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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/stayclassypeople on 2024-07-24 11:46:56+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

1972

This is the 23rd 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
    • Michigan ineligible due their conference’s ‘no-repeat’ rule
  • Sugar: an SEC team (unofficially)
  • Cotton: SWC champ
  • Orange: Big 8 champ
    • Big 8 champs could turn down the bid for other bowls
• Note: I forgot to mention it in the last post . . . the Fiesta Bowl began the prior season. At the time was not considered a major bowl, but would soon gain parity with the Sugar, Rose, Cotton, and Orange as one of the major bowl games.
• Preseason No. 1: Nebraska
• Heisman winner: Johnny ‘the jet’ Rodgers. His teammate Rich Glover finished 3rd, winning the Outland and Lombardi trophies.
• The NCAA reorganized. The University division became Division 1 and the College Division became Division II and III. Division I would later split into IA (FBS) and IAA (FCS) in 1978.
• Stanford changed it’s nickname from the Indians to the Cardinals.

Big games

• Sept 9th
  • Two time defending champ and preseason No. 1 Nebraska was stunned in it’s season opener vs unranked UCLA, 17-20.
  • No. 8 USC rocked No. 4 Arkansas 31-10. They would jump to No. 1 in the following weeks polls.
• Sept 23rd
  • Just two weeks after their epic upset of Nebraska, No. 6 UCLA fell to no. 12 Michigan 26-9.
• Sept 16th: No. 7 Tennessee vs No. 6 Penn St. The Vols escaped with a 28-21 win at home. Penn St would win their remaining regular season games from here, while Tennessee would later drop games to Auburn and Alabama.
• Sept 30th
  • No. 3 Colorado (3-0) was whipped by unranked Oklahoma St 31-6
  • No. 5 Ohio St handed North Carolina their only regular season loss, 29-14.
• Oct 14th
  • No. 2 Oklahoma waxed no. 10 Texas 27-0, handing the Horns their only loss of the season.
• Oct 21st
  • No. 2 Oklahoma lost it’s only regular season game at No. 9 Colorado 14-20.
• Nov 11th
  • No. 3 Nebraska (7-1) tied with No. 17 Iowa St 23-23. The tie effectively ended their run for a 3rd national title.
  • No. 5 Ohio St (7-0) lost to 3-4-1 Michigan St 19-12. They dropped to No. 9 in the following polls.
• Nov 18th
  • No. 1 USC (9-0) vs No. 14 UCLA (8-2). The crosstown rivals met in a de facto Pac 8 title game. USC needed to get over this hurdle, plus Notre Dame the following week to secure a Coaches Poll national title. They left no doubt with a 24-7 win.
• Nov 23rd
  • No 4. Oklahoma (8-1) knocked off No. 5 Nebraska (8-1-1) 20-17 to secure the Big 8 title and keep their slim national title hopes alive.
• Nov 25th
  • No. 3 Michigan (10-0) vs No. 9 Ohio St (8-1). In another epic edition of the ‘10 year war,’ Michigan and Ohio St found themselves in yet another de facto Big 10 title. The Wolverines were ineligible for the Rose Bowl due to the conference’s ‘no-repeat rule.’ Winning the national title would be tricky. They would need losses down the stretch by unbeaten USC and Alabama to move to No. 1 in one the polls. Ohio St would secure the Rose Bowl bid with a win. Lose and they would be tied for 2nd with Purdue and tiebreaker rules typically meant the team with the longer Rose Bowl drought got the bid. Michigan led 14-11 late when Michigan drove inside their 5 with less than a minute to go. The Buckeyes forced a fumble and recovered it at the 2 to secure the win. Their fans tore down the goalposts in celebration.
• Dec 2nd
• USC and Alabama were both undefeated and 1 and 2 in the polls. If one team won and the other lost, then the winner would be the easy choice for No. 1 to end the regular season. Both lose, and the door would open up for 1 loss Oklahoma, Ohio St or Penn St.
  • No. 1 USC (10-0) vs No. 10 Notre Dame (8-1). The Trojans already had a Rose Bowl battle vs Ohio St to further prove they deserved no. 1 in the AP, so they took advantage of this game to remind the Coaches Poll voters they were the best team with a 45-23 thrashing of the Irish.
  • No. 2 Alabama (10-0) vs No. 9 Auburn (8-1). "Punt Bama Punt."
  • This juicy Iron Bowl was a de facto SEC title and an important battle for Alabama to prove they were the best team in the land. Things were looking pretty good for the Tide as they led 16-0 through 3 quarters. After an Auburn FG cut the lead to 16-3, Alabama was forced to punt. Auburn’s Bill Newton blocked the punt and a teammate David Lagner took it to the end zone for a TD to make it 16-10. Later in the quarter, Alabama was forced to punt once more with little time left. Pin the Tigers deep and they’re defense would a good bet to finish the job for the win. Fate had other plans. In one of the most unlikely turn of events in a game, Newton and Langer once again teamed up to block and return a punt for a TD to win the game 17-16. The Tide’s national title dreams were over. The game would be nicknamed "Punt Bama, Punt."
  • No. 3 Oklahoma (9-1) vs Oklahoma St. The Sooners would almost certainly need the Tide and Trojans to lose to move to No. 1 in either poll. They rocked the Pokes 38-15, but only got one of the other two results they needed elsewhere.

