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The 1962 season

USC finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–⁠0 under John McKay, after it beat Wisconsin 42–⁠37 in the Rose Bowl. Ole Miss also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 USC 42, No. 2 Wisconsin 37 (Jan 1, 1963). 18 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Terry Baker, QB, Oregon State, who also won the Maxwell.

The Heisman vote: Terry Baker 707 points, Jerry Stovall 618
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Terry Baker QB, Oregon State7071727443
Jerry Stovall RB, LSU61811210082
Bobby Bell OT, Minnesota429569571
Lee Roy Jordan C/LB, Alabama321703541
George Mira QB, Miami (FL)284415355
Pat Richter E, Wisconsin276554031
George Saimes FB, Michigan State254483638
Billy Lothridge QB, Georgia Tech162243520
Ron Vander Kelen QB, Wisconsin139232226
Eldon Fortie RB, BYU136252217

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

The 1962 Kentucky team
The 1962 Kentucky team: Kentucky’s “Thin Thirty” starting line-up, September 22, 1962Photo: Red Hill, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The 1962 Kentucky season →

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1USCAthletic Association of Western Universities
2WisconsinBig Ten
3Ole MissSoutheastern Conference
4TexasSouthwest Conference
5AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
6ArkansasSouthwest Conference
7LSUSoutheastern Conference
8OklahomaBig Eight
9Penn StateIndependent
10MinnesotaBig Ten

Biggest upsets

Oct 6, 1962UCLA 9, 1Ohio State 7
Nov 17, 1962Georgia Tech 7, 1Alabama 6
Oct 13, 1962Army 9, 3Penn State 6
Oct 6, 1962LSU 10, 5Georgia Tech 7
Oct 27, 1962Ohio State 14, 5Wisconsin 7
Sep 29, 1962Stanford 16, 6Michigan State 13
Nov 17, 1962Oklahoma 13, 6Missouri 0
Nov 3, 1962Minnesota 28, 7Michigan State 7
Sep 22, 1962USC 14, 8Duke 7
Oct 13, 1962Miami (OH) 10, 9Purdue 7
Nov 17, 1962Michigan State 31, 9Northwestern 7
Dec 29, 1962Florida 17, 9Penn State 7

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 1962, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11FinalMinnesota: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 No. 10, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 10, Final No. 1010 MinnesotaPenn State: Wk 1 No. 9, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 4, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 unranked, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 9, Final No. 99 Penn StateOklahoma: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 unranked, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 8, Final No. 88 OklahomaLSU: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 9, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 7, Final No. 77 LSUArkansas: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 No. 8, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 7, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 6, Final No. 66 ArkansasAlabama: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 5, Final No. 55 AlabamaTexas: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 4, Final No. 44 TexasOle Miss: Wk 1 No. 6, Wk 2 No. 7, Wk 3 No. 7, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 5, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 3, Final No. 33 Ole MissWisconsin: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 10, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 No. 8, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 2, Final No. 22 WisconsinUSC: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 9, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 1, Final No. 11 USC
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. USCunranked → No. 1
  2. Wisconsinunranked → No. 2
  3. Arkansasunranked → No. 6
  4. Oklahomaunranked → No. 8
  5. Minnesotaunranked → No. 10

Fell

  1. Ohio StateNo. 1 → unranked
  2. Michigan StateNo. 4 → unranked
  3. PurdueNo. 7 → unranked
  4. DukeNo. 8 → unranked
  5. WashingtonNo. 10 → unranked

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

National leaders

Passing yardsTerry Baker (Oregon State)1,738 yds
Passing touchdownsTerry Baker (Boston College)15 TD
Passer ratingJohn Jacobs (Arizona State)153.9
Rushing yardsPreacher Pilot (New Mexico State)1,247 yds
Rushing touchdownsPreacher Pilot (New Mexico State)15 TD
Yards per carryGale Sayers (Kansas)7.1
ReceptionsVern Burke (Oregon State)69 catches
Receiving yardsVern Burke (Oregon State)1,007 yds
Yards per catchHal Bedsole (USC)25.1
Receiving touchdownsHal Bedsole (USC)11 TD
PointsJerry Logan (West Texas State)110 pts
Total offenseTerry Baker (Oregon State)2,276 yds
Punt return yardsDarrell Roberts (Utah State)333 yds
Punt return averageDarrell Roberts (Utah State)20.8
Kickoff return yardsDonny Frederic (Wake Forest)660 yds
Kickoff return averageLarry Coyer (Marshall)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

