1974 college football season The 1974 college football season finished with two national champions . The Associated Press ( AP ) writers ' poll ranked the University of Oklahoma , which was on probation and barred by the NCAA from postseason play , # 1 at season ' s end . The United Press International ( UPI ) coaches ' poll , on the other hand , did not rank Oklahoma at all , by unanimous agreement of the 25 member coaches ' board . The UPI trophy went to the University of Southern California ( USC ) . 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 ) . Starting in 1974 , the UPI joined AP in issuing its final poll after the bowl games were completed . Both polls operated under a point system of 20 points for first place , 19 for second , etc . , whereby the overall ranking was determined . The AP poll consisted of the votes of 60 writers , though not all voted in each poll , and the UPI poll was taken of a 25 member board . September . In the preseason poll released on September 2 , 1974 , the AP ranked Oklahoma # 1 , followed by # 2 Ohio State , # 3 Notre Dame , # 4 Alabama and # 5 USC . September 7 # 3 Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech in Atlanta . Arizona State , UCLA and Houston were among the few schools playing that week . The poll was : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Notre Dame 3 . Alabama 4 . Ohio State 5 . USC September 14 # 1 Oklahoma beat Baylor , 28 - 11 . # 2 Notre Dame was idle . # 3 Alabama won at # 14 Maryland , 21 - 16 . # 4 Ohio State won at Minnesota , 34 - 19 . # 5 USC lost to Arkansas in Little Rock , 22 - 7 . # 7 Nebraska , which beat Oregon in its opener , 61 - 7 , rose to fourth . The poll was 1 . Notre Dame 2 . Ohio State 3 . Oklahoma 4 . Nebraska 5 . Alabama September 21 # 1 Notre Dame won at Northwestern , 49 - 3 . # 2 Ohio State beat Oregon State 51 - 10 . # 3 Oklahoma was idle . # 4 Nebraska lost at Wisconsin , 21 - 20 . # 5 Alabama beat Southern Mississippi at Alabama , 52 - 0 . # 6 Michigan , which beat Colorado , 31 - 0 , rose to fifth . The poll was 1 . Notre Dame 2 . Ohio State 3 . Oklahoma 4 . Alabama 5 . Michigan Norte Dame . 25 September 28 # 1 Notre Dame lost to Purdue , 31 - 20 . # 2 Ohio State defeated SMU , 28 - 9 . # 3 Oklahoma rolled over visiting Utah State , 72 - 3 . # 4 Alabama beat Vanderbilt 23 - 10 . # 5 Michigan beat Navy , 52 - 0 # 9 Texas A & M , which won at Washington 28 - 15 , rose to fifth . The poll was 1 . Ohio State 2 . Oklahoma 3 . Alabama 4 . Michigan 5 . Texas A & M October . October 5 # 1 Ohio State beat Washington State 42 - 7 in Seattle . # 2 Oklahoma shut out Wake Forest 63 - 0 . # 3 Alabama beat Mississippi at Jackson , 35 - 21 . # 4 Michigan won at Stanford , 27 - 16 . # 5 Texas A & M lost at Kansas , 28 - 10 . # 6 Nebraska , which beat Minnesota 54 - 0 , rose to fifth . The poll was 1 . Ohio State 2 . Oklahoma 3 . Alabama 4 . Michigan 5 . Nebraska October 12 # 1 Ohio State beat visiting # 13 Wisconsin 52 - 7 . # 2 Oklahoma barely defeated # 17 Texas in Dallas , 16 - 13 . # 3 Alabama survived a game against winless ( 0 - 4 - 0 ) Florida State , winning 8 - 7 # 4 Michigan beat Michigan State , 21 - 7 . # 5 Nebraska lost to Missouri , 21 - 10 . # 10 Auburn , which beat Kentucky 31 - 13 , rose to fifth . The poll was 1 . Ohio State 2 . Oklahoma 3 . Michigan 4 . Alabama 5 . Auburn October 19 # 1 Ohio State beat Indiana , 49 - 9 # 2 Oklahoma won at Colorado , 49 - 14 . # 3 Michigan won at Wisconsin , 24 - 20 . # 4 Alabama won at Tennessee , 28 - 6 . # 10 Auburn beat Georgia Tech 31 - 22 . The poll was unchanged : 1 . Ohio State 2 . Oklahoma 3 . Michigan 4 . Alabama 5 . Auburn October 26 # 1 Ohio State won at Northwestern , 55 - 7 . # 2 Oklahoma beat Kansas State , 63 - 0 . # 3 Michigan beat Minnesota , 49 - 0 . # 4 Alabama beat TCU 41 - 3 at Birmingham . # 5 Auburn beat Florida State 38 - 6 . The poll was unchanged 1 . Ohio State 2 . Oklahoma 3 . Michigan 4 . Alabama 5 . Auburn November . November 2 # 1 Ohio State defeated Illinois at home , 49 - 7 . With a record of 8 - 0 - 0 , the Buckeyes had outscored their opposition 360 to 75 . # 2 Oklahoma won at Iowa State , 28 - 10 . # 3 Michigan won at Indiana , 21 - 7 . # 4 Alabama beat # 17 Mississippi State 35 - 0 . # 5 Auburn lost at # 11 Florida , 25 - 14 . # 8 Texas A & M , which beat Arkansas 20 - 10 , returned to the Top Five . The poll was 1 . Ohio State 2 . Oklahoma 3 . Alabama 4 . Michigan 5 . Texas A & M November 9 In East Lansing , Michigan , # 1 Ohio State was upset by unranked ( and 4 - 3 - 1 ) Michigan State , 16 - 13 . # 2 Oklahoma , which had beaten Missouri 37 - 0 , took the first spot . # 3 Alabama beat LSU in Birmingham , 30 - 0 . # 4 Michigan won at Illinois , 14 - 6 . # 5 Texas A & M lost at