1957 college football season

The 1957 college football season saw two different national champions. Auburn University was ranked first in the AP writers' poll taken at season's end, while Ohio State University was first in the UPI coaches' poll [ "Auburn or Ohio State-Which Is Grid Champ?", "Montana Standard" (Butte, MT), December 3, 1957, p11 ] . Auburn was ineligible for a bowl game, however, having been placed on probation indefinitely by the Southeastern Conference, after having paid two high school players $500 apiece [ "Auburn Barred From Bowl Games, Placed on Probation by S.E.C.," "Charleston Gazette", February 14, 1956, p13 ] . 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 did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of "wire service" (AP and UPI) polls. The extent of that recognition came in the form of acknowledgment in the annual "NCAA Football Guide" of the "unofficial" national champions. The AP poll in 1957 consisted of the votes of as many as 360 sportswriters. The UPI poll was taken of a panel of 35 coaches. In both cases, the voters would give their opinion of the ten best teams, and under a point system of 10 points for first place, 9 for second, etc., the "overall" ranking was determined. The top teams played on New Year's Day in the four major postseason bowl games: the Rose Bowl (near Los Angeles at Pasadena), the Sugar Bowl (New Orleans), the Orange Bowl (Miami), and the Cotton Bowl (Dallas).

eptember

In the preseason poll released on September 16, 1957, the defending champion Sooners of Oklahoma University -- who had won 40 consecutive games in '53, '54, '55 and '56-- were the first place choice for 127 of 174 writers casting votes, followed by Texas A&M, Michigan State, Minnesota and Tennessee [ www.appollarchive.com/football/ap/ ] . As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.

Friday, September 20, the United States Air Force Academy, founded two years earlier, fielded its first college football team. The Falcons made their debut at UCLA and lost, 47-0. They would finish their first season 3-6-1. On September 21, #1 Oklahoma won at Pittsburgh 26-0. #2 Texas A&M beat Maryland 21-13 in a game at Dallas. #3 Michigan State, #4 Minnesota and #5 Tennessee had not yet begun their seasons. #11 Georgia Tech, which beat Kentucky 13-0 rose to third, while #12 Navy, which had won at Boston College 46-6, rose to fifth. The first AP poll was 1.Oklahoma 2.Texas A & M 3.Georgia Tech 4.Michigan State and 5.Navy

September 28 #1 Oklahoma was idle. #2 Texas A&M won at Texas Tech 21-0 and #3 Georgia Tech played to a 0-0 tie with SMU. #4 Michigan State beat Indiana 54-0. #5 Navy beat visiting William & Mary 33-6. #6 Minnesota, which beat Washington, 46-7, and #7 Duke, which had beaten Virginia 40-0, rose to 3rd and 4th place. The poll was 1.Oklahoma 2.Michigan State 3.Minnesota 4.Duke 5.Texas A & M

October

October 5 #1 Oklahoma beat Iowa State 40-14. #2 Michigan State won at California 19-0. #3 Minnesota, beat visiting Purdue, 21-17. #4 Duke beat Maryland 14-0.
#5 Texas A&M won at Missouri 28-0. The poll was 1.Oklahoma 2.Michigan State 3.Texas A & M 4.Minnesota 5.Duke

October 12 A crowd of 75,504 watched in Dallas as #1 Oklahoma had a difficult time with unranked Texas; the Longhorns picked off four of Walter Fondren's passes and the score was 7-7 at the half before the Sooners preserved their winning streak 21-7 in a game that wasn't pretty [ "Sooners Pressed in 21-7 Triumph," "Oakland Tribune", Oct. 13, 1957, p61 ] . At the same time, #2 Michigan State won handily at Michigan 35-6, leading the AP voters to re-evaluate . #3 Texas A&M won at home in College Station, TX, beating Houston 28-6. #4 Minnesota won at Northwestern 41-6. #5 Duke narrowly beat Rice in Houston, 7-6. The Spartans took over the #1 spot in the next poll: 1.Michigan State 2.Oklahoma 3.Texas A & M 4.Minnesota 5.Duke

On October 19 #1 Michigan State lost to Purdue 20-13 and fell out of the top five. #2 Oklahoma, which beat Kansas 47-0, reclaimed the top spot. #3 Texas A&M won at TCU 7-0. #4 Minnesota, lost at Illinois 34-14. #5 Duke beat Wake Forest, 34-7. #9 Auburn, which beat Georgia Tech in Atlanta 3-0, rose to 5th place in the polls.The poll: 1.Oklahoma 2.Texas A & M 3.Iowa 4.Duke 5.Auburn

October 26 #1 Oklahoma edged Colorado 14-13, and lost the top spot again, despite being 5-0-0. The Aggies of #2 Texas A&M beat Baylor 14-0, and replaced the Sooners in the next poll. #3 Iowa, which won at Northwestern 6-0, rose to 3rd. #4 Duke went to neighboring Raleigh to play North Carolina State, and ended with a 14-14 tie. #5 Auburn won at Houston 48-7. #7 Notre Dame, which beat Pittsburgh 13-7, rose to fifth. The poll: 1.Texas A & M 2.Oklahoma 3.Iowa 4.Auburn 5.Notre Dame

