1956 college football season The 1956 college football season saw the Sooners of the University of Oklahoma finish a third consecutive season unbeaten and untied to again win the national championship . 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 1956 consisted of the votes of as many as 198 sportswriters . Though not all writers voted in every poll , each would give their opinion of the twenty best teams . Under a point system of 20 points for first place , 19 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 20 . Generally , 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 Classic ( Dallas ) . Because the rules of the time for Oklahoma ' s conference ( at that time , Big 7 ) did not permit consecutive bowl appearances , # 1 Oklahoma did not play in the postseason , with runner up Colorado going to the Orange Bowl instead . September . In the preseason poll released on September 17 , 1956 , the defending champion Oklahoma Sooners of Oklahoma University were the first place choice for 116 of 149 writers casting votes , followed by Michigan State , Notre Dame , Georgia Tech and Ohio State . As the regular season progressed , a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend ' s games . On September 22 , # 1 Oklahoma and # 2 Michigan State were idle . # 3 Notre Dame lost in Dallas to unranked Southern Methodist University ( SMU ) , 19 - 13 and dropped out of the Top 5 permanently ( it would finish 2 - 8 - 0 ) , while SMU would rise to # 5 . # 4 Georgia Tech won at Kentucky , 14 - 6 . # 5 Ohio State , which had not started play , fell out of the Top 5 and was replaced by # 7 Texas Christian University ( TCU ) , which had opened with a 32 - 0 win at Kansas . The first regular AP poll was 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Georgia Tech 3 . Michigan State , 4 . TCU and 5 . SMU . September 29 , # 1 Oklahoma opened its season with a 36 - 0 win over North Carolina . In Dallas , # 2 Georgia Tech visited # 5 SMU and narrowly won 9 - 7 . # 3 Michigan State won at # 12 Stanford , 21 - 7 . # 4 TCU was idle and dropped to 8th , while # 8 Ohio State rose to 4th after a 34 - 7 win hosting Nebraska . # 13 Michigan , which had beaten UCLA 42 - 13 , rose to 5th . The next poll was 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Michigan State 3 . Georgia Tech 4 . Ohio State 5 . Michigan . October . October 6 # 1 Oklahoma registered another shutout , beating Kansas State 66 - 0 . # 2 Michigan State met # 5 Michigan in the rain before a crowd of 101 , 001 at Ann Arbor , and MSU Coach Duffy Daugherty ' s " umbrella defense " forced two Michigan turnovers that led to their 9 - 0 win # 3 Georgia Tech was idle , and # 4 Ohio State won 32 - 20 at home before 82 , 881 over Stanford . The poll saw Michigan drop to 12th , while # 8 TCU ( which beat Arkansas 41 - 6 on national television ) returned to the top five : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Michigan State 3 . Georgia Tech 4 . TCU 5 . Ohio State October 13 At Dallas , # 1 Oklahoma beat Texas 45 - 0 , having outscored its opposition 147 - 0 in three games . A commentator of the day wrote , " The overpowering charge of the big red - shirted Oklahoma line ahead of adroit Quarterback Jimmy Harris is just one of the reasons bhy Oklahoma may be the greatest college football team of all time . . . They showed it in the sudden , lifting charge of a line which moved all of a piece , like a wave breaking evenly along a beach . " # 2 Michigan State defeated Indiana 53 - 6 at home . # 3 Georgia Tech beat LSU , 39 - 7 . # 4 TCU won at Alabama 23 - 6 , and # 5 Ohio State won 26 - 6 at Illinois . The poll remained unchanged : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Michigan State 3 . Georgia Tech 4 . TCU 5 . Ohio State October 20 # 1 Oklahoma gave up its first points of the season , but registered its fourth win , 34 - 12 , at Kansas . # 2 Michigan State stayed unbeaten with a 47 - 14 win at Notre Dame . # 3 Georgia Tech beat Auburn 28 - 7 . In a game that would ultimately determine the SWC championship , # 4 TCU lost at # 14 Texas A & M , 7 - 6 . # 5 Ohio State lost to Penn State by the same 7 - 6 score . # 7 Tennessee , which had beaten Alabama 24 - 0 rose to 4th , and # 8 Michigan returned to the Top 5 after its 34 - 20 win over Northwestern . The poll : 1 . Michigan State 2 . Oklahoma 3 . Georgia Tech 4 . Tennessee 5 . Michigan . October 27 The new # 1 , Michigan State went to Champaign , and had a 13 - 0 lead over the unranked Illini at halftime . Abe Woodson plunged for a score to cut the lead to 13 - 6 after three quarters . In the fourth , Woodson ran 70 yards from scrimmage to help tie the game 13 - 13 . After an MSU field goal was short , Woodson ran the ball up to the Illini 18 . Woodson , who had once held the world record in the 50 yard high hurdles , took a short pass and dashed 82 yards for a touchdown , leaping over State ' s Art Johnson 30 yards from goal , to pull off the 20 - 13 upset . # 2 Oklahoma was determined to prove itself number 1 , and Coach Bud Wilkinson directed the team to six touchdowns for a 40 - 0 win at Notre Dame . # 3 Georgia Tech beat # 15 Tulane by the same 40 - 0 marvgin . # 4 Tennessee beat Maryland 34 - 7 to stay unbeaten . # 5 Michigan had its second loss , falling to unranked Minnesota at home , 20 - 7 . # 7 Texas A & M , which had extended its record to 5 - 0 - 1 with a 19 - 13 win at # 8 Baylor , replaced the Wolverines . The poll : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Georgia Tech 3 . Tennessee 4 . Michigan State 5 . Texas A & M . November . November 3 Unbeaten ( 5 - 0 - 0 ) and # 1 Oklahoma , met the once - beaten ( 5 - 1 - 0 ) Colorado Buffaloes on the road , and were losing 19 - 6 at halftime to a team that was four - touchdown underdog , but came back with touchdowns by Tommy McDonald and Clendon Thomas for a difficult 27 - 19 win . # 2 Georgia Tech won at Duke , 7 - 0 . # 3 Tennessee beat North Carolina 20 - 0 . # 4 Michigan State crushed Wisconsin 33 - 0 . # 5 Texas A & M beat Arkansas 27 - 0 . The poll remained unchanged . November 10 While # 1 Oklahoma registered its fifth shutout in seven games , trouncing Iowa State 44 - 0 , # 2 Georgia Tech and # 3 Tennessee met in Atlanta for a game that proved to determine the SEC title . There were 23 punts altogether , and no score until midway through the third quarter , when Tennessee end Buddy Cruze noticed that Tech had stopped double - teaming him . Quarterback Johnny Majors ( who would later be head coach for UT ) passed to Cruze at the 35 yard line , and Cruze ran 64 yards down to the Tech goal line , setting up the touchdown that won the game , 6 - 0 . In the poll that followed , Tennessee was the new # 1 by a margin of 2 points ( 1 , 446 to 1 , 444 ) over Oklahoma . # 4 Michigan State narrowly beat Purdue , 12 - 9 . # 5 Texas A & M beat SMU 33 - 7 in Dallas , and increased its record to 7 - 0 - 1 , with the Southwest Conference title and a trip to the Cotton Bowl Classic , and on November 12 , was still fifth in the poll . Though on probation since 1955 for recruiting violations , the Aggies had appealed to the NCAA to allow them to play postseason . The next day , however , the NCAA announced that Texas A & M was still banned , because of an additional recruiting violation of a basketball player . The poll : 1 . Tennessee 2 . Oklahoma 3 . Michigan State 4 . Georgia Tech 5 . Texas A & M . November 17 # 1 Tennessee beat visiting # 19 Ole Miss , 27 - 7 , while # 2 Oklahoma