CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 1969 season

Texas finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–⁠0 under Darrell Royal, after it beat Notre Dame 21–⁠17 in the Cotton Bowl. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Texas 15, No. 2 Arkansas 14 (Dec 6, 1969). 26 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Steve Owens, FB, Oklahoma, who also won the Walter Camp.

The Heisman vote: Steve Owens 1,488 points, Mike Phipps 1,334
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Steve Owens RB, Oklahoma1,488294218170
Mike Phipps QB, Purdue1,334226230196
Rex Kern QB, Ohio State856154134126
Archie Manning QB, Ole Miss5821207670
Mike Reid DT, Penn State297613936
Mike McCoy DT, Notre Dame290316567
Jim Otis RB, Ohio State121122731
Jim Plunkett QB, Stanford120211625
Steve Kiner LB, Tennessee109 *142021
Jack Tatum S, Ohio State105132222

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

1TexasSouthwest Conference
2Penn StateIndependent
3USCPac-8
4Ohio StateBig Ten
5Notre DameIndependent
6MissouriBig Eight
7ArkansasSouthwest Conference
8Ole MissSoutheastern Conference
9MichiganBig Ten
10LSUSoutheastern Conference
11NebraskaBig Eight
12HoustonIndependent
13UCLAPac-8
14FloridaSoutheastern Conference
15TennesseeSoutheastern Conference
16ColoradoBig Eight
17West VirginiaIndependent
18PurdueBig Ten
19StanfordPac-8
20AuburnSoutheastern Conference

Biggest upsets

Oct 25, 1969Colorado 31, 5Missouri 24
Oct 11, 1969Ole Miss 25, 6Georgia 17
Sep 20, 1969Florida 59, 7Houston 34
Sep 27, 1969Kentucky 10, 8Ole Miss 9
Nov 1, 1969Ole Miss 26, 8LSU 23
Oct 11, 1969Michigan 31, 9Purdue 20
Sep 27, 1969California 17, 10Indiana 14
Nov 15, 196918Ole Miss 38, 3Tennessee 0
Oct 11, 1969Vanderbilt 14, 13Alabama 10
Oct 18, 1969Michigan State 23, 13Michigan 12
Oct 4, 1969Notre Dame 42, 14Michigan State 28
Nov 1, 1969Arizona State 30, 15Wyoming 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 1969, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11Wk 12Wk 13FinalLSU: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 16, Wk 4 No. 14, Wk 5 No. 9, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 12, Wk 9 No. 12, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 8, Final No. 1010 LSUMichigan: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 20, Wk 3 No. 13, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 13, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 No. 20, Wk 8 No. 18, Wk 9 No. 14, Wk 10 No. 12, Wk 11 No. 7, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 7, Final No. 99 MichiganOle Miss: Wk 1 No. 9, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 No. 20, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 19, Wk 6 No. 17, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 No. 17, Wk 9 No. 18, Wk 10 No. 13, Wk 11 No. 14, Wk 12 No. 14, Wk 13 No. 13, Final No. 88 Ole MissArkansas: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 3, Final No. 77 ArkansasMissouri: Wk 1 No. 10, Wk 2 No. 11, Wk 3 No. 9, Wk 4 No. 7, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 14, Wk 8 No. 9, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 6, Final No. 66 MissouriNotre Dame: Wk 1 No. 11, Wk 2 No. 9, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 No. 15, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 12, Wk 7 No. 10, Wk 8 No. 8, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 8, Wk 12 No. 9, Wk 13 No. 9, Final No. 55 Notre DameOhio State: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 4, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 4, Final No. 44 Ohio StateUSC: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 5, Final No. 33 USCPenn State: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 5, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 3, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 2, Final No. 22 Penn StateTexas: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 4, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Final No. 11 Texas
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. Michiganunranked → No. 9
  2. LSUunranked → No. 10
  3. Nebraskaunranked → No. 11
  4. Floridaunranked → No. 14
  5. Coloradounranked → No. 16

Fell

  1. OklahomaNo. 6 → unranked
  2. GeorgiaNo. 8 → unranked
  3. Michigan StateNo. 12 → unranked
  4. AlabamaNo. 13 → unranked
  5. IndianaNo. 14 → unranked

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

National leaders

Passing yardsDennis Shaw (San Diego State)3,185 yds
Passing touchdownsDennis Shaw (San Diego State)39 TD
Passer ratingDennis Shaw (San Diego State)162.2
Rushing yardsLeon Burns (Long Beach State)1,659 yds
Rushing touchdownsLeon Burns (Long Beach State)26 TD
Yards per carryBilly Walik (Villanova)8.9
ReceptionsJerry Hendren (Idaho)95 catches
Receiving yardsJerry Hendren (Idaho)1,452 yds
Yards per catchMel Gray (Missouri)27.1
Receiving touchdownsTom Reynolds (San Diego State)18 TD
PointsSteve Owens (Oklahoma)138 pts
Points per gameSteve Owens (Oklahoma)13.80
Total offenseDennis Shaw (San Diego State)3,197 yds
Punt return yardsChris Farasopoulos (BYU)527 yds
Punt return averageGeorge Hannen (Davidson)22.4
Kickoff return yardsStan Brown (Purdue)698 yds
Kickoff return averageChris Farasopoulos (BYU)32.2

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
South Carolina
Big Eight
Missouri and Nebraska (shared)
Big Ten
Michigan and Ohio State (shared)
Ivy League
Dartmouth, Princeton and Yale (shared)
Mid-American Conference
Toledo
Missouri Valley Conference
Memphis
Pac-8
USC
Pacific Coast Athletic Association
San Diego State
Southeastern Conference
Tennessee
Southern Conference
Davidson and Richmond (shared)
Southland Conference
Arkansas State
Southwest Conference
Texas
Western Athletic Conference
Arizona State
Yankee Conference
Massachusetts

Small college

Alabama Collegiate Conference
Troy
Big Sky
Montana
California Collegiate Athletic Conference
Cal Poly
Evergreen Conference
Eastern Washington
Gulf States Conference
Louisiana Tech
Indiana Intercollegiate Conference
Valparaiso
Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Western Illinois
Lone Star Conference
East Texas A&M
Mid Atlantic Conference
Delaware
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
Southeast Missouri State
North Central Conference
North Dakota State
Ohio Valley Conference
East Tennessee State
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
Northern Colorado
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Florida A&M
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Alcorn 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

23 playersAll 10 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1969 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1969 All-America teams page.

The 1969 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 13, 1969Colorado 47, Alabama 33Liberty Bowl
Dec 20, 196914Nebraska 45, Georgia 6Sun Bowl
Dec 26, 196920Toledo 56, Davidson 33Tangerine Bowl
Dec 27, 196915Florida 14, 11Tennessee 13Gator Bowl
Dec 30, 196919West Virginia 14, South Carolina 3Peach Bowl
Dec 31, 196917Houston 36, 12Auburn 7Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
Jan 1, 197013Ole Miss 27, 3Arkansas 22Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 19702Penn State 10, 6Missouri 3Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 19705USC 10, 7Michigan 3Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 19701Texas 21, 9Notre Dame 17Cotton Bowl