1970 NCAA Division I-A football season

1970 NCAA University Division football season
Preseason AP #1	Ohio State Buckeyes
Number of bowls	11
Bowl games	December 12, 1970 – January 2, 1971
Heisman	Jim Plunkett, Stanford QB
← 1969 College football seasons 1971 →

1970 ACC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Wake Forest $	5	–	1	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
North Carolina	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Duke	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
South Carolina	3	–	2	–	1			4	–	6	–	1
NC State	2	–	3	–	1			3	–	7	–	1
Clemson	2	–	4	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Maryland	2	–	4	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Virginia	0	–	6	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1970 Big 8 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#1 Nebraska $	7	–	0	–	0			11	–	0	–	1
#20 Oklahoma	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	4	–	1
Kansas State	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Colorado	3	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Missouri	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Kansas	2	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Oklahoma State	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Iowa State	1	–	6	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1970 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#5 Ohio State $	7	–	0	–	0			9	–	1	–	0
#9 Michigan	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	1	–	0
Northwestern	6	–	1	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Iowa	3	–	3	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
Wisconsin	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	5	–	1
Michigan State	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Minnesota	2	–	4	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
Purdue	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Illinois	1	–	6	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Indiana	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1970 NCAA University Division independents football records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#2 Notre Dame			–					10	–	1	–	0
Villanova			–					9	–	2	–	0
#16 Air Force			–					9	–	3	–	0
#13 Georgia Tech			–					9	–	3	–	0
Boston College			–					8	–	2	–	0
#19 Houston			–					8	–	3	–	0
West Virginia			–					8	–	3	–	0
#17 Tulane			–					8	–	4	–	0
#18 Penn State			–					7	–	3	–	0
Temple			–					7	–	3	–	0
West Texas State			–					7	–	3	–	0
Cincinnati			–					7	–	4	–	0
Florida State			–					7	–	4	–	1
Virginia Tech			–					5	–	6	–	0
Syracuse			–					6	–	4	–	0
Dayton			–					5	–	4	–	1
Pittsburgh			–					5	–	5	–	0
Rutgers			–					5	–	5	–	0
Utah State			–					5	–	5	–	0
Colgate			–					5	–	6	–	0
Southern Miss			–					5	–	6	–	0
New Mexico State			–					4	–	6	–	0
Miami (FL)			–					3	–	8	–	0
Northern Illinois			–					3	–	7	–	0
Marshall			–					3	–	6	–	0
Buffalo			–					2	–	9	–	0
Navy			–					2	–	9	–	0
Army			–					1	–	9	–	1
Xavier			–					1	–	9	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

1970 Ivy League football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#14 Dartmouth $	7	–	0	–	0			9	–	0	–	0
Yale	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
Harvard	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
Cornell	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Princeton	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Penn	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Columbia	1	–	6	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Brown	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1970 Mid-American Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#12 Toledo $	5	–	0	–	0			12	–	0	–	0
Miami (OH)	3	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Ohio	3	–	2	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Western Michigan	2	–	3	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Kent State	1	–	4	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Bowling Green	1	–	4	–	0			2	–	6	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1970 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Louisville $	4	–	0	–	0			8	–	3	–	1
Tulsa	3	–	1	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Memphis State	2	–	2	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
North Texas State	1	–	3	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Wichita State	0	–	4	–	0			0	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1970 Pacific Coast Athletic Association football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
San Diego State +	5	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
Long Beach State +	5	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	1
Fresno State	4	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Pacific (CA)	2	–	3	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
San Jose State	2	–	3	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
UC Santa Barbara	1	–	5	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Cal State Los Angeles	0	–	4	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

1970 Pacific-8 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#8 Stanford $	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Washington	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Oregon	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	1
UCLA	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
California	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
#15 USC	3	–	4	–	0			6	–	4	–	1
Oregon State	3	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Washington State	0	–	7	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1970 NCAA University Division football season was marked by tragedy, due to two airplane crashes. On October 2, one of the planes carrying the Wichita State football team crashed on the way to a game against Utah State, killing 31 people on board, including 14 players. Then, on November 14, the charter for the Marshall Thundering Herd crashed on the way home from a game against East Carolina, killing all 75 persons.

At season's end, the Nebraska Cornhuskers won the AP national championship after Texas and Ohio State both their lost bowl games on New Year's Day.

This was the first season the NCAA allowed schools to schedule 11 regular season games. Some took advantage by scheduling high-profile intersectional games (Stanford-Arkansas, USC-Alabama, LSU-Notre Dame), but others would not add the 11th game until later in the decade.

During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the major college football teams, later known 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).

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