1962 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 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 1962 consisted of the votes of 52 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 . Although the rankings were based on the collective opinion of the representative sportswriters , the teams that remained " unbeaten and untied " were generally ranked higher than those that had not . A defeat , even against a strong opponent , tended to cause a team to drop in the rankings , and a team with two or more defeats was unlikely to remain in the Top 10 . 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 ) . September . In the preseason poll released on September 17 , 1962 , Ohio State was the # 1 choice for 45 of the 50 voters , and its Big 10 rival , Michigan State was 4th overall . Texas placed second , and SEC rivals Alabama and Louisiana State ( LSU ) were third and fifth respectively . As the regular season progressed , a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend ' s games . Ohio State , Michigan State and the other Big Ten schools would not kick off until September 29 . On September 22 , # 2 Texas beat Oregon at home , 25 - 13 . # 3 Alabama and # 5 LSU both recorded shutouts , defeating Georgia ( at Birmingham 35 - 0 ) and Texas A & M ( 21 - 0 ) respectively . In the poll that followed , Alabama rose to # 1 , while Ohio State and Texas fell to 2nd and 3rd . Penn State , which had beaten Navy at home 41 - 7 , rose from 9th to 4th , while LSU remained at # 5 . Also on the 22nd , the first games of the newly formed Western Athletic Conference took place as Arizona beat BYU , 27 - 21 , and New Mexico beat Wyoming 25 - 21 . All six of the charter members ( including Arizona State and Utah ) had withdrawn by 1999 . The following Friday , # 1 Alabama beat Tulane in New Orleans , 44 - 6 . On September 29 , # 2 Ohio State beat North Carolina at home , 41 - 7 . # 3 Texas registered a shutout on the road against Texas Tech , 34 - 0 while # 4 Penn State hosted Air Force , winning 20 - 6 . In Baton Rouge , # 5 LSU played Rice to a 6 - 6 tie , enough to knock it from the Top Ten . In the poll that followed , Ohio State was again # 1 , followed by 2 . Alabama 3 . Texas 4 . Penn State Newcomer Georgia Tech , which had blanked Florida in Gainesville , 17 - 0 , rose from 8th place to 5th . October . On October 6 , # 1 Ohio State was upset by the UCLA Bruins in Los Angeles , 9 - 7 . # 2 Alabama beat Vanderbilt in Birmingham , 17 - 7 . # 3 Texas hosted Tulane ( fresh from a 44 - 6 loss to Alabama ) and won 35 - 8 . # 4 Penn State beat Rice at Houston , 18 - 7 . # 5 Georgia Tech lost to LSU in Atlanta , 10 - 7 , and dropped back out of the poll . The Crimson Tide regained first place , while 3 - 0 USC and Mississippi rose from 6th and 7th places to 4th and 5th . The next poll was 1 . Alabama 2 . Texas 3 . Penn State 4 . USC and 5 . Mississippi October 13 # 1 Alabama beat Houston 14 - 3 at home . # 2 Texas survived its Dallas encounter with Oklahoma , 9 - 6 . # 3 Penn State lost to Army at West Point by the same 9 - 6 margin . # 4 USC and # 5 Mississippi were both idle . Though Alabama got more first place votes than Texas in the poll ( 24 vs . 21 ) the Longhorns had more points overall , and were the new # 1 . SEC rivals Alabama , LSU and Mississippi were 2nd , 4th and 5th in the poll , while USC was third . LSU ' s record had improved to 3 - 0 - 1 after a 17 - 3 win against the visiting Miami Hurricanes . The results were 1 . Texas 2 . Alabama 3 . USC 4 . LSU and 5 . Mississippi On October 20 , all five of the top teams remained unbeaten . # 1 Texas beat Arkansas 7 - 3 at home . # 2 Alabama defeated Tennessee at Knoxville , 27 - 7 . The # 3 USC Trojans hosted California and won 32 - 3 . # 4 LSU beat Kentucky at Lexington 7 - 0 and # 5 Mississippi shut out Tulane in New Orleans , 21 - 0 . Nevertheless , LSU and Mississippi dropped to 6th and 7th in the next poll , while Big Ten rivals Northwestern and Wisconsin reached the Top 5 . Northwestern had beaten Ohio State 18 - 14 at Columbus , while Wisconsin thrashed Iowa 42 - 14 . The rankings were 1 . Texas 2 . Alabama 3 . Northwestern 4 . USC 5 . Wisconsin In the first weekend after the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis , week 7 ' s games were played on October 27 . # 1 Texas was tied by the Rice Owls at Houston , 14 - 14 . # 2 Alabama beat Tulsa 35 - 6 and , # 3 