1975 college football season The 1975 college football season saw University of Oklahoma repeat as national champion in the Associated Press ( AP ) writers ' poll . With the Sooners having completed two seasons of NCAA probation , they were ranked # 1 in the United Press International ( UPI ) coaches ' poll as well . 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 ) . The AP poll consisted of the votes of as many as 63 writers , though not all voted in each poll , and the UPI poll was taken of a 25 member board of coaches . September . In the preseason poll released on September 1 , 1975 , the AP ranked Oklahoma # 1 , followed by # 2 Alabama , # 3 Michigan , # 4 Ohio State and # 5 USC . September 6 Most teams had yet to open their seasons , but # 2 Alabama lost its home opener in Birmingham to unranked Missouri , 20 - 7 . # 6 Penn State was the only other top 10 team to play the weekend , and struggled to defeat Temple University in a game in Philadelphia , winning 26 - 25 . In the next poll , Missouri rose to fifth place , while Alabama dropped to 13th . Penn State fell from 6th to 10th . The poll : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Michigan 3 . Ohio State 4 . USC 5 . Missouri September 13 # 1 Oklahoma beat Oregon 62 - 7 . # 2 Michigan won at Wisconsin , 23 - 6 . # 3 Ohio State won at # 11 Michigan State , 21 - 0 . # 4 USC beat Duke 35 - 7 at home . # 5 Missouri was idle . The poll was unchanged : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Michigan 3 . Ohio State 4 . USC 5 . Missouri September 20 # 1 Oklahoma beat # 15 Pittsburgh 46 - 10 . Michigan was tied by Stanford at home , 19 - 19 . # 3 Ohio State beat # 7 Penn State 17 - 9 . # 4 USC defeated Oregon State 24 - 7 . # 5 Missouri won at Illinois , 30 - 20 . Missouri ' s Big Eight rival , # 6 Nebraska , beat Indiana 45 - 0 , and rose to fourth . The poll : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Ohio State 3 . USC 4 . Nebraska 5 . Missouri In a Friday night game in Miami , # 1 Oklahoma eked out a win over the Hurricanes , 20 - 17 . The next day , September 27 # 2 Ohio State beat North Carolina 32 - 7 . # 3 USC beat visiting Purdue , 19 - 6 . Nebraska Cornhuskers football beat TCU , 56 - 14 . # 5 Missouri beat Wisconsin , 27 - 21 . The poll was unchanged : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Ohio State 3 . USC 4 . Nebraska 5 . Missouri October . October 4 # 1 Oklahoma had another narrow win , beating visiting # 19 Colorado , 21 - 20 , while in Los Angeles , # 2 Ohio State had no problems in defeating # 13 UCLA , 41 - 20 . The Buckeyes and Bruins would meet again at season ' s end . # 3 USC won at Iowa , 27 - 16 . # 4 Nebraska defeated the Miami Hurricanes at home , 31 - 16 . # 5 Missouri played its third straight game against a Big Ten team , losing at # 12 Michigan , 31 - 7 . After a promising start , the Tigers would go on to a 6 - 5 - 0 finish . # 7 Texas , which beat Utah State 61 - 7 , rose to fifth . Ohio State took over first place from Oklahoma , with 47 of the 62 first place votes . The poll was 1 . Ohio State 2 . Oklahoma 3 . USC 4 . Nebraska 5 . Texas October 11 # 1 Ohio State beat visiting Iowa 49 - 0 . In their annual meeting in Dallas , # 2 Oklahoma defeated # 5 Texas in Dallas , 24 - 17 to regain the top spot . # 3 USC beat Washington State 28 - 10 . # 4 Nebraska beat visiting Kansas 16 - 0 . # 6 Texas A & M , which won at Texas Tech 38 - 9 , rose to fifth . The poll was 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Ohio State 3 . USC 4 . Nebraska 5 . Texas A & M October 18 # 1 Oklahoma won at Kansas State , 25 - 3 . # 2 Ohio State had a second straight shutout at home , a 56 - 0 win over Wisconsin . # 3 USC beat visiting Oregon 17 - 3 . # 4 Nebraska won at Oklahoma State , 28 - 20 . # 5 Texas A & M won at TCU , 14 - 6 . The poll was unchanged : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Ohio State 3 . USC 4 . Nebraska 5 . Texas A & M October 25 # 1 Oklahoma beat Iowa State , 39 - 7 . # 2 Ohio State won at Purdue , 35 - 6 . # 3 USC won at # 14 Notre Dame , 24 - 17 . # 4 Nebraska beat # 10 Colorado , 63 - 21 . # 5 Texas A & M beat Baylor at home , 19 - 10 . The poll was 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Ohio State 3 . Nebraska 4 . USC 5 . Texas A & M November . November 1 # 1 Oklahoma won at # 19 Oklahoma State , 27 - 7 . # 2 Ohio State defeated Indiana at home , 24 - 14 . # 3 Nebraska won at # 12 Missouri , 30 - 7 . # 4 USC lost at California , 28 - 14 , beginning a four game losing streak after a 7 - 0 start . # 5 Texas A & M was idle . # 6 Alabama beat Mississippi State in Jackson , 21 - 10 . The poll was 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Ohio State 3 . Nebraska 4 . Texas A & M 5 . Alabama November 8 # 1 Oklahoma were stunned by the visiting