November

November 2 #1 Texas A&M got past host Arkansas, 7-6. #2 Oklahoma won at Kansas State 13-0. #3 Iowa played Michigan to a 21-21 tie. #4 Auburn beat Florida 13-0. #5 Notre Dame lost to visiting Navy, 20-6. #6 Michigan State, which won at Wisconsin 21-7, rose to fifth. The poll: 1.Texas A & M 2.Oklahoma 3.Auburn 4.Michigan State 5.Iowa

November 9 #1 Texas A&M beat SMU 19-6. #2 Oklahoma won at Missouri 39-14. #3 Auburn beat Mississippi State 15-7 in Birmingham. #4 Michigan State beat Notre Dame 34-6. #5 Iowa beat Minnesota 44-20. The poll: 1.Texas A & M 2.Oklahoma 3.Auburn 4.Michigan State 5.Iowa

November 16 #1 Texas A&M lost to Rice in Houston, 7-6. The #2 Oklahoma Sooners had not lost a game since September 26 1953, and had won 47 consecutive games, and had a record of 7-0-0 when they hosted Notre Dame. The Irish, 4-2-0 and on a losing streak, were an 18-point underdog coming into Norman. The Sooners, who had scored in 123 consecutive games (dating back to 1945), were unable to reach the end zone, but had held off the Irish on two goal line stands. In the final minutes, Notre Dame was on the 3-yard line on fourth down, when Dick Lynch "crossed up the Sooners" and ran around right end for a touchdown. Oklahoma's desperate passing drive at game's end was stopped by a Notre Dame interception, and the crowd of 62,000 was stunned into silence... and then stood up and applauded for both the Sooners and the Irish. The previous defeat, more than four years earlier, had been at the hands of Notre Dame as well [ "Irish Down Sooners In Stunning 7-0 Upset," "Ada (Okla.) Evening News", Nov. 17, 1957, p9 ]

#3 Auburn beat Georgia 6-0 at Columbus, Georgia while #4 Michigan State beat Minnesota 42-13. #5 Iowa lost in Columbus to #6 Ohio State, 17-13. The 7-1-0 Buckeyes rose to third, while the 6-1-1 Hawkeyes fell to 8th. #8 Mississippi, which beat Tennessee 14-7 in Memphis, rose to 5th. The poll: 1.Michigan State 2.Auburn 3.Ohio State 4.Texas A&M 5.Mississippi

November 23 #1 Michigan State closed its season with a 27-0 win over (3-5-1)Kansas State, but fell to 3rd. #2 Auburn, on probation, won at Florida State 29-7. As the only unbeaten (9-0-0) school among the majors, Auburn was voted #1 in the AP poll. #3 Ohio State, which wrapped up its season with a win at Michigan 31-14, was #1 in the UPI poll. #4 Texas A&M lost to Texas 7-9. #5 Mississippi was idle. #6 Oklahoma, which won at Nebraska 53-6, returned to the Top Five. The poll: 1.Auburn 2.Ohio State 3.Michigan State 4.Texas A&M 5.Oklahoma

Thanksgiving Day saw Bear Bryant's #4 Texas A&M team lose to the Texas Longhorns, 9-7. On November 30 #1 Auburn beat Alabama 40-0 at their annual meeting in Birmingham to close its season 10-0-0. Alabama finished its season at 2-7-1. Bryant, who had transformed the Aggies from a 1-9-0 team (1953) to a contender, would accept a job as head coach at the University of Alabama at season's end. #2 Ohio State and #3 Michigan State were both 8-1-0 in the regular season, but Ohio State was 7-0-0 in Big Ten play, compared to the 5-1-0 Spartans, and got the Rose Bowl bid. . #5 Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State 53-6. #8 Navy, which won the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia, 14-0, finished with an 8-1-1 record, a bid to meet Rice in the Cotton Bowl, and a fifth place finish in the final poll. The services were split as to the national champion. The AP Trophy went to the Auburn Tigers, the choice of a majority of writers for #1, and the only major college program to finish unbeaten (Arizona State, then a lesser power, also finished 10-0-0). Auburn, however, was on probation and was ineligible for a bowl. The UPI coaches poll awarded #1 to the Rose Bowl bound, 8-1-0, Ohio State Buckeyes. Both Auburn and Ohio State would be recognized in the NCAA Football Guidebook as unofficial national champions for 1957. The final AP poll was: 1.Auburn 2.Ohio State 3.Michigan State 4.Oklahoma 5.Navy, while the UPI poll was 1.Ohio State 2.Auburn 3.Michigan State 4.Oklahoma 5.Iowa

Bowl games

Final Results

Other Champions

In 1958, the NAIA ranked its member teams in a poll, and also held a championship game. In St. Petersburg, Florida, the first annual "Holiday Bowl" (unrelated to the San Diego NCAA Division I bowl) was played to match the finalists in the NAIA playoffs. The Pittsburg State Teachers' College Gorillas edged the Hillsdale College Chargers, 27-26, in the second annual title game. The NAIA rankings had Middle Tennessee (10-0-0) first and East Texas State (8-1-0) second at season's end. [ "East Texas State in Tangerine Race," "The Kerrville (Tex.) Times", Nov. 27, 1957, p8]

References