1968 NCAA University Division football season

1968 NCAA University Division football season
Preseason AP No. 1	Purdue
Regular season	September 21 – December 7, 1968
Number of bowls	10
Bowl games	December 14, 1968 – January 1, 1969
Champion(s)	Ohio State (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF)
Heisman	O. J. Simpson (halfback, USC)
University Division football seasons

In the 1968 NCAA University Division football season, the system of "polls and bowls" changed. The Associated Press returned to its pre-1961 system of ranking the Top 20 rather than the Top 10, and voted on the national champion after the bowl games, rather than before. During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the major college football teams in the University Division, later known 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 1968, the UPI issued its final poll before the bowls, but the AP Trophy was withheld until the postseason was completed.

The AP poll in 1968 consisted of the votes of as many as 49 sportswriters, though not all of them voted in every poll. With a Top 20 for the first time since the 1960 season, there were more matchups between ranked teams. 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. In 1969, there were four regular season games that matched "Top Five" teams.

Rule changes

• The 1967 punting rule requiring five linemen on the kicking team to remain at the line of scrimmage until the ball is punted was repealed.
• Eliminating the "flex shift" (offensive linemen raising up then dropping back down into position, used by Kansas and UCLA the previous season and later popularized by the Dallas Cowboys) by requiring an offensive player to hold his position when he gets "on or near the ground".
• The game clock will be stopped on all first downs to move the chains, then restarted again.
• The "tackle-eligible" pass play was declared illegal by requiring five offensive lineman numbered 50–79 to be on the line of scrimmage and declaring none of them are eligible receivers.
• Prohibiting the receiver of a fair catch who does not catch the ball to then become a blocker.
• Limiting the legal clipping zone to a rectangular point three feet by four yards on either side of the ball.
• Defensive players who intercept a pass within five yards of the end zone and his momentum takes him into the end zone, the ball will be put in play at the spot of the interception if the defensive player does not attempt to advance the ball out of the end zone.
• Length of time-outs are shortened from 120 seconds to 90 seconds.

Conference and program changes

• Prior to the season, the Athletic Association of Western Universities officially renamed itself as the Pacific-8 Conference.

School	1967 Conference	1968 Conference
Boise College Broncos	junior college	NAIA Independent
Memphis State Tigers	Independent	Missouri Valley
West Virginia Mountaineers	Southern	Independent

September

In the preseason poll released on September 9, the Purdue Boilermakers were picked #1, followed by the defending champion USC Trojans. Third was the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, followed by the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns. A second poll was taken on September 16 (with Texas and Oklahoma trading places), although most teams would not begin play until the 21st.

September 21 #1 Purdue beat Virginia 44–6, and #2 USC won 29–20 at #15 Minnesota. #3 Notre Dame beat #5 Oklahoma 45–21 at South Bend, while #4 Texas was tied 20–20 at home by #11 Houston. In a proud moment for football in Indiana, Purdue remained at first, and Notre Dame rose to second, days before the annual meeting between the two schools. #10 Penn State beat Navy 31–6 and took Oklahoma's place at fourth in the poll. #6 Florida defeated Air Force 23–20 in Tampa and was fifth.
The poll was 1.Purdue 2.Notre Dame 3.USC 4.Penn State 5.Florida

September 28 #1 Purdue traveled to #2 Notre Dame and won, 37–22. #3 USC won 24–7 at Northwestern, #4 Penn State beat Kansas State 25–9, and #5 Florida won at Florida State 9–3.
The poll was 1.Purdue 2.USC 3.Penn State 4.Florida 5.Notre Dame

October

October 5 #1 Purdue won at Northwestern, 43–6, and #2 USC beat visiting Miami (FL), 28–3. #3 Penn State won at West Virginia 31–20, #4 Florida beat Mississippi State 31–14, but fell from the Top Five, and #5 Notre Dame won at Iowa 51–28. With a 21–6 win over Oregon, Ohio State reached fourth place.
The poll was 1.Purdue 2.USC 3.Penn State 4.Ohio State 5.Notre Dame

October 12 #1 Purdue lost 13–0 at #4 Ohio State, and #2 USC won 27–24 at #18 Stanford. #3 Penn State won at UCLA 21–6, #5 Notre Dame beat Northwestern 27–7, and #6 Kansas won 23–13 at #9 Nebraska, and rose to fourth.
The poll was 1.USC 2.Ohio State 3.Penn State 4.Kansas 5.Purdue