Northwestern defeated Notre Dame 35 - 6 at home . # 4 USC won 28 - 16 over Illinois at Champaign , and # 5 Wisconsin lost to Ohio State at Columbus , 14 - 7 . The # 6 LSU Tigers shut out Florida 23 - 0 at home . The Northwestern Wildcats were voted into first place , followed by 2 . Alabama 3 . USC 4 . LSU and 5 . Texas . November . November 3 # 1 Northwestern narrowly defeated Indiana , 26 - 21 , at Bloomington . # 2 Alabama and # 3 USC shut out Mississippi State ( 20 - 0 ) and Washington ( 14 - 0 ) , respectively . # 4 LSU lost at home to # 7 Ole Miss , and # 5 Texas got past SMU at home , 6 - 0 . The poll was 1 . Northwestern 2 . USC 3 . Alabama 4 . Mississippi and 5 . Texas . November 10 # 1 Northwestern was beaten at Madison by # 8 Wisconsin , 37 - 6 . # 3 Alabama beat Miami 36 - 3 and # 2 USC won at Stanford , 39 - 14 . # 4 Ole Miss defeated UT - Chattanooga 52 - 7 , and # 5 Texas won at Baylor , 27 - 12 . With the return of Wisconsin to the Top 5 , and Northwestern dropping out , the poll was 1 . Alabama 2 . USC 3 . Mississippi 4 . Wisconsin and 5 . Texas . November 17 # 1 Alabama travelled to Atlanta and lost to Georgia Tech , 7 - 6 . # 2 USC defeated Navy , 13 - 6 , at home . # 3 Mississippi beat Tennessee at Knoxville , 19 - 6 # 4 Wisconsin won at Illinois , 35 - 6 , and # 5 Texas beat Texas Christian , 14 - 0 . The last two unbeaten and untied teams , USC and Mississippi , were first and second in the next poll , followed by 3 . Wisconsin 4 . Texas and 5 . Minnesota , which had beaten Purdue 7 - 6 . On Thanksgiving Day ( the 22nd ) , # 4 Texas hosted Texas A & M and won 13 - 3 to clinch the Southwestern conference title and the Cotton Bowl bid , half a game ahead of Arkansas . On November 24 # 1 USC beat UCLA , 14 - 3 , extending its record to 9 - 0 - 0 and finishing a game ahead of Washington for the AAWU title and the Rose Bowl bid . # 2 Mississippi was idle . USC ' s bowl opponent was determined in the season - ending game between # 3 Wisconsin and # 5 Minnesota , both 5 - 1 - 0 in Big Ten conference play . They met at Madison and the Badgers won on their home field , 14 - 9 , to take the Big Ten title and the trip to the Rose Bowl . In the penultimate poll , USC retained the # 1 spot , and Wisconsin was 2nd with an 8 - 1 - 0 record . Despite being unbeaten and untied , Mississippi placed third in the voting , followed by # 4 Texas and # 5 Alabama . The stage was set for a meeting of # 1 and # 2 at the Rose Bowl on New Year ' s Day . December 1 , # 1 USC closed a perfect season by beating Notre Dame 25 - 0 in Los Angeles for a 10 - 0 - 0 finish . # 3 Mississippi beat Mississippi State 13 - 6 at home to close with a 9 - 0 - 0 record , the SEC championship , and a trip to the Sugar Bowl , while # 5 Alabama beat Auburn 38 - 0 in the season - ender at Birmingham to close their season at 10 - 1 - 0 and second place . The Tide accepted a bid to face Big 8 champion Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl . The final AP poll , which determined the unofficial national championship , was released on December 3 . USC finished first , followed by Wisconsin , Ole Miss , Texas and Alabama . The " NCAA Football Guide " recognized the University of Southern California as the 1962 champion as number one in both the AP poll and the UPI poll . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Bowl games . Other bowls : Other champions . Prior to the splitting of the NCAA football programs into Divisions I - A and I - AA , the UPI and AP ranked smaller programs in a separate " small college football poll " . In 1961 , the wire services differed as to the choice for the best team . UPI ' s Board of 35 coaches awarded the championship trophy to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles ( 9 - 1 - 0 , with their sole loss being to Memphis State ) , followed by unbeaten Florida A & M ( 9 - 0 ) , Central Oklahoma ( 9 - 0 ) , Lenoir - Rhyne ( 10 - 0 ) and Wittenberg ( 9 - 0 ) . The Associated Press poll of 8 sportswriters awarded the championship to the Florida A & M Rattlers , followed by Wittenberg , Central Oklahoma , Southern Miss , and Lenoir Rhyne . Florida A & M went on to play Jackson College ( now Jackson State ) in the Orange Blossom Classic , but lost 22 - 6 . In the NAIA championship game , Oklahoma ' s Central State College Bronchos beat North Carolina ' s Lenoir - Rhyne College Bears , 28 - 13 in the Camellia Bowl .