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The 1957 season

Auburn finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 10–⁠0 under Ralph Jordan. Michigan State and Ohio State also claim the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 2 Michigan State 35, No. 6 Michigan 6 (Oct 12, 1957). 41 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: John David Crow, RB, Texas A&M.

The Heisman vote: John David Crow 1,183 points, Alex Karras 693
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
John David Crow RB, Texas A&M1,183241176108
Alex Karras DT, Iowa69312810991
Walt Kowalczyk RB, Michigan State6301169396
Lou Michaels OT, Kentucky330605736
Tom Forrestal QB, Navy216 *344246
Bob Anderson RB, Army204254539
Dan Currie C, Michigan State197491618
Clendon Thomas RB, Oklahoma185213944
Lee Grosscup QB, Utah147212828

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published. * The votes shown don’t add up to the points shown; the source has a typo in one of them.

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1AuburnSoutheastern Conference
2Ohio StateBig Ten
3Michigan StateBig Ten
4OklahomaBig Seven
5NavyIndependent
6IowaBig Ten
7Ole MissSoutheastern Conference
8RiceSouthwest Conference
9Texas A&MSouthwest Conference
10Notre DameIndependent
11TexasSouthwest Conference
12Arizona StateBorder Conference
13TennesseeSoutheastern Conference
14Mississippi StateSoutheastern Conference
15NC StateAtlantic Coast Conference
16DukeAtlantic Coast Conference
17FloridaSoutheastern Conference
18ArmyIndependent
19WisconsinBig Ten
20VMISouthern Conference

Biggest upsets

Oct 19, 1957Purdue 20, 1Michigan State 13
Nov 16, 1957Notre Dame 7, 2Oklahoma 0
Oct 19, 1957Illinois 34, 4Minnesota 13
Nov 28, 1957Texas 9, 4Texas A&M 7
Oct 5, 1957North Carolina 13, 6Navy 7
Oct 26, 1957Arkansas 12, 6Ole Miss 6
Oct 19, 1957UCLA 26, 7Oregon State 7
Nov 2, 1957Georgia Tech 13, 7Duke 0
Nov 16, 195720Rice 7, 1Texas A&M 6
Sep 28, 1957Auburn 7, 8Tennessee 0
Oct 19, 1957Texas 17, 10Arkansas 0
Oct 26, 1957Florida 22, 10LSU 14

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 1957, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11FinalNotre Dame: Wk 1 No. 18, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 16, Wk 4 No. 12, Wk 5 No. 8, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 15, Wk 9 unranked, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 12, Final No. 1010 Notre DameTexas A&M: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 4, Final No. 99 Texas A&MRice: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 18, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 No. 15, Wk 5 No. 19, Wk 6 No. 13, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 No. 20, Wk 10 No. 13, Wk 11 No. 9, Final No. 88 RiceOle Miss: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 19, Wk 3 No. 15, Wk 4 No. 14, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 14, Wk 8 No. 14, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 7, Final No. 77 Ole MissIowa: Wk 1 No. 9, Wk 2 No. 12, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 8, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 6, Final No. 66 IowaNavy: Wk 1 No. 12, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 15, Wk 6 No. 16, Wk 7 No. 16, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 8, Final No. 55 NavyOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 5, Final No. 44 OklahomaMichigan State: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 3, Final No. 33 Michigan StateOhio State: Wk 1 No. 17, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 12, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 2, Final No. 22 Ohio StateAuburn: Wk 1 No. 15, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 7, Wk 4 No. 9, Wk 5 No. 9, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 1, Final No. 11 Auburn
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. Ole Missunranked → No. 7
  2. Riceunranked → No. 8
  3. Ohio StateNo. 17 → No. 2
  4. Texasunranked → No. 11
  5. AuburnNo. 15 → No. 1

Fell

  1. MinnesotaNo. 4 → unranked
  2. MichiganNo. 6 → unranked
  3. BaylorNo. 7 → unranked
  4. PittsburghNo. 8 → unranked
  5. Georgia TechNo. 11 → unranked