October 19 #1 USC beat Washington 14–7, and #2 Ohio State beat Northwestern 45–21. #3 Penn State was idle, #4 Kansas beat Oklahoma State 49–14, #5 Purdue edged Wake Forest 28–27 and dropped to seventh, and Notre Dame beat Illinois 58–8 and rose to fifth.
The poll was 1.USC 2.Ohio State 3.Kansas 4.Penn State 5.Notre Dame

October 26 #1 USC was idle, and #2 Ohio State won at Illinois 31–24. #3 Kansas won at Iowa State 46–25, #4 Penn State won at Boston College 29–0, and #5 Notre Dame was upset at unranked Michigan State, 21–17. Tennessee, which had reached 4–0–1 the week before with a 10–9 win over Alabama, was fifth.
The poll was 1.USC 2.Ohio State 3.Kansas 4.Penn State 5.Tennessee

November

November 2 #1 USC won at Oregon, 20–13, and #2 Ohio State beat #16 Michigan State 25–20. #3 Kansas posted its seventh win, over visiting Colorado, 27–14. #4 Penn State slipped past Army, 28–24 and #5 Tennessee beat visiting UCLA 42–18.

The poll was 1.USC 2.Ohio State 3.Kansas 4.Penn State 5.Tennessee

November 9 #1 USC turned back #11 California 35–17, and #2 Ohio State stayed unbeaten as well, downing Wisconsin 43–8. #3 Kansas, however, lost to unranked Oklahoma, 27–23, #4 Penn State beat visiting Miami (FL) 22–7, and #5 Tennessee lost to #18 Auburn in Birmingham, 28–14. #7 Michigan, with a 36–0 win over Illinois, rose to fourth. #9 Georgia, which was unbeaten (6–0–2) after a 51–0 win over Florida in Jacksonville, reached fifth. The poll was 1.USC 2.Ohio State 3.Penn State 4.Michigan 5. Georgia

November 16 #1 USC beat #13 Oregon State 17–13 in a game that decided the Pac-8 title; Oregon State finished 5–1 and USC 6–0 in the renamed conference, formerly the AAUW (but commonly referred to as the Pac-8). #2 Ohio State won at unranked Iowa 33–27. #3 Penn State won its eighth straight at Maryland 57–13, and #4 Michigan beat Wisconsin 34–9. #5 Georgia won 17–3 at #12 Auburn.
The poll was 1.USC 2.Ohio State 3.Penn State 4.Michigan 5.Georgia

November 23 #1 USC beat UCLA 28–16 to stay unbeaten, as did #2 Ohio State, which hosted #4 Michigan; both teams were unbeaten in Big Ten conference play, and the game would determine who would go to Pasadena (and who would stay home). Woody Hayes' Buckeyes triumphed 50–14 over the Wolverines. After seven weeks at second place, Ohio State took the lead from USC. #3 Penn State traveled and crushed Pittsburgh 65–9. #5 Georgia was idle. Kansas clinched the Big 8 title and the Orange Bowl bid with a 21–19 win at #13 Missouri, finished 9–1 and placed fifth.

Two undefeated teams Yale and Harvard met and ended their game in a 29–29 tie. The game was the basis of Harvard Crimson newspaper headline (and later the title of a documentary) Harvard Beats Yale 29-29.

In the polls released on November 25, there was a disagreement between the AP writers and the UPI coaches as the AP made Ohio State its new #1. Though USC had more first place votes than Ohio State (24½ vs 21½), the Buckeyes were 10 points ahead overall in the AP poll (935–925).
In the UPI poll of coaches, however, USC remained in first place and Ohio State second. (332-321 in total points). In the two polls, Ohio State and USC alternated first and second, and the remainder was 3.Penn State 4.Georgia 5.Kansas

November 30 #2 USC was tied by visiting #9 Notre Dame, 21–21. #4 Georgia closed its season unbeaten at 8–0–2, with a 47–8 win at home over Georgia Tech, were SEC champs and went to the Sugar Bowl. Following USC's 9-0-1 finish, the UPI coaches voted unbeaten and untied (9-0-0) Ohio State as the national champion for their final poll on December 3. At the time, the UPI did not do a poll following the postseason bowl games, and the result would have been unaffected by the OSU and USC meeting in the Rose Bowl. The result was 28 first place votes (and 334 points) for OSU, and only 4 first place (and 277 points) for USC.

