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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/stayclassypeople on 2024-07-17 12:53:19+00:00.

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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

1967

This is the 18th 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

https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/1dkhvs5/a_brief_history_of_the_bowls_and_polls/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

News & Notes

• George Washington dropped it’s program. The football team made one bowl in 1956, where the beat Texas Western (UTEP). Their last ever victory was 49-28 over Furman. The primary reason for shuddering the program was cost and poor attendance.
• The AP only ranked the top 10. The Coaches ranked the top 20.
• Bowl Tie-Ins
  • Rose: AAWU and Big 10 champs
    • Purdue and USC ineligible due to the no-repeat rule.
  • Sugar: An SEC team
  • Cotton: SWC Champ
  • Orange: Big 8

Big Games

• Sept 16th
  • No 8 UCLA vs No. 9 Tennessee was a solid season opener, but it would prove to have important national title implications by seasons end. The Bruins escaped with a 20-16 win.
• Sept 23rd
  • No. 2 Alabama tied Florida St in a wild 37-37 season opener, ending 17 game unbeaten streak.
  • No 3 Michigan State’s season opener was even worse, getting molly-whopped, 7-37 vs Houston. They would lose the following week to no. 2 USC, falling out of the national title race altogether.
  • No 4 USC (1-0) escaped Texas in LA, 17-13. They would move up to no. 2 in the ensuing polls.
• Sept 30th
  • No 1 Notre Dame (1-0) vs No. 10 Purdue (1-0). Spoilermakers strike again! The defending champs fell 21-28 in West Lafayette. USC jumped to no. 1 in the following polls. Notre Dame dropped to 6th.
• Oct 14th
  • No. 5 Notre Dame was romped 24-7 vs #1 USC at home.
  • No. 3 Georgia fell 20-29 to Ole Miss.
  • NR. Oklahoma lost their only game of the season in the Red River Shootout to Texas 7-9.
• Oct 21st
  • No. 6 Alabama fell to No. 7 Tennessee 13-24. The loss virtually ended their national title hopes. This game would prove to be a de facto SEC title in hindsight.
• Nov 4th
  • No 2. UCLA (6-0) drew with Oregon St 16-16. The tie dropped them to no. 4 in the following polls.
  • NR Oklahoma womped Colorado 23-0 in what would prove to be a de facto Big 8 title game.
• Nov 11th
  • Let’s be honest, Trojans and beavers just don’t mix. No 1 USC (8-0) was shutout 3-0 by Oregon St. Crosstown rival, UCLA, who tied the Beavers just a week prior, moved to No. 1. Tennessee followed at No. 2.
• Nov 13th:
• Nov 18th
  • no. 5 Indiana 8-0 struggled to gain any recognition from the polls, despite being an unbeaten Big 10 team in late November. Maybe the pollsters knew something, because Minnesota put the hurt on them 33-7.
  • No. 4/2 USC (8-1) vs #1/1 UCLA (7-0-1) : It was “The Game of the Century . . .” at least for teams that can’t beat Oregon St. The Bruins struck first with a short TD run to make it 7-0. USC countered with a 55 yard pick six to tie it at 7. Later in the half, OJ Simpson punched it in from 12 yards out to make it 14-7 by halftime. UCLA QB Gary Beban tossed a 53 yard bomb to tie it up at 14. Beban tossed another 4th quarter TD to give UCLA a 20-14 lead, but the XP was missed keeping the lead at 6 points. USC had the ball early 4th quarter facing a 3rd and long when OJ Simpson took a hand off and dodged UCLA defenders better than murder charges for an electric 64-yard TD run to take a 21-20 lead. USC would leapfrog Tennessee and Purdue in the following poll to take control of #1. UCLA’s consolation prize was Beban winning the Heisman trophy.
  • The Trojans moved to #1 in both polls the following Monday.
• Nov 25th
  • No. 3 Purdue (8-1) at Indiana (8-1): The Boilermakers were perfect in Big 10 play. Indiana had one loss, but an upset here would create a 3 way tie between the Hoosiers, Gophers, and Boilermakers. Indiana held on for a 19-14 upset.
  • No. 2 Tennessee only trailed USC by six first place votes in the AP poll, meaning there was still a slim chance of being voted no. 1. They took care of Kentucky 17-7 to stake their claim for no. 1.

