to finish the year a perfect 10-0. They would now have to root for USC to knock off #1 Notre Dame two days later to have a chance at #1.
  • Nov 28th
    • Notre Dame had fallen off the map in the 50s and early 60s, but Ara Parseghian righted the ship from the get go, going 16-3-1 in his first two seasons. Now in his 3rd season, he had the Irish 9-0 and on the doorstep of a national championship. The Irish looked well on their way to doing so, racing out to a 17-0 halftime lead. The Trojans responded with an epic rally, scoring 20 unanswered 2nd half points to stun the Irish 20-17. The door was now open for Alabama or Arkansas to claim #1.

Final Polls

Team Record AP rank Coaches Rank Bowl
Alabama 10-0 1 (34.5) 1 (22) Orange
Arkansas 10-0 2 (11.5) 2 (7) Cotton
Notre Dame 9-1 3 (6) 3 (4) None
Michigan 8-1 4 (3) 4 (2) Rose
Texas 9-1 5 5 Orange
Nebraska 9-1 6 6 Cotton
  • Princeton finished 9-0 and #13 in the Coaches Poll
  • Oregon St (8-2) and USC (7-3) did not play in the regular season and tied at 3-1 in conference play to share the AAWU title. Since the conference did not have a formal Rose Bowl tiebreaker, the decision was left it up to a vote among the conference schools to decide who went to Pasadena. The vote was a 4-4 draw and the agreed upon tiebreaker at the time was to send the team with a longer Rose Bowl drought to Pasadena, giving Oregon St the nod.
  • and USC did not play in the regular season and tied at 3-1 in conference play to share the AAWU title. Since the conference did not have a formal Rose Bowl tiebreaker, the decision was left it up to a vote among the conference schools to decide who went to Pasadena. The vote was a 4-4 draw and the agreed upon tiebreaker at the time was to send the team with a longer Rose Bowl drought to Pasadena, giving Oregon St the nod.
  • North Carolina St finished 5-5 but still won the ACC. They were not invited to a bowl

****

Whoa baby. In a season where we could have had six teams finish undefeated, the voters in each polls should count their lucky starts they only had to pick between two of them. Much to the dismay of Arkansas, Alabama was a consensus #1 for both Polls, and by a large margin no less. This would be Bear Bryant’s 2nd national title with the Tide in four years.

Now onto the bowls, which were even more convoluted than normal. Typically Alabama would be off to the Sugar Bowl, however, it had a ‘no-repeat’ rule at the time. I’m unsure when the rule was in place, but it meant #7 LSU would go in it’s place. Meanwhile, Nebraska spurned the Orange Bowl after receiving an invite to the Cotton Bowl in mid November. Cotton bowl organizers had offered Nebraska a bid when they were 9-0, hoping to pair them up in a match up of undefeated’s vs Arkansas. In a twist of fate, Nebraska fell in their final game to Oklahoma. Had they had more patience, it’s possible they could have instead invited unbeaten Alabama, creating a de facto national championship game . . . oops. Ironically, Alabama was invited to play in the Orange Bowl, where they would play defending national champ, Texas. Notre Dame of course, was spending the holidays at home, as they had a long standing policy of not playing in bowls, since the school’s administration viewed them as glorified exhibition games.

The Bowls

Sugar Bowl: #7 LSU (7-2-1) vs NR/#12 Syracuse (7-3)

Defenses handled the bulk of the first half scoring, with Syracuse getting a TD off of a blocked punt and LSU getting a safety. The Orange led 10-2 at the half. LSU scored a TD and 2-point conversion to tie it at 10 in the 3rd. The scored the go ahead field go with 4 minutes to go in the 4th to earn a 13-10 comeback win.

Rose Bowl: #4 Michigan (8-1) vs #8 Oregon St (8-2)

After a scoreless first quarter, the Beavers drew first blood on a 5 yard TD pass. The Wolverines countered with two TD drives but missed both extra points, making it 12-7 at the half. It was all Michigan from there as they dominated the 2nd half, scoring 22 more points to win 34-7.

Cotton Bowl#6 Nebraska (9-1) vs #2 Arkansas (10-0)

An immovable object (Arkansas with its #1 defense) met an unstoppable force (Nebraska’s #7 offense).  It wasn’t the match up of unbeatens the Sugar Bowl organizers hoped for, but they got a great game either way. 

Arkansas drew first blood, with a FG in the first, but Nebraska countered in the 2nd with a 1 yard TD plunge, making it 7-3 at the half. After a scoreless 3rd, Arkansas QB Fred Marshall engineered an 8…

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