National Champion: Southern California (AP, FWAA, NFF, UPI)
Heisman Memorial Trophy: Gary Beban (UCLA)
FWAA Coach of the Year Award: John Pont (Indiana)
AP Preseason #1: Notre Dame ▪ AP Final #1: Southern California
| Overall | Bowls | SRS | Polls | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Conference | Schs | G | W | L | T | Pct | G | W | L | T | Pct | SRS | SOS | Pre | Final | Champion |
| 1 | Southeastern Conference | 10 | 105 | 54 | 47 | 4 | .533 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | 9.95 | 8.31 | 3 | 2 | Tennessee |
| 2 | Athletic Association of Western Universities | 8 | 81 | 43 | 36 | 2 | .543 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 6.40 | 5.49 | 2 | 2 | Southern California |
| 3 | Big Eight Conference | 8 | 82 | 44 | 37 | 1 | .543 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 4.12 | 3.37 | 1 | 1 | Oklahoma |
| 4 | Big Ten Conference | 10 | 100 | 46 | 52 | 2 | .470 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 3.68 | 4.64 | 1 | 2 | Indiana Minnesota Purdue |
| 5 | Southwest Conference | 8 | 81 | 35 | 44 | 2 | .444 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 2.67 | 3.92 | 1 | 0 | Texas A&M |
| 6 | Western Athletic Conference | 6 | 62 | 32 | 29 | 1 | .524 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 1.84 | 1.47 | 0 | 1 | Wyoming |
| 7 | Atlantic Coast Conference | 8 | 80 | 35 | 45 | 0 | .438 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.47 | 2.94 | 0 | 0 | Clemson |
| 8 | Independent | 32 | 318 | 169 | 137 | 12 | .550 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | .600 | -0.10 | -1.68 | 2 | 2 | |
| 9 | Missouri Valley Conference | 5 | 48 | 24 | 22 | 2 | .521 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.54 | -2.80 | 0 | 0 | North Texas | |
| 10 | Mid-American Conference | 7 | 69 | 36 | 33 | 0 | .522 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4.53 | -5.19 | 0 | 0 | Ohio Toledo |
|
| 11 | Southern Conference | 8 | 79 | 43 | 34 | 2 | .557 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4.69 | -6.13 | 0 | 0 | West Virginia | |
| 12 | Ivy Group | 8 | 72 | 40 | 30 | 2 | .569 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -6.52 | -8.67 | 0 | 0 | Yale | |
| School | Conf | Pre | 9/18 | 9/25 | 10/2 | 10/9 | 10/16 | 10/23 | 10/30 | 11/6 | 11/13 | 11/20 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern California | AAWU | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Tennessee | SEC | 9 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Oklahoma | Big 8 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 3 | ||||||||
| Indiana | Big Ten | 10 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | |||||||
| Notre Dame | Ind | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 5 | ||
| Wyoming | WAC | 10 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | |||||
| Oregon State | AAWU | 8 | 8 | 7 | |||||||||
| Alabama | SEC | 2 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 8 | ||||
| Purdue | Big Ten | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 9 | ||
| Penn State | Ind | 10 | |||||||||||
| School | Conf | Pre | 9/18 | 9/25 | 10/2 | 10/9 | 10/16 | 10/23 | 10/30 | 11/6 | 11/13 | 11/20 | Final |
| Colorado | Big 8 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 9 | ||||
| Georgia | SEC | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 5 | ||||
| Houston | Ind | 3 | 2 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |||||
| Miami (FL) | Ind | 5 | 8 | ||||||||||
| Michigan State | Big Ten | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Nebraska | Big 8 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 8 | ||||||||
| North Carolina State | ACC | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 10 | ||||||
| Texas | SWC | 4 | 5 | 8 | |||||||||
| Texas Tech | SWC | 10 | |||||||||||
| UCLA | AAWU | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
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Offense Gary Beban, B, UCLA Larry Csonka*, B, Syracuse Leroy Keyes*, B, Purdue O.J. Simpson*, B, Southern California Dennis Homan, E, Alabama Ron Sellers, E, Florida State Ed Chandler, OL, Georgia Bob Johnson*, OL, Tennessee Harry Olszewski, OL, Clemson Rich Stotter, OL, Houston Ron Yary*, OL, Southern California |
Defense Dennis Byrd, DL, North Carolina State Ted Hendricks*, DL, Miami (FL) Granville Liggins*, DL, Oklahoma Wayne Meylan, DL, Nebraska Tim Rossovich, DL, Southern California Don Manning, LB, UCLA Adrian Young, LB, Southern California Dick Anderson, DB, Colorado Bobby Johns, DB, Alabama Frank Loria, DB, Virginia Tech Tom Schoen, DB, Notre Dame |