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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/stayclassypeople on 2024-07-22 12:10:31+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

1971

This is the 22nd 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

  • Bowl Tie ins
    • Rose Big 10 and Pac 8 champs
      • Ohio St ineligible due to 'no-repeat rules’
      • Sugar: an SEC team
      • Cotton: SWC champ
      • Orange: Big 8 champ
  • Preseason No. 1: Notre Dame
  • Temple and the University of Texas-Arlington moved up to the University division. Texas-Arlington would eventually shudder it’s program in 1985.
  • The MEAC, an HBCU conference, officially formed. It competed in the lower College Division.
  • South Carolina left the ACC to become an independent.
  • Buffalo would drop it’s program, but bring it back in 1977.
  • Bradley permanently dropped it’s program

Big Games

  • Sept 13th:
    • Preseason No. 1 Notre Dame, who had not played a game, fell to No. 2.
  • Oct 9th
    • No. 3 Texas lost it’s first regular season game September 1968, getting dominated by No. 9 Oklahoma 27-48. They would lose to rival Arkansas by 24 the following week.
  • Oct 23rd
    • Despite being 5-0 and staring the season as preseason No. 1, Notre Dame had fallen all the way to No. 9 in the AP at one point before moving up to 6th leading into their rivalry game with USC. The voters must have known something as USC knocked them off 28-14.
  • Nov 20th: The 10 year War: Part 3. No.3 Michigan (10-0) vs Ohio St. The Wolverine had already wrapped up a Rose Bowl berth, but losing to a hated rival would certainly put a damper on their celebration. As for the national title, they knew they would at least move ahead of the loser of the NU/OU game, but they would would likely need the winner to lose in the Orange Bowl to claim No. 1. The Wolverines held on tight to finish the regular season 10-0
  • Nov 13
    • Three SEC teams, Auburn, Georgia, and Alabama remained unbeaten, but one of those teams would fall this day, when No. 6 Auburn (8-0) took on No. 7 Georgia (9-0). The Tigers scared off the dogs in a 35-20 victory, setting up an epic Iron Bowl showdown with Alabama in two weeks.
  • Nov 20th
    • No. 5 Penn St (10-0) capped their season off by getting whipped by No. 12 Tennessee, 31-11. It’s doubtful they would have finished No. 1 anyway, with four unbeatens ahead of them.
  • Nov 25th
    • On the final weekend, the No. 1 team was squaring off vs the No. 2 team in Norman, the No. 3 team was squaring off vs the No. 5 team in Birmingham. For the Coaches Poll, the Big 8 battle was essentially a de facto national title, for the AP, this weekend would serve as a regular season semi final, where the winners would potentially meet in the Orange Bowl to decide No. 1 on the field.
    • No. 1 Nebraska (10-0) vs No. 2 Oklahoma “The Game of the Century.” Irresistible Oklahoma Meets Immovable Nebraska in an epic de facto Big 8 and regular season national title. Johnny the Jet Rodgers 'tore 'em lose from their shoes in the 1st quarter with an epic 72-yard punt return to make in 7-0. RB Jeff Kinney added a TD to make it 14-3 Huskers in the early 2nd. The Sooners didn’t flinch at this deficit, countering with a Jack Mildren TD run and passing TD to take a 17-14 lead by halftime.
    • Jeff Kinney added his 2nd and 3rd TD’s of the day in the 3rd quarter to put Nebraska in control 28-17. The Sooners again countered with another Mildren run and TD pass, to make it 31-29 in their favor mid 4th quarter. The Huskers got the ball back at their own 26 yard line. The Huskers used a big pass play from Jerry Tagge to Johnny Rodgers setting them up deep in Sooner territory. Jeff Kinney later punched it in with 1:38 to go to give the Huskers a 35-31 lead. They would later sack Mildren on 4th down, ending the Sooners last threat.
  • Nov 27th
    • no. 5 Auburn (9-0) vs no. 3. Alabama (10-0). It was an SEC title game and national title semi final all wrapped into one epic Iron Bowl rivalry. The winner would almost certainly turn down the Sugar bowl to challenge Nebraska in the Orange for a de facto national title. The Tide dominated 31-7. They turned down the Sugar Bowl to challenge the Huskers for No. 1 in Miami.
  • Dec 4th
    • Despite winning what felt like an AP national title over Oklahoma, Nebraska still had to take care of business at Hawaii. If they somehow lost, Michigan or rival Oklahoma would be in contention to win a Coaches Poll title. The Rainbow Warriors were no threat, as the Husker rolled to a 45-3 route, ensuring they were back to back Coaches Poll national champions.

