1957 college football season The 1957 college football season saw two different national champions . Auburn University was ranked first in the AP writers ' poll taken at season ' s end , while Ohio State University was first in the UPI coaches ' poll . Auburn was ineligible for a bowl game , however , having been placed on probation indefinitely by the Southeastern Conference , after having paid two high school players US $ 500 apiece . 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 1957 consisted of the votes of as many as 360 sportswriters . The UPI poll was taken of a panel of 35 coaches . In both cases , the voters would give their opinion of the ten best teams , and under a point system of 10 points for first place , 9 for second , etc . , the " overall " ranking was determined . 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 ) . September . In the preseason poll released on September 16 , 1957 , the defending champion Sooners of Oklahoma University - - who had won 40 consecutive games in ' 53 , ' 54 , ' 55 , and ' 56 - - were the first place choice for 127 of 174 writers casting votes , followed by Texas A & M , Michigan State , Minnesota and Tennessee . As the regular season progressed , a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend ' s games . On Friday , September 20 , the United States Air Force Academy , founded two years earlier , fielded its first college football team . The Falcons made their debut at UCLA and lost , 47 - 0 . They would finish their first season 3 - 6 - 1 . On September 21 , # 1 Oklahoma won at Pittsburgh 26 - 0 . # 2 Texas A & M beat Maryland 21 - 13 in a game at Dallas . # 3 Michigan State , # 4 Minnesota , and # 5 Tennessee had not yet begun their seasons . # 11 Georgia Tech , which beat Kentucky 13 - 0 rose to third , while # 12 Navy , which had won at Boston College 46 - 6 , rose to fifth . The first AP poll was 1 . Oklahoma , 2 . Texas A & M , 3 . Georgia Tech , 4 . Michigan State , and 5 . Navy . September 28 - # 1 Oklahoma was idle . # 2 Texas A & M won at Texas Tech 21 - 0 and # 3 Georgia Tech played to a 0 - 0 tie with SMU . # 4 Michigan State beat Indiana 54 - 0 . # 5 Navy beat visiting William & Mary 33 - 6 . # 6 Minnesota , which beat Washington , 46 - 7 , and # 7 Duke , which had beaten Virginia 40 - 0 , rose to 3rd and 4th place . The poll was 1 . Oklahoma , 2 . Michigan State , 3 . Minnesota , 4 . Duke , and 5 . Texas A & M . October . October 5 - # 1 Oklahoma beat Iowa State 40 - 14 . # 2 Michigan State won at California 19 - 0 . # 3 Minnesota , beat visiting Purdue , 21 - 17 . # 4 Duke beat Maryland 14 - 0 . # 5 Texas A & M won at Missouri 28 - 0 . The poll was 1 . Oklahoma , 2 . Michigan State , 3 . Texas A & M , 4 . Minnesota , and 5 . Duke . October 12 - A crowd of 75 , 504 watched in Dallas as # 1 Oklahoma had a difficult time with unranked Texas ; the Longhorns picked off four of Walter Fondren ' s passes and the score was 7 - 7 at the half before the Sooners preserved their winning streak 21 - 7 in a game that wasn ' t pretty . At the same time , # 2 Michigan State won handily at Michigan 35 - 6 , leading the AP voters to re - evaluate . # 3 Texas A & M won at home in College Station , TX , beating Houston 28 - 6 . # 4 Minnesota won at Northwestern 41 - 6 . # 5 Duke narrowly beat Rice in Houston , 7 - 6 . The Spartans took over the # 1 spot in the next poll : 1 . Michigan State , 2 . Oklahoma , 3 . Texas A & M , 4 . Minnesota , and 5 . Duke . On October 19 # 1 Michigan State lost to Purdue 20 - 13 and fell out of the top five . # 2 Oklahoma , which beat Kansas 47 - 0 , reclaimed the top spot . # 3 Texas A & M won at TCU 7 - 0 . # 4 Minnesota lost at Illinois 34 - 14 . # 5 Duke beat Wake Forest , 34 - 7 . # 9 Auburn , which beat Georgia Tech in Atlanta 3 - 0 , rose to 5th place in the polls . The poll : 1 . Oklahoma , 2 . Texas A & M , 3 . Iowa , 4 . Duke , and 5 . Auburn . October 26 - # 1 Oklahoma edged Colorado 14 - 13 , and lost the top spot again , despite being 5 - 0 - 0 . # 2 Texas A & M beat Baylor 14 - 0 , and replaced the Sooners in the next poll . # 3 Iowa , which won at Northwestern 6 - 0 , rose to 3rd . # 4 Duke went to neighboring Raleigh to play North Carolina State , and ended with a 14 - 14 tie . # 5 Auburn won at Houston 48 - 7 . # 7 Notre Dame , which beat Pittsburgh 13 - 7 , rose to fifth . The poll : 1 . Texas A & M , 2 . Oklahoma , 3 . Iowa , 4 . Auburn , and 5 . Notre Dame . November . November 2 - # 1 Texas A & M got past host Arkansas , 7 - 6 . # 2 Oklahoma won at Kansas State 13 - 0 . # 3 Iowa played Michigan to a 21 - 21 tie . # 4 Auburn beat Florida 13 - 0 . # 5 Notre Dame lost to visiting Navy , 20 - 6 . # 6 Michigan State , which won at Wisconsin 21 - 7 , rose to fifth . The poll : 1 . Texas A & M , 2 . Oklahoma , 3 . Auburn , 4 . Michigan State , and 5 . Iowa . November 9 - # 1 Texas A & M beat SMU 19 - 6 . # 2 Oklahoma won at Missouri 39 - 14 . # 3 Auburn beat Mississippi