Athletic Association of Western Universities
USC
Atlantic Coast Conference
Duke
Big Eight
Oklahoma
Big Ten
Wisconsin
Ivy League
Dartmouth
Mid-American Conference
Bowling Green
Missouri Valley Conference
Tulsa
Southeastern Conference
Ole Miss
Southern Conference
VMI
Southwest Conference
Texas
Western Athletic Conference
New Mexico

Small college

Alabama Collegiate Conference
Jacksonville State
Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference
Central Arkansas
California Collegiate Athletic Conference
San Diego State
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Morgan State
Frontier Conference
Northern Arizona
Gulf States Conference
Northwestern State
Indiana Collegiate Conference
Butler
Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Central Michigan
Mid Atlantic Conference
Delaware
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
Southeast Missouri State
North Central Conference
Northern Iowa and South Dakota State (shared)
Ohio Valley Conference
East Tennessee State, Eastern Kentucky, Middle Tennessee and Morehead State (shared)
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Alabama A&M and Florida A&M (shared)
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Jackson State

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

11 playersAll 9 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1962 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1962 All-America teams page.

The 1962 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

From the newspapers

The Evening star's story: WIN LOSE OR DRAW New Years Day Was A DiuI-T visiting Orgy
The bowl1USC 42, 2Wisconsin 371962 USC · 1962 WisconsinEvening star, January 3, 1963, page 29
Read the text

WIN LOSE OR DRAW New Years Day Was A DiuI-T visiting Orgy IF THERE EVER WAS a dial-twisting circus for football bluffs it was New Years Day. And, finally it was the granddaddy of the bowl gameS-the Rose-that came back into its own. 1t was the best. A Southern California player summed 1t up beautifully in the dressing-room in terview I’VE almost blew 1t like the Dodgers in the baseball pennant race” he said, referring to 42-l4 lead in the fourth quarter that was melted down by wisconsin TO a 42–⁠37 victory at the finish. 1t may not have been football at its finest, but seldom has the game been played more thrillingly. 1t proved one thing: As long as they’re going to run the season over from one year to the next it’s always better in Pasadena or Miami or Dallas or New Orleans than in New York or Green Bay in December and January. In the Rose Bowl both sides were slightly terrific on offenSe. They just about swept the records clean When it was over, use, which hadn’t been the Nations No. team since 1899, had properly earned the top regulation-season billing by the wire services for 1852 #s&a use AND WISCONSIN both we’re making teams such as Navy look very good. The Middies lost four games in 62 and we’re downright embarrassed by Penn State (41–⁠7) and Syracuse (34–⁠6). But 1t was Navy that gave the Trojans their biggest scare, until the Badgers yesterday, when they all but won decision that eventually went against ‘em, 1876 II wasn’t so many years ago when Far Western football was becoming Joke The Coast schools Just couldn’t match the standards OF their Big Ten tormentors But Western football has been flexing its muscles in recent seasons, and in the Rose Bowl the Trojans hit the Jackpot II was a titillating day for the living room experts. One never knew what TO expect from any channel. In the Cotton Bowl at Dallas, the Texas Longhorns who for some weeks we’re rated No. in the Nation, we’re shut out by Louisiana State 1870. Texas got as far as the 25-yard line OF LSU and that was all. Remember, LSU is the school that raised so much fuss when Paul Dietze detected and moved TO West Point. Pepsodent Paul didn’t have quite the flourish TO the end OF his campaign against Navy-as his former college. IN NEW ORLEANS THERE was a thriller Ole Miss over Arkansas, l7-l3 and suddenly a name that may have escaped some people in other sections Of the country popped out-Glynn Griffing, the quarter back for Ole Miss. A good many fine passers have played In the Sugar Bowl, including Charlie

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 15, 1962Nebraska 36, Miami 34Gotham Bowl
Dec 15, 1962Oregon State 6, Villanova 0Liberty Bowl
Dec 22, 1962Houston 49, Miami (OH) 21Tangerine Bowl
Dec 22, 1962Missouri 14, Georgia Tech 10Bluebonnet Bowl
Dec 29, 1962Florida 17, 9Penn State 7Gator Bowl
Dec 31, 1962West Texas 15, Ohio 14Sun Bowl
Jan 1, 19635Alabama 17, 8Oklahoma 0Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 19637LSU 13, 4Texas 0Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 19633Ole Miss 17, 6Arkansas 13Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 19631USC 42, 2Wisconsin 37Rose Bowl