Final Regular Season Polls

Team Record AP Rank Final Coaches Rank Bowl
Nebraska 12-0 1 (48) 1 (29) Orange
Alabama 11-0 2 (4) 2 (2) Orange
Oklahoma 10-1 3 3 Sugar
Michigan 11-0 4 (3) 4 Rose
Auburn 9-1 5 5 Sugar
Georgia 10-1 6 8 Gator
Colorado 9-2 7 7 Blue Bonnet
Arizona St 10-1 8 6 Fiesta
  • Nebraska was allowed to play a 12th game by virtue of playing Hawaii on the road.
  • North Carolina won the ACC with a 9-2 overall record.
  • No. 14 Toledo finished 11-0 for a 3rd consecutive year. They would beat Richmond in the Tangerine bowl, extending their win streak to 35 games.
  • No 10 Stanford won the Pac 8 with a 9-3 record
  • No. 18 Texas won the SWC for a 3rd straight year with an 8-2 overall record.

Three teams finished unbeaten and untied, but the Huskers were the clear choice for number 1 in each poll. It was hard to blame the voters either, as they won 11 of their 12 games by at least 24 points, and had arguably the best win between the teams, beating a great Oklahoma team. Don’t feel sorry for Alabama though, they would be able to challenge the Huskers for the AP national title in the Orange Bowl. As for Michigan, it’s surprising a big 10 team get so little respect. When I started this series, it was unheard of to not see the a perfect Big 10 team get the benefit of the doubt when compared to other unbeatens. Unfortunately for them, the Big 10 was down this year, as every other team finished the year unranked and with at least 4 losses. Their non conference schedule was light as well. In fact, one loss Oklahoma was still ranked ahead of them despite their loss at home to Nebraska. Even in the event of an Orange Bowl tie and Sooner Sugar bowl loss, they were unlikely to gain enough votes to move to No. 1 in the AP.

Cotton Bowl: No. 10/11 Penn St (10-1) vs No. 12 Texas (8-2)

This was a bit of a downer relative to the other bowls. The Cotton was the only bowl with out any national title implications. Penn St missed their chance (partially their own fault) last year to play No. 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl to decide No. 1 on the field. I suppose this would suffice as a consolation prize. The first half was a field goal fest with the teams trading 3 field goals. Texas led 6-3 at the half. The Nittany Lions absolutely dominated the 2nd half, routing the horns 27-0 to win the game 30-6.

Sugar Bowl: No. 3 Oklahoma (10-1) vs No. 5 Auburn (9-1)

This Sooner team often gets overlooked when we think of all time greats. They were one possession away from beating a Nebraska team that is considered to be one of the best to ever teak the field. They set an NCAA record at the time with 472 yards per game. They also led the NCAA with 45 points per game.

They continued their dominance thrashing Auburn 40-22. Sooner QB Jack Mildren scored 3 rushing TDs in the first half, leading the Sooners to a 31-0 lead. They led 40-7 in the 4th before Auburn tacked on two garbage time TDs to make the final score more respectable at 40-22.

Rose Bowl: No. 3 Michigan (10-0) vs No. 16 Stanford (7-3)

The pollsters may not have noticed, but Michigan was perfect at the end of the regular season for the first time in 33 years. Rival Stanford didn’t appear to be scared. Defenses reigned in the first half as each team traded a FG to make it 3-3 at the intermission. After a scoreless 3rd, Michigan’s Fritz Seyferth punched in the first TD of the day to give the Wolverines a 10-3. Not to be outdone, Stanford’s Jackie Brown rumbled it in to tie the game a 10 …

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