showed off its offense in beating Missouri 67 - 14 , sufficiently enough to regain the top spot in the next poll . # 3 , Michigan State traveled to Minnesota , which had been # 6 a week before , but dropped to # 17 . The MSU visitors lost , 14 - 13 , and dropped to 10th place in the next poll . # 4 Georgia Tech beat Alabama 27 - 0 . # 5 Texas A & M beat visiting Rice , 21 - 7 . # 7 Iowa , which had beaten # 6 Ohio State 6 - 0 , took Michigan State ' s place in the poll that followed . The Top 5 was 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Tennessee 3 . Iowa 4 . Texas A & M 5 . Georgia Tech . November 24 # 1 Oklahoma gained 656 net yards in a defeat of visiting Nebraska 54 - 6 . # 2 Tennessee beat Kentucky 20 - 7 . # 3 Iowa , which had captured the Big Ten title with a 5 - 1 - 0 conference record , finished its season with a 48 - 8 non - league win over Notre Dame , then accepted a bid to the Rose Bowl , where it would face Oregon State . # 4 Texas A & M was idle as it prepared for its Thanksgiving Day game with Texas ( which it would win 34 - 21 ) . In Jacksonville , # 5 Georgia Tech beat # 13 Florida 28 - 0 , and traded places with A & M . Tech would be invited back to the city for the Gator Bowl at season ' s end . The poll : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Tennessee 3 . Iowa 4 . Georgia Tech 5 . Texas A & M . December 1 # 1 Oklahoma closed its season with a 53 - 0 win over Oklahoma State , finishing 10 - 0 - 0 , and with a 466 - 51 finish in points . Only one of its ten opponents ( Colorado ) finished 1956 with a winning record . In Nashville , # 2 Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 27 - 7 to close with a 10 - 0 record and a spot in the Sugar Bowl , where it would face 9 - 1 - 0 Baylor . # 4 Georgia Tech closed with a 35 - 0 win at Georgia . Unbeaten and once - tied ( 9 - 0 - 1 ) , # 5 Texas A & M did win the Southwest Conference title , but the ban against post - season play sent the SWC runner - up , TCU , to the Cotton Bowl Classic instead . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Other champions . The Tennessee State Tigers ( 9 - 0 - 0 ) and the Florida A & M Rattlers ( 8 - 0 - 0 ) were considered to be the # 1 and # 2 teams " among the nation ' s Negro grid powers " . The teams from the two historically black universities played at the Orange Bowl stadium in Miami , which hosted the Orange Blossom Classic as well as the New Year ' s Day , historically white universities , Orange Bowl game . A crowd of 41 , 808 watched Tennessee State win 41 - 39 . Unbeaten Montana State University met Saint Joseph ' s College , Indiana in the Aluminum Bowl at Little Rock in the first playoff to determine the NAIA small college championship , and played to a scoreless tie . Both were declared champions , and a coin flip allowed St . Joseph ' s to have the trophy for six months , followed by Montana State . Other schools that finished their seasons unbeaten and untied were Lenoir Rhyne College , the University of Wyoming , New Haven Teachers College , Hillsdale College , Central Michigan University , Kearney State College , Redlands College , Sam Houston State , Westminster College ( Pennsylvania ) , St . Thomas ( Minn . ) College , Alfred University and Milton College ( Wisconsin ) . Bowl games . Other bowl games played in 1956 were the Orange Blossom Classic ( Tennessee State 41 , Florida A & M 39 ) ; the Tangerine Bowl ( Orlando ) Mississippi Southern vs . West Texas State ; the Sun Bowl ( El Paso ) GWU vs . Texas Western ; and the Aluminum Bowl ( Little Rock ) , with unbeaten Montana State 10 - 0 vs . St . Joseph ' s College of Indiana . The Refrigerator Bowl ( Evansville , IN ) was Sam Houston State 27 , Middle Tennessee State 13 .