Team	Record	AP	Coaches	Bowl
USC	9-1	1 (36)	1 (27)	Rose
Tennessee	8-1	2 (11)	2 (6)	Orange
Oklahoma	8-1	3	3 (1)	Orange
Indiana	9-1	4	6	Rose
Notre Dame	8-2	5 (1)	4	none
Wyoming	10-0	6 (1)	5	Sugar
Oregon St	7-2-1	7	8	none

• Tennessee and Oklahoma played their final games on Dec 2nd, after the polls were released. The Vols routed Vandy 41-14 and Oklahoma rocked Oklahoma St 38-14. Both finished 9-1.
• Minnesota, Indiana, and Purdue all tied for 1st place at 6-1 in conference play. The Big 10’s tiebreaker rules gave the bid to Indiana, as they had the longest drought since their last trip to Pasadena.
• Clemson despite an 0-4 record out of conference, won the ACC to finish 6-4. They did not receive an at large bowl bid. 2nd place NC State (8-2) was invited to the Liberty bowl, however.
• Texas A&M started 0-4, but rallied to win their final six games to claim the SWC title.
• Shout out to Oregon St. They finished 7-2-1, but went 2-0-1 in games where they played the no 1 or 2 team at the time of the game (beating Purdue and USC and tying UCLA).

Nobody managed to finished undefeated and four teams ended their season with one tie, so why did the voters have seemingly such an easy time picking USC as a consensus 1? Here’s my take on it. No. 2 Tennessee lost to UCLA, meaning USC had a transitive win over the Vols. Indiana had an ugly 26 loss to Minnesota and had survived a lot of near upsets to mediocre to bad teams. As for Oklahoma, their lone loss came to a 6-4 Texas, while USC’s was to a top 10 Oregon St team. The Trojans schedule wasn’t significantly tougher, but tougher nonetheless. Rankings throughout this era tell me that the polls viewed the Big 8 as one of the weaker power conferences of the day, a perception that likely didn’t help the Sooners either.

The Orange Bowl would be the best match up as Tennessee accepted a bid to play Oklahoma in a top 3 match up. The Rose Bowl would be a top 10 match up between the Trojans and Hoosiers. Imagine had the bowls counted in the polls. Four teams would have a shot at playing for the national title. If Indiana could upset USC, they or the Orange Bowl winner would both have a shot to claim No. 1. As it stood, they games would remain glorified exhibition matchups for one final year.

Cotton Bowl: NR 6-4 Texas A&M vs No. 8/7 Alabama (8-1-1)

On paper, this should have been an ugly game but A&M fought hard. After Alabama, led by future Raider star (ewww) Kenny Stabler scored a TD on their opening drive, the Aggies rallied for two TDS to take an eventual 13-10 halftime lead. They later extended the lead to 20-10 with a 20 yard TD rush in the 3rd. Alabama stopped the bleeding with a 3rd quarter TD of their own, but would not score again. The Aggies finished the year on a 7 game win streak and with a Cotton Bowl trophy.

Sugar Bowl: No. 6/5 Wyoming (10-0) vs NR LSU (6-3-1)

Yes, you read that right, Wyoming earned an at large bid to the Sugar Bowl. The Cowboys played a weak schedule, but did beat 7 of their 10 opponents by double digits for what it’s worth. The Cowboys looked like a good bet to win this one too, scoring on a 1 yard TD plunge, then tacking on two FGs to take a 13-0 lead into halftime. Unfortunately, the momentum didn’t continue into the 2nd half. LSU QB Tommy Morel, scored three times; twice on the ground and once through the air to give LSU a 20-13 comeback victory.

Orange Bowl: No. 3 Oklahoma (9-1) vs No. 2. Tennessee (9-1)

Neither team could use this game as a chance to impress the pollsters, but that did not mean either team took this top 3 match up lightly. Oklahoma dominated the first half. Sooner QB Bob Warmack opened the first with a short TD run, then added a 20 yard passing TD in the 2nd to make it 14-0. RB Steve Owens added another TD to make it 19-0 by halftime. Looking down and out, Tennessee finally got on the board with a pick six to cut it to 19-7, then used the momentum to later score a short TD run by Charlie Fulton to get within a score at 19-14. In the 4th, they had the ball in Sooner territory with a chance to take the lead, but the Sooners got a pick six of their own to take a 26-14 lead. The V…

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