Winless after two games, the #6 Texas Longhorns (8–1–1) won their last eight and finished with a 35–14 victory over Texas A&M two days earlier on Thanksgiving Day. The Longhorns returned to the Top 5, including a 39–29 win over Arkansas that tied them for the SWC title and got them the Cotton Bowl bid. #3 Penn State beat Syracuse 30–12 on December 7 to go to 10–0. Ohio State had 34 of the 39 first place votes cast.

The final regular season poll for both AP and UPI was 1.Ohio State 2.USC 3.Penn State 4.Georgia 5.Texas

Conference standings

1968 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T NC State $ 6 – 1 – 0 6 – 4 – 0 Clemson 4 – 1 – 1 4 – 5 – 1 Virginia 3 – 2 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 South Carolina 4 – 3 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 Duke 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 Wake Forest 2 – 3 – 1 2 – 7 – 1 Maryland 2 – 5 – 0 2 – 8 – 0 North Carolina 1 – 6 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 $ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll	1968 Big Eight Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 7 Kansas + 6 – 1 – 0 9 – 2 – 0 No. 11 Oklahoma + 6 – 1 – 0 7 – 4 – 0 No. 9 Missouri 5 – 2 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 Nebraska 3 – 4 – 0 6 – 4 – 0 Colorado 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 Kansas State 2 – 5 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 Oklahoma State 2 – 5 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 Iowa State 1 – 6 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 + – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll	1968 Big Ten Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 1 Ohio State $ 7 – 0 – 0 10 – 0 – 0 No. 12 Michigan 6 – 1 – 0 8 – 2 – 0 No. 10 Purdue 5 – 2 – 0 8 – 2 – 0 Minnesota 5 – 2 – 0 6 – 4 – 0 Indiana 4 – 3 – 0 6 – 4 – 0 Iowa 4 – 3 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 Michigan State 2 – 5 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 Illinois 1 – 6 – 0 1 – 9 – 0 Northwestern 1 – 6 – 0 1 – 9 – 0 Wisconsin 0 – 7 – 0 0 – 10 – 0 $ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll
1968 Ivy League football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Harvard + 6 – 0 – 1 8 – 0 – 1 Yale + 6 – 0 – 1 8 – 0 – 1 Penn 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 2 – 0 Princeton 4 – 3 – 0 4 – 5 – 0 Dartmouth 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 5 – 0 Columbia 2 – 5 – 0 2 – 7 – 0 Cornell 1 – 6 – 0 3 – 6 – 0 Brown 0 – 7 – 0 2 – 7 – 0 + – Conference co-champions	1968 Mid-American Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 20 Ohio $ 6 – 0 – 0 10 – 1 – 0 Miami (OH) 5 – 1 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 Bowling Green 3 – 2 – 1 6 – 3 – 1 Toledo 3 – 2 – 1 5 – 4 – 1 Western Michigan 2 – 4 – 0 3 – 6 – 0 Kent State 1 – 5 – 0 1 – 9 – 0 Marshall 0 – 6 – 0 0 – 9 – 1 $ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll	1968 Middle Atlantic Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T University Division Delaware x 5 – 0 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 Bucknell 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 Lehigh 2 – 2 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 Lafayette 2 – 2 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 Temple 2 – 2 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 Hofstra 1 – 3 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 Gettysburg 1 – 4 – 0 1 – 8 – 0 West Chester * 0 – 1 – 0 5 – 3 – 0 Northern College Division Albright x 7 – 0 – 0 8 – 1 – 0 No. T–19 Wilkes x 6 – 0 – 0 8 – 0 – 0 Delaware Valley 5 – 2 – 0 6 – 2 – 0 Juniata 4 – 2 – 0 7 – 2 – 0 Upsala 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 4 – 0 Moravian 3 – 6 – 0 3 – 6 – 0 Susquehanna 1 – 5 – 0 2 – 6 – 1 Lycoming 1 – 7 – 0 1 – 7 – 0 Wagner * 3 – 1 – 0 3 – 6 – 0 Southern College Division Franklin & Marshall x 6 – 1 – 0 6 – 2 – 0 Johns Hopkins x 6 – 1 – 0 7 – 2 – 0 Muhlenberg 6 – 3 – 0 6 – 3 – 0 Western Maryland 3 – 3 – 0 5 – 4 – 0 Lebanon Valley 4 – 4 – 0 4 – 4 – 0 Ursinus 3 – 5 – 0 3 – 5 – 0 Pennsylvania Military 2 – 5 – 0 2 – 7 – 0 Haverford 1 – 6 – 0 1 – 6 – 0 Swarthmore 1 – 6 – 0 1 – 7 – 0 Dickinson 1 – 7 – 0 1 – 7 – 0 Drexel * 3 – 1 – 0 4 – 4 – 0 x – Division champion/co-champions * – Ineligible for championship due to insufficient conference games Rankings from AP small college poll
