1964 College Football Season

1964 College Football Season

During the 20th Century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A". The NCAA cites national champions based on the final results of '"wire service'" (AP and UPI) polls. The AP poll in 1964 consisted of the votes of 55 sportswriters, each of whom would give their opinion of the ten best teams. Under a point system of 10 points for first place, 9 for second, etc., the "overall" ranking was determined. In the preseason poll for 1964, Ole Miss (University of Mississippi) was #1 with 425 points and the Oklahoma Sooners second with 400 points. As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games. The "writers' poll" by Associated Press (AP) was the most popular.

The Associated Press presented the AP Trophy to the Alabama Crimson Tide due to their 10-0-0 regular season record and their #1 finish in the AP poll. The University of Arkansas also had a 10-0-0 regular season in 1964, but finished #2 in the final AP poll. On New Year's Day, the Crimson Tide lost to the #5 ranked Texas Longhorns in the Orange Bowl, to finish the season with a 10-1 record, and the Arkansas Razorbacks defeated the 7th ranked University of Nebraska 10-7 in the Cotton Bowl Classic. Since there were no further polls, Alabama's national championship was unaffected, despite Arkansas' undefeated, untied season. The Arkansas Razorbacks also did not win the UPI Poll in 1964 because it too named its national champion before the bowl games were played. However the Arkansas Razorbacks were named national champion by the Football Writers Association of America. After a one-year trial run in 1965, the AP Poll in 1968 began the still on-going practice of naming their national champion at the conclusion of the bowl games. The UPI Poll followed suit in 1974.