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

National leaders

Passing yardsLee Grosscup (Utah)1,398 yds
Passing touchdownsKen Ford (Yale)14 TD
Passer ratingLee Grosscup (Utah)175.5
Rushing yardsLeon Burton (Arizona State)1,126 yds
Rushing touchdownsBob Anderson (Army)13 TD
Yards per carryLeon Burton (Arizona State)9.6
ReceptionsStuart Vaughan (Utah)53 catches
Receiving yardsStuart Vaughan (Utah)756 yds
Yards per catchBuddy Dial (Rice)24.2
Receiving touchdownsJack Fanning (Washington State)9 TD
PointsLeon Burton (Oklahoma)96 pts
Total offenseBob Newman (Washington State)1,444 yds
Punt return yardsBobby Mulgado (Arizona State)267 yds
Punt return averageBobby Mulgado (Arizona State)19.1
Kickoff return yardsOverton Curtis (Utah State)695 yds
Kickoff return averageOverton Curtis (Utah State)30.2

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

Major college

Atlantic Coast Conference
NC State
Big Seven
Oklahoma
Big Ten
Ohio State
Border Conference
Arizona State
Ivy League
Princeton
Mid-American Conference
Miami (OH)
Missouri Valley Conference
Houston
Ohio Valley Conference
Middle Tennessee
Pacific Coast Conference
Oregon and Oregon State (shared)
Skyline Conference
Utah
Southeastern Conference
Auburn
Southern Conference
VMI
Southwest Conference
Rice

Small college

Conference Carolinas
Elon
Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Norfolk State
Frontier Conference
Northern Arizona
Gulf States Conference
Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State (shared)
Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Eastern Michigan
Lone Star Conference
East Texas A&M and Lamar (shared)
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
Southeast Missouri State
Midwest Athletic Association
Jackson State
Midwestern Conference
Tennessee State
North Central Conference
South Dakota State
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
Idaho State
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Florida A&M
Yankee Conference
Rhode Island and UConn (shared)

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

12 playersAll 10 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1957 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1957 All-America teams page.

The 1957 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

From the newspapers

The Evening star's story of the game
The bowl8Navy 20, 9Rice 71957 Navy · 1957 RiceEvening star, Washington, D.C., January 3, 1958, page 41
Read the text

Before the body CRice) Is cold, the Naval Academy COACH ing staff Is looking ahead to next season, with three guys named Joe the co-subjects Of some highly exciting CONVEX sation. Even as some still we’re toasting Nays 20–⁠7 victory over Rice in the Cotton Bowl Wednesday in Dallas. others we’re talking Of the greatest l-2 running punch in Academy history. That history Is yet to be made. but wearing “can’t-miss” tags are Joe Bellino and Joe Matalavage. Comdr. Jack Nc quarry. head coach Of the plebes this past season. can’t contain himself on these two. The other Is Joe Tranchini, the sophomore quarterback who led Navy to It’s first touchdown against Rice. Tranchini was the third-string varsity quarterback all season, but was moved to the No. 2 unit against Rice in order 10 get the extra experience. There is no question about IT,” McQuary said. “I’ll stake my judgment that this Beilino Is the finest halfback prospect I’ve ever seen and before next season is over somebody is going TO have to move over and make room for Matalavage at full back” He’ll Have Opposition Admittedly. that will take a heap Of moving. insomuch as Ray Wellborn and Dick Dagampat. both proven veterans at the position, will return.

Public domain, from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through American Stories (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 28, 195718Tennessee 3, 4Texas A&M 0Gator Bowl
Jan 1, 1958Louisville 34, Drake 20Sun Bowl
Jan 1, 19587Ole Miss 39, Texas 7Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 19588Navy 20, 9Rice 7Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 19582Ohio State 10, Oregon 7Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 19585Oklahoma 48, 16Duke 21Orange Bowl