1970 college football season

The 1970 college football season was marked by tragedy. On October 2, one of the planes carrying the Wichita State football team crashed on the way to a game against Utah State, killing 31 people onboard, including 14 players. Then, on November 14, the charter for the Marshall University football team crashed on the way home from a game against East Carolina, killing all 75 persons. At season's end, the Nebraska Cornhuskers won the national championship after Notre Dame and Ohio State both lost in the postseason.

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 Football Guide, however, did note an "unofficial national champion" based on the top ranked teams in the "wire service" (AP and UPI) polls. The "writers' poll" by Associated Press (AP) was the most popular, followed by the "coaches' poll" by United Press International) (UPI). In 1970, the UPI issued its final poll before the bowls, but the AP Trophy was withheld until the postseason was completed. The AP poll in 1970 consisted of the votes of as many as 52 sportswriters, though not all of them voted in every poll. Those who cast votes would give their opinion of the ten best teams. Under a point system of 20 points for first place, 19 for second, etc., the "overall" ranking was determined.

eptember

In the preseason poll released on September 7, 1970, Ohio State was picked #1 with 19 of the 36 first place votes. Texas and USC followed, with 7 and 6 votes, and Arkansas and Mississippi, each with a vote. USC beat Alabama 42-21 at Birmingham, and Arkansas lost to #10 Stanford 34-28 at Little Rock on September 12. In the poll that followed, Stanford took the place of Arkansas, while the rest of the Top 5 was the same: 1.Ohio State 2.Texas 3.USC 4.Stanford 5.Mississippi.

September 19 #1 Ohio State stayed at #1 without playing. #2 Texas won in Austin against California 56-15.In Los Angeles, #3 USC was tied by Nebraska 21-21. #4 Stanford beat San Jose State 34-3.
#5 Mississippi opened with a 47-13 win at Memphis State.
#7 Penn State, which had beaten Navy 55-7, reached the Top Five. Poll: 1.Ohio State 2.Texas 3.Stanford 4.Penn State 5.Mississippi

September 26 #1 Ohio State opened its season at home in Columbus, beating Texas A & M 56-13. #2 Texas won in Lubbock over Texas Tech, 35-13. #3 Stanford (in a bettle between Jim Plunkett and Dan Fouts) won at Oregon 33-10. #4 Penn State lost at Colorado 41-13. #7 USC returned to 5th place with a 48-0 win at Iowa. #5 Mississippi escaped a loss to Kentucky in Jackson, 20-17, and fell to #7
#6 Notre Dame, which had beaten Purdue 48-0, rose to 4th. With Notre Dame and USC replacing Penn State and Ole Miss in the Top Five, the poll was 1.Ohio State 2.Texas 3.Stanford 4.Notre Dame 5.USC

October

October 3 #1 Ohio State beat Duke at home 34-10. #2 Texas squeaked by UCLA at home 20-17 ona touchdown in the last 20 seconds.
#3 Stanford lost to Purdue 26-14. #4 Notre Dame beat Michigan State in East Lansing, 29-0.
#5 USC beat visiting Oregon State 45-13
#7 Mississippi returned to the Top Five after a 48-23 win in Jackson over Alabama. Poll: 1.Ohio State 2.Texas 3.Notre Dame 4.USC 5.Mississippi

October 10 #1 Ohio State beat Michigan State in East Lansing, 29-0. #2 Texas defeated Oklahoma in Dallas, 41-9. #3 Notre Dame beat Army at home, 51-10. #4 USC lost at Stanford 24-14.
#5 Mississippi won at Georgia 31-21. #6 Nebraska, which had tied USC earlier, rose to fifth after its 21-7 win over Missouri gave it a 4-0-1 record. Poll: 1.Ohio State 2.Texas 3.Notre Dame 4.Mississippi 5.Nebraska

October 17 #1 Ohio State beat Minnesota at home, 28-8. #2 Texas was idle. #3 Notre Dame won at Missouri, 24-7. #4 Mississippi lost at home in Oxford to Southern Mississippi, 30-14. #5 Nebraska won at Kansas 41-20. #6 Michigan, which had beaten Michigan State 34-20 at home to reach 5-0, got into the top five. Poll: 1.Ohio State 2.Texas 3.Notre Dame 4.Nebraska 5.Michigan

October 24 #1 Ohio State won at Illinois 48-29.
#2 Texas defeated Rice 45-21 in Houston.
#3 Notre Dame was idle. #4 Nebraska beat Oklahoma State 65-31. #5 Michigan beat Minnesota 39-13 at home. Ohio State fell to #2 in the next poll: 1.Texas 2.Ohio State 3.Notre Dame 4.Nebraska 5.Michigan