1968 Missouri Valley Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Memphis State $ 4 – 0 – 0 6 – 4 – 0 North Texas State 4 – 1 – 0 8 – 2 – 0 Cincinnati 2 – 2 – 0 5 – 4 – 1 Louisville 2 – 3 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 Tulsa 2 – 3 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 Wichita State 0 – 5 – 0 0 – 10 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1968 Pacific-8 Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 4 USC $ 6 – 0 – 0 9 – 1 – 1 No. 15 Oregon State 5 – 1 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 Stanford 3 – 3 – 1 6 – 3 – 1 California 2 – 2 – 1 7 – 3 – 1 Oregon 2 – 4 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 UCLA 2 – 4 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 Washington State 1 – 3 – 1 3 – 6 – 1 Washington 1 – 5 – 1 3 – 5 – 2 $ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll	1968 Southeastern Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 8 Georgia $ 5 – 0 – 1 8 – 1 – 2 No. 13 Tennessee 4 – 1 – 1 8 – 2 – 1 No. 17 Alabama 4 – 2 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 No. 19 LSU 4 – 2 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 No. 16 Auburn 4 – 2 – 0 7 – 4 – 0 Florida 3 – 2 – 1 6 – 3 – 1 Ole Miss 3 – 2 – 1 7 – 3 – 1 Vanderbilt 1 – 3 – 1 5 – 4 – 1 Mississippi State 0 – 4 – 1 0 – 8 – 2 Kentucky 0 – 7 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 $ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll
1968 Southern Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Richmond $ 6 – 0 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 The Citadel 4 – 2 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 East Carolina 2 – 2 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 William & Mary 2 – 2 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 Davidson 1 – 3 – 0 3 – 6 – 0 VMI 1 – 3 – 0 1 – 9 – 0 Furman 0 – 4 – 0 1 – 9 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1968 Southwest Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 6 Arkansas + 6 – 1 – 0 10 – 1 – 0 No. 3 Texas + 6 – 1 – 0 9 – 1 – 1 No. 14 SMU 5 – 2 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 Texas Tech 4 – 3 – 0 5 – 3 – 2 Baylor 3 – 4 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 Texas A&M 2 – 5 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 TCU 2 – 5 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 Rice 0 – 7 – 0 0 – 9 – 1 + – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll	1968 Western Athletic Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Wyoming $ 6 – 1 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 Arizona State 5 – 1 – 0 8 – 2 – 0 Arizona 5 – 1 – 0 8 – 3 – 0 UTEP 3 – 3 – 0 4 – 5 – 1 Utah 2 – 3 – 0 3 – 7 – 0 Colorado State * 1 – 4 – 0 2 – 8 – 0 BYU 1 – 5 – 0 2 – 8 – 0 New Mexico 0 – 7 – 0 0 – 10 – 0 $ – Conference champion * Games against Texas Tech and Air Force counted in the conference standings.
1968 NCAA University Division independents football records Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T No. 2 Penn State   –   11 – 0 – 0 Rutgers   –   8 – 2 – 0 West Texas State   –   8 – 2 – 0 No. 5 Notre Dame   –   7 – 2 – 1 Florida State   –   8 – 3 – 0 Air Force   –   7 – 3 – 0 Army   –   7 – 3 – 0 Buffalo   –   7 – 3 – 0 No. 18 Houston   –   6 – 2 – 2 Utah State   –   7 – 3 – 0 Boston College   –   7 – 3 – 0 West Virginia   –   7 – 3 – 0 Virginia Tech   –   7 – 4 – 0 Pacific   –   6 – 4 – 0 Syracuse   –   6 – 4 – 0 Villanova   –   6 – 4 – 0 Xavier   –   6 – 4 – 0 Colgate   –   5 – 5 – 0 Dayton   –   5 – 5 – 0 Miami (FL)   –   5 – 5 – 0 New Mexico State   –   5 – 5 – 0 Georgia Tech   –   4 – 6 – 0 Southern Miss   –   4 – 6 – 0 Holy Cross   –   3 – 6 – 1 San Jose State   –   3 – 7 – 0 Navy   –   2 – 8 – 0 Tulane   –   2 – 8 – 0 Pittsburgh   –   1 – 9 – 0 Rankings from AP Poll