Kansas Jayhawks , led by quarterback Nolan Cromwell 23 - 3 . # 2 Ohio State won at Illinois , 40 - 3 . # 3 Nebraska won at Kansas State , 12 - 0 . # 4 Texas A & M beat SMU , 36 - 3 . # 5 Alabama won at LSU 23 - 10 . # 6 Michigan , which beat Purdue 28 - 0 , rose to fourth . The poll was : 1 . Ohio State 2 . Nebraska 3 . Texas A & M 4 . Michigan 5 . Alabama November 15 # 1 Ohio State beat Minnesota 38 - 6 . # 2 Nebraska beat Iowa 52 - 0 . # 3 Texas A & M won at Rice , 33 - 14 . # 4 Michigan won at Illinois , 21 - 15 , to extend its record to 8 - 0 - 2 . # 5 Alabama beat Southern Mississippi at home , 27 - 6 . The poll was unchanged : 1 . Ohio State 2 . Nebraska 3 . Texas A & M 4 . Michigan 5 . Alabama November 22 The game that determined the Big Ten championship took place in Ann Arbor , Michigan , as unbeaten ( 10 - 0 - 0 ) and ( # 1 Ohio State faced unbeaten , but twice tied ( 8 - 0 - 2 ) # 4 Michigan ( 8 - 0 - 2 ) . OSU won 21 - 14 and got the trip to the Rose Bowl , where it would have a rematch with 11th - ranked UCLA ( The Bruins would earn their Rose Bowl bid by beating USC , 25 - 22 , the following Friday ) . In Norman , Oklahoma , a trip to the Orange Bowl was on the line as # 2 Nebraska ( 10 - 0 - 0 ) closed its season against ( 9 - 1 - 0 ) # 7 Oklahoma in a game that would determine the Big Eight title . Oklahoma handed the Cornhuskers their first loss , 35 - 10 . Nebraska was invited instead to play in the Fiesta Bowl . # 3 Texas A & M and # 5 Alabama were both idle . # 6 Texas ( 9 - 1 - 0 ) was also idle , but rose to fifth . The poll was : 1 . Ohio State 2 . Texas A & M 3 . Oklahoma 4 . Alabama 5 . Texas November 29 The # 2 Texas A & M Aggies ( 9 - 0 - 0 ) hosted the # 5 Texas Longhorns ( 9 - 1 - 0 ) at College Station , with the Aggies winning , 20 - 10 . # 4 Alabama closed its season with its 10th straight win after its opening loss , a 28 - 0 win over Auburn in Birmingham . In the final AP poll released on December 1 , # 1 Ohio State ( 11 - 0 - 0 ) , # 2 Texas A & M ( 10 - 0 - 0 ) and # 7 Arizona State ( 11 - 0 - 0 ) were all undefeated . On December 6 , however , the Aggies lost in Little Rock to # 18 Arkansas , 31 - 6 . The Southwest Conference race finished with a three way tie between Arkansas , Texas and Texas A & M , all 6 - 1 in conference play . Arkansas got the Cotton Bowl berth , while Texas went to the Bluebonnet Bowl and Texas A & M to the Liberty Bowl . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Bowl games . This was the first season that both the Pac - 8 and Big Ten conferences allowed their teams to play in bowl games other than the Rose Bowl Game . Thus , USC , who actually finished 5th in the Pac - 8 , was invited to the Liberty in what would be coach John McKay ' s final game before going to the NFL to coach the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers . California , who tied UCLA for the Pac - 8 title ( UCLA got the Rose Bowl berth due to their win over Cal ) was left out of any bowls , as were Washington and Stanford , all of whom beat and finished ahead of USC . Michigan , the Big 10 runner up , was invited to play Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl . In the Liberty Bowl in late December , USC sent McKay out a winner , as they shut out an uninspired Texas A & M team was still reeling from being upset by Arkansas and losing out on the Cotton Bowl bid . The day after Christmas , Arizona State , the WAC champion , won arguably the biggest game to date in their history over Big 8 runner up Nebraska , 17 - 14 . Arizona State was one of two Division 1 teams to finish undefeated and untied as they completed a 12 - 0 - 0 season . Arkansas State University also finished unbeaten and untied . New Years Eve saw Alabama beat Penn State 13 - 6 in the Sugar Bowl . On New Years Day , Arkansas beat SEC runner up Georgia in the Cotton Bowl 31 - 10 . The Rose Bowl was a rematch between # 1 Ohio State and # 11 UCLA ; Ohio State had beaten UCLA in Los Angeles on October 4 , 41 - 20 . After that game , Ohio State coach Woody Hayes was so impressed by UCLA in defeat , he predicted that his Buckeyes would be playing the Bruins again in the Rose Bowl . This time , the 11th ranked Bruins ( 8 - 2 - 1 ) handed the previously undefeated and # 1 ranked Buckeyes a 23 - 10 loss . UCLA was the only team to score more than 14 points on Ohio State all season , and they did it twice . Seeing that Ohio State was upset , # 2 Oklahoma ( 10 - 1 ) got inspired and defeated # 4 Michigan ( 8 - 1 - 2 ) , in the Orange Bowl to claim the national title . The final rankings were 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Arizona State 3 . Ohio State 4 . Alabama 5 . UCLA Other bowls : Heisman Trophy voting . " The Heisman Trophy is given to the year ' s most outstanding player "