SMU , 18 - 14 . # 8 Notre Dame was idle , but rose to fifth place . The AP poll was 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Alabama 3 . Michigan 4 . Ohio State 5 . Notre Dame while the UPI poll was 1 . Alabama 2 . Michigan 3 . Ohio State 4 . Notre Dame 5 . USC November 16 # 1 Oklahoma won at Kansas , 45 - 14 . # 2 Alabama won in Florida over Miami , 28 - 7 . The other Miami , Miami University , was ranked 12th with a record of 8 - 0 - 1 . # 3 Michigan beat Purdue , 51 - 0 , to extend its record to 10 - 0 - 0 . # 4 Ohio State won at Iowa , 35 - 10 . # 5 Notre Dame beat # 17 Pittsburgh , 14 - 10 . The AP poll was unchanged : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Alabama 3 . Michigan 4 . Ohio State 5 . Notre Dame , while the UPI poll was 1 . Alabama 2 . Michigan 3 . Ohio State 4 . Notre Dame 5 . USC November 23 # 1 Oklahoma beat # 6 Nebraska , 28 - 14 . # 2 Alabama was idle as it prepared for its season ender with Auburn . The game that determined the Big Ten championship took place in Columbus , Ohio , as # 3 Michigan ( 10 - 0 - 0 ) met # 4 Ohio State ( 10 - 1 - 0 ) . OSU won , 12 - 10 . # 5 Notre Dame beat Air Force , 38 - 0 . USC topped UCLA 34 - 9 for the Pac - 8 title and Rose Bowl berth . The AP poll was 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Alabama 3 . Ohio State 4 . Notre Dame 5 . USC and the UPI poll was 1 . Alabama 2 . Ohio State 3 . Notre Dame 4 . USC 5 . Michigan The annual Alabama - Auburn game took place on a Friday night , played in Birmingham on November 29 , with # 2 Alabama winning 17 - 13 over # 7 Auburn to close its season at 11 - 0 - 0 . On November 30 # 1 Oklahoma won its annual season ender against OK State , 44 - 13 , to also close its season 11 - 0 - 0 . Alabama would go to the Sugar Bowl , while Oklahoma would stay home due to NCAA probation . # 4 Notre Dame met # 5 USC in Los Angeles . USC won , 55 - 24 after trailing 24 - 0 , and reached the Top four . The AP poll was 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Alabama 3 . Ohio State 4 . USC 5 . Michigan and the UPI poll was 1 . Alabama 2 . Ohio State 3 . USC 4 . Michigan 5 . Auburn . Oklahoma and Alabama , both 11 - 0 - 0 , were the only undefeated and untied teams at season ' s end . AP ranked Oklahoma first , and UPI ranked Alabama # 1 . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Bowl games . Nebraska defeated Florida in the Sugar Bowl played on New Years Eve . On New Years Day , Penn State defeated the surprise SWC champion Baylor in the Cotton Bowl . Then things got really interesting . 3rd ranked Ohio State ( led by Woody Hayes ) and # 4 USC ( coached by John McKay ) played in the Rose Bowl before a crowd of 106 , 721 in Pasadena . Ohio State led 7 - 3 after three quarters , and 17 - 10 in the closing minutes . With 2 : 03 left , Pat Haden fired a 38 - yard pass to John McKay , Jr . ( son of USC ' s coach ) to make the score 17 - 16 . Coach McKay then passed up a chance for a tie over the favored Buckeyes , and ordered the Trojans to go for two . Shelton Diggs dived to catch Haden ' s low pass in the end zone to give USC an 18 - 17 lead . Ohio State could only get close enough for a desperation 62 - yard field goal attempt that fell about 8 yards short as time expired . Alabama , coached by Bear Bryant was ranked # 1 in the UPI poll , and # 2 ( behind on - probation Oklahoma ) in the AP , as it went to the Orange Bowl , where it faced 9th ranked Notre Dame , playing its final game under Ara Parseghian . The Irish went out to a 13 - 0 lead early in the game , but Bama battled back with a field goal , a touchdown and a two point run to close the score to 13 - 11 with three minutes left . After ruling out an onside kick attempt , the Tide force a Notre Dame punt and got the ball back with 1 : 37 left . Quarterback Richard Todd attempted to drive the team to field goal range , but he threw his 3rd interception of the game , and Notre Dame ran out the clock to preserve the upset win . In the final UPI poll , USC was ranked first , with Alabama 2nd , Ohio State 3rd , Michigan 4th and Notre Dame 5th . The Trojans were # 2 in the AP poll , where the Oklahoma Sooners were the first place choice for 51 of the 60 writers . The NCAA recognized both the Sooners and the Trojans as champions in its football guide . Other bowls : Other champions . Many of the schools that are now in the NCAA ' s " Division I - AA " participated in the Division II playoffs , and were also ranked in the " small college poll " , taken by both the UPI ( coaches ) and AP ( a panel of writers ) . Louisiana Tech was ranked # 1 by UPI while Central Michigan was # 1 in the AP poll . CMU beat Tech 35 - 14 in the semi - finals of the Division II playoffs . The playoff winners :