CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 1968 season

Ohio State finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 10–⁠0 under Woody Hayes, after it beat USC 27–⁠16 in the Rose Bowl. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Purdue 37, No. 2 Notre Dame 22 (Sep 28, 1968). 42 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: O.J. Simpson, RB, USC, who also won the Maxwell and Walter Camp.

The Heisman vote: O.J. Simpson 2,853 points, Leroy Keyes 1,103
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
O.J. Simpson RB, USC2,85385512832
Leroy Keyes RB, Purdue1,10349358240
Terry Hanratty QB, Notre Dame3872286149
Ted Kwalick TE, Penn State254146974
Ted Hendricks DE, Miami (FL)17475249
Ron Johnson RB, Michigan158123650
Bobby Douglass QB, Kansas13293339
Chris Gilbert RB, Texas124123420
Brian Dowling QB, Yale119152524
Ron Sellers WR, Florida State9172520

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

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1Ohio StateBig Ten
2Penn StateIndependent
3TexasSouthwest Conference
4USCPac-8
5Notre DameIndependent
6ArkansasSouthwest Conference
7KansasBig Eight
8GeorgiaSoutheastern Conference
9MissouriBig Eight
10PurdueBig Ten
11OklahomaBig Eight
12MichiganBig Ten
13TennesseeSoutheastern Conference
14SMUSouthwest Conference
15Oregon StatePac-8
16AuburnSoutheastern Conference
17AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
18HoustonIndependent
19LSUSoutheastern Conference
20OhioMid-American Conference

Biggest upsets

Nov 9, 1968Oklahoma 27, 3Kansas 23
Oct 26, 1968Michigan State 21, 5Notre Dame 17
Sep 28, 1968Texas Tech 31, 6Texas 22
Nov 9, 1968Minnesota 27, 6Purdue 13
Nov 16, 1968Oklahoma 28, 6Missouri 14
Oct 19, 1968North Carolina 22, 7Florida 7
Sep 21, 1968Iowa 21, 8Oregon State 20
Oct 11, 1968Miami 30, 8LSU 0
Oct 5, 1968Syracuse 20, 9UCLA 7
Oct 26, 1968Auburn 31, 9Miami 6
Nov 29, 1968Florida State 40, 10Houston 20
Oct 5, 1968Ole Miss 10, 11Alabama 8

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 1968, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11Wk 12Wk 13FinalPurdue: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 7, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 15, Wk 11 No. 12, Wk 12 No. 12, Wk 13 No. 11, Final No. 1010 PurdueMissouri: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 20, Wk 7 No. 14, Wk 8 No. 10, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 13, Wk 12 No. 16, Wk 13 No. 16, Final No. 99 MissouriGeorgia: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 18, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 No. 16, Wk 5 No. 17, Wk 6 No. 10, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 4, Final No. 88 GeorgiaKansas: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 12, Wk 4 No. 8, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 7, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 6, Final No. 77 KansasArkansas: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 No. 20, Wk 5 No. 14, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 16, Wk 8 No. 17, Wk 9 No. 14, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 9, Final No. 66 ArkansasNotre Dame: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 5, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 12, Wk 9 No. 12, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 10, Wk 12 No. 9, Wk 13 No. 7, Final No. 55 Notre DameUSC: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 2, Final No. 44 USCTexas: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 17, Wk 7 No. 13, Wk 8 No. 11, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 5, Final No. 33 TexasPenn State: Wk 1 No. 8, Wk 2 No. 10, Wk 3 No. 4, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 3, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 3, Final No. 22 Penn StateOhio State: Wk 1 No. 11, Wk 2 No. 9, Wk 3 No. 11, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Final No. 11 Ohio State
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. Arkansasunranked → No. 6
  2. Kansasunranked → No. 7
  3. Georgiaunranked → No. 8
  4. Missouriunranked → No. 9
  5. Michiganunranked → No. 12

Fell

  1. FloridaNo. 7 → unranked
  2. Texas A&MNo. 12 → unranked
  3. IndianaNo. 13 → unranked
  4. NebraskaNo. 14 → unranked
  5. MinnesotaNo. 15 → unranked

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

National leaders

Passing yardsGreg Cook (Cincinnati)3,272 yds
Passing touchdownsGreg Cook (Florida State)25 TD
Passer ratingBrian Dowling (Yale)165.8
Rushing yardsO.J. Simpson (USC)1,709 yds
Rushing touchdownsO.J. Simpson (USC)23 TD
Yards per carryFred Willis (Boston College)7.3
ReceptionsRon Sellers (Idaho)86 catches
Receiving yardsRon Sellers (Florida State)1,496 yds
Yards per catchElmo Wright (Houston)27.9
Receiving touchdownsJerry Hendren (Idaho)14 TD
PointsJim O’Brien (Cincinnati)142 pts
Points per gameJim O’Brien (Cincinnati)14.20
Total offenseGreg Cook (Cincinnati)3,210 yds
Total offense per gameGreg Cook (Cincinnati)321.0
Punt return yardsRoger Wehrli (Missouri)478 yds
Punt return averageRob Bordley (Princeton)20.5
Kickoff return yardsMike Adamle (Northwestern)732 yds
Kickoff return averageKerry Reardon (Iowa)32.1

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

Atlantic Coast Conference
NC State
Big Eight
Kansas and Oklahoma (shared)
Big Ten
Ohio State
Ivy League
Harvard and Yale (shared)
Mid-American Conference
Ohio
Missouri Valley Conference
Memphis
Pac-8
USC
Southeastern Conference
Georgia
Southern Conference
Richmond
Southland Conference
Arkansas State
Southwest Conference
Arkansas and Texas (shared)
Western Athletic Conference
Wyoming
Yankee Conference
UConn

Small college

Alabama Collegiate Conference
Troy
Big Sky
Idaho, Montana State and Weber State (shared)
California Collegiate Athletic Conference
Fresno State
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Morgan State
Gulf States Conference
Louisiana
Indiana Intercollegiate Conference
Valparaiso
Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Central Michigan
Mid Atlantic Conference
Delaware
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
Southeast Missouri State
North Central Conference
North Dakota State
Ohio Valley Conference
Eastern Kentucky
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Florida A&M
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Alcorn State, Grambling and Texas Southern (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

23 playersAll 10 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1968 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1968 All-America teams page.

The 1968 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 14, 1968Ole Miss 34, Virginia Tech 17Liberty Bowl
Dec 27, 1968Richmond 49, 15Ohio 42Tangerine Bowl
Dec 28, 1968Auburn 34, Arizona 10Sun Bowl
Dec 28, 196816Missouri 35, 12Alabama 10Gator Bowl
Dec 30, 1968LSU 31, 19Florida State 27Peach Bowl
Dec 31, 196820SMU 28, 10Oklahoma 27Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
Jan 1, 19699Arkansas 16, 4Georgia 2Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 19691Ohio State 27, 2USC 16Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 19693Penn State 15, 6Kansas 14Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 19695Texas 36, 8Tennessee 13Cotton Bowl