Final Regular Season Polls

Bold=conference champs

(…)=1st place votes

Team	Record	AP Rank	Final Coaches Rank	Bowl Game
USC	11-0	1 (50)	1 (35)	Rose
Oklahoma	10-1	2	2	Sugar
Ohio St	9-1	3	3	Rose
Alabama	10-1	4	4	Cotton
Penn St	10-1	5	8	Sugar
Auburn	9-1	6	7	Gator
Texas	9-1	7	5	Cotton
Michigan	10-1	8	6	none

• No. 12 North Carolina won the ACC, finishing 10-1, only losing to No. 3 Ohio St. They would beat Texas Tech in the Sun Bowl to finish 11-1.
• No. 18 Louisville won the Missouri Valley Conference, going 9-1, but was not invited to a bowl.
• No. 20 San Diego St won the PCAA with a 10-1 record
• No 13 Arizona St won the WAC, finishing 10-2 and winning the Fiesta Bowl

We went into the final weekend with a lot of drama over who deserved No. 1 between USC and Alabama, but due to what I can only assume was Auburn making a deal with the devil, the voters were given an easy choice to anoint USC a national title in the Coaches poll. The AP national title was still up for grabs. USC would face No. 3 Ohio St in what could be considered a de facto AP National title. Meanwhile, No. 2 Oklahoma spurned the Orange Bowl to take on 1 loss Penn St in the Sugar Bowl. The Sugar Bowl did not have an official tie in with the SEC, however this was the first time since 1949 it did not feature an SEC team. If the Sooners and the Buckeyes both won, the voters would have a tough choice in who to pick for No. 1. Do they go wit the team that beat the Coaches poll champ, or stick with the next team in line in their poll?

1 Loss Alabama, who was off to the Cotton Bowl to play Texas, could also enter the picture in the race for no. 1.

Orange Bowl: No. 9 Nebraska (8-2-1) vs No. 12 Notre Dame (8-2)

Bob Devaney led the Huskers in his final game as Head Coach before retiring and handing the reigns to his OC, Tom Osborne. A national title was not on the line this time, but a first ever 3-pete in Orange Bowl history was a decent consolation prize. This game turned into a Johnny Rodgers highlight reel. The Heisman winner had a rushing TD in the 1st and tossed a 52-yard bomb in the 2nd to build a 20-0 lead for the Huskers. In the 3rd quarter, he rushed for two more TDs and caught a 50 yarder from QB David Humm to lead the Huskers to a 40-6 romp.

Cotton Bowl: No. 4 Alabama (10-1) vs No. 7 Texas (9-1)

Alabama’s national title hopes were extremely narrow heading into this one. They still jumped out to to a 10-0 lead in the first thanks to a big Wilbur Jackson TD run. Each team traded FG’s in the 2nd to make it 13-3 Tide at the half. Texas’ Alan Lowry final got the Horns into the end zone with a 3-yard rumble to cut the lead to 13-10. With just over 3 minutes to go, to go, Lowry rumbled into the end zone on a 34-yard run to give Texas the 17-13 lead, which would prove to be the final scor…

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