State 15 - 7 in Birmingham . # 4 Michigan State beat Notre Dame 34 - 6 . # 5 Iowa beat Minnesota 44 - 20 . The poll remained unchanged . November 16 - # 1 Texas A & M lost to Rice in Houston , 7 - 6 . The # 2 Oklahoma Sooners had not lost a game since September 26 , 1953 , had won 47 consecutive games , and had a record of 7 - 0 - 0 when they hosted Notre Dame . The Irish , 4 - 2 - 0 and on a losing streak , were an 18 - point underdog coming into Norman . The Sooners , who had scored in 123 consecutive games ( dating back to 1945 ) , were unable to reach the end zone , but had held off the Irish on two goal line stands . In the final minutes , Notre Dame was on the 3 - yard line on fourth down , when Dick Lynch " crossed up the Sooners " and ran around right end for a touchdown . Oklahoma ' s desperate passing drive at game ' s end was stopped by a Notre Dame interception , and the crowd of 62 , 000 was stunned into silence . . . and then stood up and applauded for both the Sooners and the Irish . The previous defeat , more than four years earlier , had been at the hands of Notre Dame as well . Final score : Notre Dame 7 , Oklahoma 0 . # 3 Auburn beat Georgia 6 - 0 at Columbus , Georgia while # 4 Michigan State beat Minnesota 42 - 13 . # 5 Iowa lost in Columbus to # 6 Ohio State , 17 - 13 . The 7 - 1 - 0 Buckeyes rose to third , while the 6 - 1 - 1 Hawkeyes fell to 8th . # 8 Mississippi , which beat Tennessee 14 - 7 in Memphis , rose to 5th . The poll : 1 . Michigan State , 2 . Auburn , 3 . Ohio State , 4 . Texas A & M , and 5 . Mississippi . November 23 - # 1 Michigan State closed its season with a 27 - 0 win over ( 3 - 5 - 1 ) Kansas State , but fell to 3rd . # 2 Auburn , on probation , won at Florida State 29 - 7 . As the only unbeaten ( 9 - 0 - 0 ) school among the majors , Auburn was voted # 1 in the AP poll . # 3 Ohio State , which wrapped up its season with a win at Michigan 31 - 14 , was # 1 in the UPI poll . # 4 Texas A & M lost to Texas 7 - 9 . # 5 Mississippi was idle . # 6 Oklahoma , who won at Nebraska 53 - 6 , returned to the Top Five . The poll : 1 . Auburn , 2 . Ohio State , 3 . Michigan State , 4 . Texas A & M , and 5 . Oklahoma . Thanksgiving Day saw Bear Bryant ' s # 4 Texas A & M team lose to the Texas Longhorns , 9 - 7 . On November 30 , # 1 Auburn beat Alabama 40 - 0 at their annual meeting in Birmingham to close its season 10 - 0 - 0 . Alabama finished its season at 2 - 7 - 1 . Bryant , who had transformed the Aggies from a 1 - 9 - 0 team ( 1953 ) to a contender , would accept a job as head coach at the University of Alabama at season ' s end . # 2 Ohio State and # 3 Michigan State were both 8 - 1 - 0 in the regular season , but Ohio State was 7 - 0 - 0 in Big Ten play , compared to the 5 - 1 - 0 Spartans , and got the Rose Bowl bid . # 5 Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State 53 - 6 . # 8 Navy , which won the Army - Navy game in Philadelphia , 14 - 0 , finished with an 8 - 1 - 1 record , a bid to meet Rice in the Cotton Bowl Classic , and a fifth place finish in the final poll . The services were split as to the national champion . The AP Trophy went to the Auburn Tigers , the choice of a majority of writers for # 1 , and the only major college program to finish unbeaten ( Arizona State , then a lesser power , also finished 10 - 0 - 0 ) . Auburn , however , was on probation and was ineligible for a bowl . The UPI coaches poll awarded # 1 to the Rose Bowl bound , 8 - 1 - 0 , Ohio State Buckeyes . Both Auburn and Ohio State are recognized in the NCAA Football Guidebook as unofficial national champions for 1957 . The final AP poll was : 1 . Auburn , 2 . Ohio State , 3 . Michigan State , 4 . Oklahoma , and 5 . Navy , while the UPI poll was 1 . Ohio State , 2 . Auburn , 3 . Michigan State , 4 . Oklahoma , and 5 . Iowa . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Final results . Sixteen college football teams finished the 1957 season with unbeaten and untied records . The Arizona State Sun Devils , with a 10 - 0 - 0 record , had the greatest point differential among the four teams with 10 wins . The Sun Devils scored 396 points while allowing only 66 . Second was Pittsburg of Kansas ( 320 / 53 ) which was an NAIA team , followed by Middle Tennessee State ( 241 / 40 ) and Auburn ( 207 / 28 ) . The remaining undefeated teams had fewer than 10 wins . Three undefeated teams each had nine , eight , seven , and six wins . Other champions . In 1958 , the NAIA ranked its member teams in a poll , and also held a championship game . In St . Petersburg , Florida , the first annual " Holiday Bowl " ( unrelated to the San Diego NCAA Division I bowl ) was played to match the finalists in the NAIA playoffs . The Pittsburg State Teachers ' College Gorillas edged the Hillsdale College Chargers , 27 - 26 , in the second annual title game . The NAIA rankings had Middle Tennessee ( 10 - 0 - 0 ) first and East Texas State ( 8 - 1 - 0 ) second at season ' s end .