October 31 #1 Texas beat SMU at home 42-15. #2 Ohio State beat Northwestern 24-10. #3 Notre Dame defeated Navy 56-7 in Philadelphia.#4 Nebraska won at Colorado 29-13. #5 Michigan won at Wisconsin 29-15. Despite reaching 6-0-0, Ohio State dropped for the second straight week, falling to #3. The poll was : 1.Texas 2.Notre Dame 3.Ohio State 4.Nebraska 5.Michigan

November

November 7 #1 Texas won at Baylor 21-14.
#2 Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh 46-14 at home. #3 Ohio State won at Wisconsin 24-7. #4 Nebraska won at Iowa State 54-29. #5 Michigan beat visiting Illinois 42-0. Notre Dame took over the top spot from Texas. Poll: 1.Notre Dame 2.Texas 3.Ohio State 4.Nebraska 5.Michigan

November 14 #1 Notre Dame survived visiting Georgia Tech, 10-7, and lost its top ranking. #2 Texas, which won at Texas Christian, 58-0, returned to #1.
#3 Ohio State eked out a win at Purdue 10-7 and fell again in the polls, this time to fifth place. #4 Nebraska beat visiting Kansas State 51-13, and #5 Michigan shut out Iowa 55-0. Both rose in the rankings.Poll: 1.Texas 2.Notre Dame 3.Nebraska 4.Michigan 5.Ohio State

November 21 As #1 Texas prepared for a Thanksgiving Day game, #2 Notre Dame won, but just barely, beating visiting LSU 3-0
#3 Nebraska beat Oklahoma 28-21 at home to finish its season unbeaten. #5 Ohio State finished its season with a 20-9 win in Columbus #4 Michigan to go to the Rose Bowl and to rise to 2nd place. Arkansas won at Texas Tech 24-10, to reach the Top Five.

Poll: 1.Texas 2.Ohio State 3.Nebraska 4.Notre Dame 5.Arkansas

On Thanksgiving Day, #1 Texas beat Texas A & M at home 52-14 to reach 9-0-0. That Saturday, November 28 #4 Notre Dame lost to USC in Los Angeles, 38-28. #3 Nebraska and Arkansas were idle. #7 Tennessee, which had beaten Vanderbilt 24-6 in Nashville to finish its season at 9-1-0, rose to fifth in the poll. The poll was: 1.Texas 2.Ohio State 3.Nebraska 4.Arkansas 5.Tennessee.

December

December 5 #1 Texas beat Arkansas at Austin 42-7 to close a perfect season at 10-0-0

Poll: 1.Texas 2.Ohio State 3.Nebraska 4.Tennessee 5.LSU

Bowl Games

*Stanford changed its name to the Stanford Cardinal later.

In the Cotton Bowl, Notre Dame gained revenge for its narrow defeat to Texas in the prior Cotton Bowl by upsetting the Longhorns, 24-11. Coach Ara Parseghian created a "wishbone defense", positioning his linebackers to mirror the Texas running backs and the Irish held the high powered Texas running game in check. In Pasadena, #2 Ohio State was now positioned to claim the national championship as they took the field as heavy favorites against 8-3 Stanford. The Buckeyes overcame a 10-0 early deficit to take a 14-10 lead on two touchdowns by John Brockington. OSU was still ahead 17-13 after three quarters. But Stanford, led by the passing of Heisman Trophy winner Jim Plunkett, scored two fourth quarter touchdowns to stun Ohio State 27-17. [ "Bucks Go Ker-Plunk, 27-17," "Independent Press-Telegram" (Long Beach), January 2, 1971, p C-1 ] . Nebraska then defeated stubborn LSU, 17-12 in the Orange Bowl to claim the national title.

Other bowls:

Other champions

The schools that are now in the NCAA's "Division I-AA" were ranked in the "college division poll", taken by both the UPI (coaches) and AP (a panel of writers). In 1970, UPI and AP ranked the Arkansas State University Indians (10-0-0) #1. The 34 coaches on the UPI board followed with #2 Tampa (10-0-0), #3 Montana (10-0-0), #4 North Dakota State (8-0-1) and #5 Tennessee State (10-0-0). AP ranked Montana 2nd, North Dakota State 3rd, Tampa 4th and Tennessee State 5th [ "Arkansas State Wins Small College Crown," European Stars and Stripes, Dec. 3, 1970, p22; "No. 1 Reflects Program At Arkansas St.," The Bee (Danville, VA), Dec. 3, 1970, p13 ] Arkansas State went on to beat 10th ranked Central Missouri State in the Pecan Bowl, 38-21. In the NAIA playoffs, Texas A & I beat Wofford 48-7 (Division I) and Westminster beat Anderson 21-16 (Division II)

Heisman Trophy

# Jim Plunkett, QB-Stanford, 2,229 points
# Joe Theismann, QB-Notre Dame, 1,410 points
# Archie Manning, QB-Mississippi, 849 points

References