1961 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 1961 consisted of the votes of 45 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 , Louisiana ) , the Orange Bowl ( Miami , Florida ) , and the Cotton Bowl ( Dallas , Texas ) . September . In the preseason poll released on September 18 , 1961 , Iowa was the # 1 , and its Big Ten rival Ohio State # 2 . SEC teams Alabama and Louisiana State ( LSU ) were third and fifth , and Texas was fourth . Rounding out the Top Ten were 6 . Michigan State 7 . Penn State 8 . Kansas 9 . Mississippi and 10 . Syracuse . As the regular season progressed , a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend ' s games . The Big Ten schools would not kick off until September 30 . On September 23 , # 3 Alabama won 32 - 6 at Georgia and # 4 Texas won at California 28 - 3 . In Houston , # 5 LSU fell to Rice 16 - 3 . # 10 Syracuse , which had beaten Oregon State 19 - 8 in Portland , rose to fifth . In the poll that followed , Iowa remained # 1 , followed by 2 . Mississippi 3 . Ohio State 4 . Alabama and 5 . Syracuse . Texas dropped to sixth place . September 30 the California Golden Bears played a top - ranked team for the second straight week , losing at # 1 Iowa 28 - 7 . # 2 Mississippi won 20 - 6 at Kentucky . Texas Christian University ( TCU ) tied # 3 Ohio State 7 - 7 at Columbus . In a game at Mobile , # 4 Alabama beat Tulane 9 - 0 . # 5 Syracuse defeated visiting West Virginia 29 - 14 , but fell out of the poll . # 6 Texas , which beat Texas Tech at home , 42 - 14 , returned to the Top Five , along with previously unranked # 3 Georgia Tech , which shut out Rice 24 - 0 . In the poll that followed , Iowa remained # 1 , followed by 2 . Mississippi 3 . Georgia Tech 4 . Alabama and 5 . Texas October . October 7 # 1 Iowa won 35 - 34 at USC # 2 Mississippi won 33 - 0 against Florida State # 3 Georgia Tech lost to LSU 10 - 0 # 4 Alabama won 35 - 6 at Vanderbilt # 5 Texas routed Washington State 41 - 8 # 6 Michigan State # 7 Syracuse lost 22 - 21 to Maryland # 8 Ohio State beat UCLA 13 - 3 In the poll that followed , Mississippi took over first place from Iowa , which dropped to second . These were followed by 3 . Alabama and 4 . Texas and 5 . Michigan State ( had beaten Stanford 31 - 3 ) October 14 # 1 Mississippi met the Houston Cougars at Memphis and won 47 - 7 . # 2 Iowa beat Indiana 27 - 8 at home . # 3 Alabama beat North Carolina State 26 - 7 at Birmingham , and # 4 Texas played its annual game against Oklahoma at Dallas , winning 28 - 7 . # 5 Michigan State won at Michigan , shutting out the Wolverines 28 - 0 . On the next poll , Michigan State took the # 1 spot from Ole Miss by a margin of only two points ( 431 to 429 ) , though the Rebels had more first place votes than the Spartans ( 21 vs . 16 ) . They were followed by 3 . Texas 4 . Iowa and 5 . Alabama . On October 21 , # 1 Michigan State got by Notre Dame 17 - 7 at home , and # 2 Mississippi shut out Tulane in a game at Jackson , 41 - 0 . # 3 Texas won at Arkansas , 33 - 7 , # 4 Iowa hosted Wisconsin , winning 47 - 15 , and # 5 Alabama defeated Tennessee at Birmingham , 34 - 3 . The top three ( Michigan State , Ole Miss and Texas ) were unchanged , while Alabama and Iowa traded places at 4th and 5th . October 28 In a week of shutouts , # 1 Michigan State beat Indiana 35 - 0 , and # 2 Mississippi had an even bigger blowout , 47 - 0 , against Vanderbilt . # 3 Texas beat the visiting Rice Owls , 34 - 7 , while # 4 Alabama won at Houston over the Cougars , 17 - 0 . # 5 Iowa was on the wrong side of scoreless , losing 9 - 0 at Purdue . The top 4 stayed the same , while # 6 Ohio State , which had won at Wisconsin 30 - 21 , took fifth place from Iowa , whom they would play the following Saturday . November . November 4 # 1 Michigan State fell to unranked Minnesota , 13 - 0 . At the same time , # 2 Mississippi lost to # 6 LSU 10 - 7 at Baton Rouge . The # 3 Texas Longhorns beat the SMU Mustangs at Dallas , 27 - 0 . # 4 Alabama shut out