1961 NCAA football season

1961 NCAA University Division football season
Preseason AP #1	Iowa Hawkeyes
Regular season	September 23 – December 2, 1961
Number of bowls	11
Bowl games	December 9, 1961 – January 1, 1962
Heisman	Ernie Davis, Syracuse HB
← 1960 College football seasons 1962 →

1961 AAWU football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#16 UCLA $	3	–	1	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
USC	2	–	1	–	1			4	–	5	–	1
Washington	2	–	1	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
Stanford	1	–	3	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
California	1	–	3	–	0			1	–	8	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1961 ACC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
#20 Duke $		5	–	1					7	–	3
North Carolina		4	–	3					5	–	5
Maryland		3	–	3					7	–	3
Clemson		3	–	3					5	–	5
NC State		3	–	4					4	–	6
South Carolina		3	–	4					4	–	6
Wake Forest		3	–	4					4	–	6
Virginia		2	–	4					4	–	6
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1961 Big 8 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#7 Colorado $	7	–	0	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
#11 Missouri	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	2	–	1
Kansas	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	1
Oklahoma	4	–	3	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Iowa State	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Oklahoma State	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Nebraska	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	1
Kansas State	0	–	7	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1961 NCAA University Division independents football records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#15 Rutgers			–					9	–	0	–	0
#17 Arizona			–					8	–	1	–	1
Memphis State			–					8	–	2	–	0
Southern Miss			–					8	–	2	–	0
Villanova			–					8	–	2	–	0
#17 Penn State			–					8	–	3	–	0
#14 Syracuse			–					8	–	3	–	0
Holy Cross			–					7	–	3	–	0
Navy			–					7	–	3	–	0
Miami (FL)			–					7	–	4	–	0
Army			–					6	–	4	–	0
San Jose State			–					6	–	4	–	0
Xavier			–					6	–	4	–	0
Colgate			–					5	–	4	–	0
Detroit			–					5	–	4	–	0
Pacific			–					5	–	4	–	0
Houston			–					5	–	4	–	1
Notre Dame			–					5	–	5	–	0
Oregon State			–					5	–	5	–	0
Florida State			–					4	–	5	–	1
Boston University			–					4	–	5	–	0
Boston College			–					4	–	6	–	0
Oregon			–					4	–	6	–	0
Air Force			–					3	–	7	–	0
Pittsburgh			–					3	–	7	–	0
Washington State			–					3	–	7	–	0
Idaho			–					2	–	7	–	0
Dayton			–					2	–	8	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

1961 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#2 Ohio State $	6	–	0	–	0			8	–	0	–	1
#6 Minnesota	6	–	1	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
#8 Michigan State	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
#12 Purdue	4	–	2	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Wisconsin	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Michigan	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Iowa	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Northwestern	2	–	4	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Indiana	0	–	6	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Illinois	0	–	7	–	0			0	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1961 Border Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Arizona State §	3	–	0	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
West Texas State	3	–	1	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
New Mexico State	2	–	1	–	0			5	–	4	–	1
Texas Western	1	–	3	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Hardin–Simmons	0	–	4	–	0			0	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion

1961 Ivy League football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Columbia +	6	–	1	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Harvard +	6	–	1	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Dartmouth	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Princeton	5	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Yale	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Cornell	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Penn	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Brown	0	–	7	–	0			0	–	9	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

1961 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Wichita State $	3	–	0	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
North Texas State	1	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	1
Cincinnati	1	–	2	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Tulsa	1	–	2	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1961 MSC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Utah State +	5	–	0	–	1			9	–	1	–	1
Wyoming +	5	–	0	–	1			6	–	1	–	2
Utah	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
New Mexico	3	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Montana	2	–	4	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
BYU	2	–	4	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
Colorado State	0	–	6	–	0			0	–	10	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Final season for conference Rankings from AP Poll

During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the major college football teams in the University Division, later known 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 (near Los Angeles at Pasadena), Sugar (New Orleans), Orange (Miami) and Cotton (Dallas).

In the preseason poll released on September 18, Iowa was the #1, and its Big Ten rival Ohio State #2. SEC teams Alabama and 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.

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