1968 college football season In the 1968 college 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 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 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 . September . In the preseason poll released on September 9 , 1968 , the Purdue Boilermakers of West Lafayette , Indiana , were picked # 1 , followed by the defending champion USC Trojans of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles . Third was the Notre Dame Fighting Irish of South Bend , Indiana , followed by the Oklahoma Sooners of Norman , OK and the # 5 Texas Longhorns of Austin . A second poll was taken on September 16 ( with Texas and Oklahoma trading places at 4 and 5 ) , although most teams would not begin play until the 21st . September 21 # 1 Purdue beat Virginia 44 - 6 . # 2 USC won at # 15 Minnesota 29 - 20 . # 3 Notre Dame beat # 5 Oklahoma 45 - 21 at South Bend . # 4 Texas was tied by # 11 Houston , 20 - 20 , at home . 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 , which had beaten Navy 31 - 6 , took Oklahoma ' s place at fourth in the poll . # 6 Florida , which had beaten Air Force 23 - 20 at a game in Tampa , took fifth . The poll was 1 . Purdue 2 . Notre Dame 3 . USC 4 . Penn State 5 . Florida September 28 # 1 Purdue met # 2 Notre Dame on the Irish ' s home grounds in South Bend , Indiana . The Boilermakers won , 37 - 22 . # 3 USC won at Northwestern 24 - 7 . # 4 Penn State beat Kansas State 25 - 9 . # 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 . # 2 USC beat visiting Miami , 28 - 3 . # 3 Penn State won at West Virginia , 31 - 20 . # 4 Florida beat Mississippi State 31 - 14 , but fell from the Top Five . # 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 to # 4 Ohio State in Columbus , 13 - 0 . # 2 USC won at # 18 Stanford 27 - 24 . # 3 Penn State won at UCLA 21 - 6 . # 5 Notre Dame beat Northwestern 27 - 7 . The # 6 Kansas Jayhawks , who won 23 - 13 at # 9 Nebraska , were fourth . The poll was 1 . USC 2 . Ohio State 3 . Penn State 4 . Kansas 5 . Purdue October 19 # 1 USC beat Washington 14 - 7 . # 2 Ohio State beat Northwestern 45 - 21 . # 5 Notre Dame beat Illinois 58 - 8 . # 3 Penn State was idle . # 4 Kansas beat Oklahoma State 49 - 14 . # 5 Purdue edged Wake Forest 28 - 27 and dropped to seventh . The poll was 1 . USC 2 . Ohio State 3 . Kansas 4 . Penn State 5 . Notre Dame October 26 # 1 USC was idle . # 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 # 5 Notre Dame were upset in East Lansing , MI by 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 # 2 Ohio State beat # 16 Michigan State 25 - 20 . # 3 Kansas posted its 7th win , over visiting Colorado , 27 - 14 . # 4 Penn State slipped past Army , 28 - 24 and # 5 Tennessee beat visiting UCLA 42 - 18 in Knoxville . 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 . # 2 Ohio State stayed unbeaten as well , beating Wisconsin 43 - 8 . # 3 Kansas , however , lost to unranked Oklahoma , 27 - 23 . # 4 Penn State beat visiting Miami 22 - 7 . # 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 would decide the Pac 8 title ; Oregon State was 5 - 1 , USC 6 - 0 in the conference that had been called the AAUW . # 2 Ohio State won at unranked Iowa 33 - 27 . # 3 Penn State won its 8th straight , at Maryland , 57 - 13 . # 4 Michigan beat Wisconsin 34 - 9 . # 5 Georgia won at # 12 Auburn , 17 - 3 . 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 met # 4 Michigan in Columbus . 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 over the Michigan Wolverines , 50 - 14 . After seven weeks at second place , the Buckeyes took the lead from USC . # 3 Penn State crushed the Pitt Panthers at Pittsburgh , 65 - 9 . # 5 Georgia was idle . Kansas , which had clinched the Big 8 title and the Orange Bowl bid with a 21 - 19 win at # 13 Missouri , finished 9 - 1 - 0 and placed fifth . Though USC had more first place votes than Ohio State ( 24½ vs 21½ ) , the Buckeyes were 10 points ahead overall ( 935 - 925 ) . The poll was 1 . Ohio State 2 . USC 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 , with a record that , if not perfect , was unbeaten after a 47 - 8 win at home against Georgia Tech . At 8 - 0 - 2 , the Bulldogs were SEC champs at went to the Sugar Bowl . After a 0 - 1 - 1 start , the # 6 Texas Longhorns had won their last eight , finishing with a 35 - 14 victory over Texas A & M on Thanksgiving Day . The Longhorns returned to the Top 5 after closing their season 8 - 1 - 1 , including a 39 - 29 win over Arkansas that tied them for the SWC title and got them the Cotton Bowl bid . Ohio State had 34 of the 39 first place votes cast . The final regular season poll was 1 . Ohio State 2 . USC 3 . Penn State 4 . Georgia 5 . Texas # 3 Penn State beat Syracuse 30 - 12 . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Bowl Games . Because # 1 Ohio State and # 2 USC 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 accepted an invite to the Orange Bowl . Kansas , which shared the Big 8 crown with Oklahoma ( even after losing to the Sooners ) got the other bid . The Sugar Bowl featured the # 1 SEC team against the # 2 SWC team ( Georgia vs . Arkansas ) while the Cotton Bowl pitted the # 1 SWC against the # 2 SEC ( Texas vs . Tennessee ) 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 : Heisman Trophy . O . J . Simpson , running back for the USC Trojans , was the overwhelming choice for the Heisman , with 2 , 853 points . Second was Leroy Keyes , running back for Purdue , with 1 , 103 points , followed by Terry Hanratty ( QB - Notre Dame ) , Ted Kwalick ( TE - Penn State ) and Ted Hendricks ( DE - Miami ) . Other champions . The schools that were in what would later be considered the NCAA ' s Divisions II and III were ranked in the " small college poll " , taken by both the UPI ( coaches ) and AP ( a panel of writers ) . In 1968 , the wire services disagreed as to the champion . UPI picked the San Diego State Aztecs ( now a Division I FBS team in the Mountain West Conference ) # 1 , while the AP panel chose the North Dakota State Bison ( now a Division I FCS team ) as # 1 . In the NAIA championship game , the Troy State Trojans ( now also an FBS team , playing in the Sun Belt Conference ) defeated Texas A & I Javelinas ( now Division II ) 43 - 35 .