Mississippi State 24 - 0 . At Columbus , # 5 Ohio State beat # 9 Iowa 29 - 13 . Texas , Alabama and Ohio State moved up from 3 , 4 and 5 to 1st , 2nd and 3rd , and giant - killers LSU and Minnesota were 4th and 5th . Michigan State and Ole Miss fell to 6 and 7 . November 11 # 1 Texas beat Baylor , 33 - 7 . # 2 Alabama crushed the visiting Richmond Spiders ( which would be I - AA later ) 66 - 0 at home . # 3 Ohio State won 16 - 7 at Indiana , # 4 LSU won 30 - 0 at North Carolina , and # 5 Minnesota handed formerly first place Iowa its second straight loss , at home , 16 - 9 . # 6 Michigan State , too , lost its second straight , falling 7 - 6 at Purdue . The Top Five remained unchanged . November 18 Texas Christian University had earlier tied Ohio State 6 - 6 in Columbus , and bested that with a win over # 1 Texas in Austin , 6 - 0 . After the 6 - 0 loss , legendary Texas coach Darrell Royal uttered his immortal description of TCU : " They ' re like a bunch of cockroaches , " Royal said . " It ' s not what they eat and tote off , it ' s what they fall into and mess up that hurts . " # 2 Alabama beat Georgia Tech in Birmingham , 10 - 0 . # 3 Ohio State defeated visiting Oregon , 22 - 12 , and # 4 LSU hosted Mississippi State and won 14 - 6 # 5 Minnesota defeated # 7 Purdue , 10 - 7 , at home . Alabama ( 9 - 0 - 0 ) rose to # 1 , with Ohio State ( 7 - 0 - 1 ) at # 2 . Minnesota rose to # 3 , LSU stayed at # 4 and Texas ( 8 - 1 - 0 ) fell from # 1 to # 5 . Post - Thanksgiving ( November 25 ) # 1 Alabama was idle . # 2 Ohio State won at Michigan , 50 - 20 . # 3 Minnesota narrowly lost to Wisconsin 23 - 21 . # 4 LSU crushed visiting Tulane , 62 - 0 , and # 5 Texas 25 - 0 over Texas A & M . Ole Miss , which was idle , returned to the Top Five . December 2 , # 1 Alabama won its annual Birmingham game against the Auburn Tigers , 34 - 0 , to close the season with a 10 - 0 - 0 record . # 5 Mississippi closed its season at 9 - 1 - 0 with a 37 - 7 win against Mississippi State . The AP ' s final poll was a Top 20 ranking . With 26 of the 48 first place votes the Alabama Crimson Tide was awarded the AP Trophy , ahead of Ohio State ( with 20 votes ) . The point total was even closer , with 16 points separated the Tide from the Buckeyes ( 452 to 436 ) . The final poll was : 1 . Alabama 2 . Ohio State 3 . Texas 4 . LSU 5 . Mississippi 6 . Minnesota 7 . Colorado 8 . Michigan State 9 . Arkansas 10 . Utah State 11 . Missouri 12 . Purdue 13 . Georgia Tech 14 . Syracuse 15 . Rutgers 16 . UCLA . Arizona , Penn State and Rice were tied for 17th place , followed by 20 . Duke . Unbeaten and tied only once , Ohio State University qualified for the Rose Bowl . In a move that stunned the sports world , however , the University ' s faculty council voted 28 - 25 on November 28 not to accept the invitation , declaring that the school ' s emphasis on sports over academics was excessive . The wire service commented that " A team of 57 Ohio State University faculty members handed the second ranked Buckeyes their only defeat of the season . " . The University of Minnesota took the Buckeyes ' place at Pasadena . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Bowl games . Other bowls : Other Champions . Many of the schools that would later be part of NCAA ' s Division I - AA were ranked by the UPI and the AP in a " small college football " poll . In 1961 , the UPI ' s 35 member Board of Coaches awarded the championship to the 9 - 0 - 0 Pittsburg State University Gorillas , of Pittsburg , Kansas , followed by Baldwin - Wallace ( 8 - 0 ) , Mississippi Southern ( 7 - 2 ) , Southeastern Louisiana ( 9 - 1 ) and Fresno State ( 9 - 0 ) . Pittsburg State , which at that time was an NAIA team ( it is now NCAA Division II ) was also ranked # 1 in the final AP poll , followed by Baldwin - Wallace , Fresno State , Florida A & M and Whittier . The Gorillas competed in the NAIA playoffs to reach the Camellia Bowl championship game , where they defeated Linfield College of Oregon , 12 - 7 .