Bowl games

Major bowls

Wednesday, January 1, 1969

BOWL
SUGAR	#9 Arkansas Razorbacks	16	#4 Georgia Bulldogs	2
COTTON	#5 Texas Longhorns	36	#8 Tennessee Volunteers	13
ROSE	#1 Ohio State Buckeyes	27	#2 USC Trojans	16
ORANGE	#3 Penn State Nittany Lions	15	#6 Kansas Jayhawks	14

Because #1 Ohio State (9–0) and #2 USC (9–0–1) were the champions of the Big Ten and Pac-8 conferences, respectively, they were automatically set to meet in the Rose Bowl. #3 Penn State (10–0) accepted an invite to the Orange Bowl. #6 Kansas (9–1), which shared the Big 8 crown with Oklahoma (even after losing to the Sooners) got the other bid. The Sugar Bowl featured the SEC champion against the SWC runner-up (#4 Georgia (8–0–2) vs. #9 Arkansas (9–1)) while the Cotton Bowl pitted the SWC champion against the SEC runner-up (#5 Texas (8–1–1) vs. #8 Tennessee (8–1–1))

When the sportswriters voted for the Top 20 after the bowl games, Rose Bowl winner Ohio State won the AP Trophy and the unofficial national championship, taking all but five of the 49 first place votes. Penn State, which had narrowly won the Orange Bowl, was second. The final poll was 1.Ohio State 2.Penn State 3.Texas 4.USC 5.Notre Dame 6.Arkansas 7.Kansas 8. Georgia 9.Missouri 10.Purdue 11.Oklahoma 12.Michigan 13.Tennessee 14.SMU 15.Oregon State 16.Auburn 17.Alabama 18.Houston 19.LSU and 20.Ohio University.

Other bowls

BOWL	Location	Date	Winner	Score	Runner-up
SUN	El Paso, Texas	December 28	Auburn	34–10	Arizona
GATOR	Jacksonville, Florida	December 28	#16 Missouri	35–10	#12 Alabama
TANGERINE	Orlando, Florida	December 27	Richmond	49–42	Ohio
ASTRO-BLUEBONNET	Houston	December 31	#20 SMU	28–27	#10 Oklahoma
PEACH	Atlanta	December 30	LSU	31–27	#19 Florida State
LIBERTY	Memphis, Tennessee	December 14	Ole Miss	34–17	Virginia Tech

• Prior to the 1975 season, the Big Ten and Pac-8 conferences allowed only one postseason participant each, for the Rose Bowl.
• Notre Dame did not play in the postseason for 44 consecutive seasons (1925–1968).

Heisman Trophy

1. O. J. Simpson, RB – USC, 2,853 points
2. Leroy Keyes, RB-CB – Purdue, 1,103
3. Terry Hanratty, QB – Notre Dame, 387
4. Ted Kwalick, TE – Penn State, 254
5. Ted Hendricks, DE - Miami (FL), 174
6. Ron Johnson, RB – Michigan, 158
7. Bobby Douglass, QB – Kansas, 132
8. Chris Gilbert, RB – Texas, 124
9. Brian Dowling, QB – Yale, 119
10. Ron Sellers, WR – Florida State, 91

Source:

See also

• 1968 NCAA University Division football rankings
• 1968 College Football All-America Team