The 1964 season
Alabama finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 10–1 under Bear Bryant, then lost to Texas 21–17 in the Orange Bowl; the poll came out before the bowls. Arkansas also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 4 Ohio State 26, No. 2 Illinois 0 (Oct 10, 1964). 23 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents. Share
Heisman Trophy: John Huarte, QB, Notre Dame.
The Heisman vote: John Huarte 1,026 points, Jerry Rhome 952
| Player | Points | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Huarte QB, Notre Dame | 1,026 | 216 | |||
| Jerry Rhome QB, Tulsa | 952 | 186 | |||
| Dick Butkus C, Illinois | 505 | 77 | |||
| Bob Timberlake QB, Michigan | 361 | 80 | |||
| Jack Snow E, Notre Dame | 187 | ||||
| Tucker Frederickson RB, Auburn | 184 | ||||
| Craig Morton QB, California | 181 | ||||
| Steve DeLong MG, Tennessee | 176 | ||||
| Cosmo Iacavazzi FB, Princeton | 165 | ||||
| Brian Piccolo RB, Wake Forest | 124 |
First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published. Two finishers show identical ballots in the source, which is likely a copying error there.
Scoreboards
Final AP poll
| 1 | Alabama | Southeastern Conference |
| 2 | Arkansas | Southwest Conference |
| 3 | Notre Dame | Independent |
| 4 | Michigan | Big Ten |
| 5 | Texas | Southwest Conference |
| 6 | Nebraska | Big Eight |
| 7 | LSU | Southeastern Conference |
| 8 | Oregon State | Athletic Association of Western Universities |
| 9 | Ohio State | Big Ten |
| 10 | USC | Athletic Association of Western Universities |
Biggest upsets
| Sep 26, 1964 | Kentucky 27, 1Ole Miss 21 |
| Nov 28, 1964 | USC 20, 1Notre Dame 17 |
| Sep 26, 1964 | USC 40, 2Oklahoma 14 |
| Oct 3, 1964 | Michigan State 17, 2USC 7 |
| Nov 7, 1964 | Penn State 27, 2Ohio State 0 |
| Nov 21, 1964 | Oklahoma 17, 4Nebraska 7 |
| Oct 10, 1964 | Florida State 48, 5Kentucky 6 |
| Oct 17, 1964 | Purdue 21, 5Michigan 20 |
| Oct 3, 1964 | Kentucky 20, 7Auburn 0 |
| Oct 31, 1964 | Stanford 10, 7Oregon 8 |
| Nov 7, 1964 | Tennessee 22, 7Georgia Tech 14 |
| Oct 24, 1964 | Oregon State 31, 8Syracuse 13 |
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
Climbed
- Arkansasunranked → No. 2
- Notre Dameunranked → No. 3
- Michiganunranked → No. 4
- Nebraskaunranked → No. 6
- LSUunranked → No. 7
Fell
- Ole MissNo. 1 → unranked
- OklahomaNo. 2 → unranked
- IllinoisNo. 3 → unranked
- WashingtonNo. 7 → unranked
- AuburnNo. 8 → unranked
From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.
National leaders
| Passing yards | Jerry Rhome (Tulsa) | 2,870 yds |
|---|---|---|
| Passing touchdowns | Jerry Rhome (Tulsa) | 32 TD |
| Passer rating | Jerry Rhome (Tulsa) | 172.6 |
| Rushing yards | Brian Piccolo (Wake Forest) | 1,044 yds |
| Rushing touchdowns | Brian Piccolo (Wake Forest) | 15 TD |
| Yards per carry | Don Kunit (Penn State) and Tom Brown (Villanova) | 6.4 |
| Receptions | Howard Twilley (Tulsa) | 95 catches |
| Receiving yards | Fred Biletnikoff (Florida State) | 1,179 yds |
| Yards per catch | Joe Chapman (Idaho) | 25.4 |
| Receiving touchdowns | Fred Biletnikoff (Florida State) | 15 TD |
| Points | Brian Piccolo (Wake Forest) | 111 pts |
| Total offense | Jerry Rhome (Tulsa) | 3,128 yds |
| Total offense per game | Jerry Rhome (Tulsa) | 312.8 |
| Punt return yards | Ken Hatfield (Arkansas) | 518 yds |
| Punt return average | Ken Hatfield (Arkansas) | 16.7 |
| Kickoff return yards | Dan Bland (Mississippi State) | 558 yds |
| Kickoff return average | Bob Baker (Cornell) | 35.1 |
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
- Oregon State and USC (shared)
- Atlantic Coast Conference
- NC State
- Big Eight
- Nebraska
- Big Ten
- Michigan
- Ivy League
- Princeton
- Mid-American Conference
- Bowling Green
- Missouri Valley Conference
- Cincinnati
- Ohio Valley Conference
- Middle Tennessee
- Southeastern Conference
- Alabama
- Southern Conference
- West Virginia
- Southwest Conference
- Arkansas
- Western Athletic Conference
- Arizona, New Mexico and Utah (shared)
- Yankee Conference
- Massachusetts
Small college
- Alabama Collegiate Conference
- Jacksonville State
- Big Sky
- Montana State
- Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
- North Carolina A&T
- Conference Carolinas
- Elon
- Far Western Conference
- Sacramento State
- Gulf States Conference
- Louisiana Tech
- Indiana Collegiate Conference
- Ball State, Butler and Indiana State (shared)
- Indiana Intercollegiate Conference
- Valparaiso
- Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
- Northern Illinois and Western Illinois (shared)
- Lone Star Conference
- Sam Houston
- Midwestern Conference
- Tennessee State
- North Central Conference
- North Dakota, North Dakota State and Northern Iowa (shared)
- Oregon Collegiate Conference
- Portland State
- Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
- Florida A&M
- Southland Conference
- Lamar
- Southwestern Athletic Conference
- Prairie View A&M
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
- WRFred Biletnikoff, Florida State
- EJack Snow, Notre Dame
- OTLarry Kramer, Nebraska
- OTRalph Neely, Oklahoma
- DTGlenn Ressler, Penn State
- CDick Butkus, Illinois
- QBJohn Huarte, Notre Dame
- WRLarry Elkins, Baylor
- RBGale Sayers, Kansas
- OG/LBRick Redman, Washington
- RBTucker Frederickson, Auburn
Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1964 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1964 All-America teams page.
The 1964 awards
Every awardPlayer of the year
- HeismanJohn Huarte, QB, Notre Dame
- MaxwellGlenn Ressler, OG, Penn State
Bowls and playoff
Scoreboard| Dec 19, 1964 | Tulsa 14, Ole Miss 7Bluebonnet Bowl |
| Dec 19, 1964 | Utah 32, West Virginia 6Liberty Bowl |
| Dec 26, 1964 | Georgia 7, Texas Tech 0Sun Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1965 | 3Arkansas 10, 7Nebraska 7Cotton Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1965 | 6LSU 13, Syracuse 10Sugar Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1965 | 4Michigan 34, 8Oregon State 7Rose Bowl |
| Jan 1, 1965 | 5Texas 21, 2Alabama 17Orange Bowl |
| Jan 2, 1965 | 10Florida State 36, Oklahoma 19Gator Bowl |