CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 1970 season

Nebraska finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–⁠0–⁠1 under Bob Devaney, after it beat LSU 17–⁠12 in the Orange Bowl. Ohio State and Texas also claim the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Texas 42, No. 4 Arkansas 7 (Dec 5, 1970). 42 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Jim Plunkett, QB, Stanford, who also won the Maxwell and Walter Camp.

The Heisman vote: Jim Plunkett 2,229 points, Joe Theismann 1,410
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Jim Plunkett QB, Stanford2,229510285129
Joe Theismann QB, Notre Dame1,410242255174
Archie Manning QB, Ole Miss849138133169
Steve Worster RB, Texas398478195
Rex Kern QB, Ohio State188173959
Pat Sullivan QB, Auburn180243734
Jack Tatum S, Ohio State17384853
Ernie Jennings WR, Air Force118182024
Don McCauley RB, North Carolina5761019
Lynn Dickey QB, Kansas State496619

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

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1NebraskaBig Eight
2Notre DameIndependent
3TexasSouthwest Conference
4TennesseeSoutheastern Conference
5Ohio StateBig Ten
6Arizona StateWestern Athletic Conference
7LSUSoutheastern Conference
8StanfordPac-8
9MichiganBig Ten
10AuburnSoutheastern Conference
11ArkansasSouthwest Conference
12ToledoMid-American Conference
13Georgia TechIndependent
14DartmouthIvy League
15USCPac-8
16Air ForceIndependent
17TulaneIndependent
18Penn StateIndependent
19HoustonIndependent
20OklahomaBig Eight
20Ole MissSoutheastern Conference

Biggest upsets

Oct 3, 1970Purdue 26, 3Stanford 14
Oct 17, 1970Southern Miss 30, 4Ole Miss 14
Nov 28, 1970USC 38, 4Notre Dame 28
Oct 3, 1970Kansas State 21, 8Colorado 20
Nov 14, 1970Georgia 31, 8Auburn 17
Nov 7, 1970Oregon 46, 9Air Force 35
Oct 24, 1970Oregon 10, 10USC 7
Nov 21, 1970Colorado 49, 10Air Force 19
Nov 26, 1970Mississippi State 19, 10Ole Miss 14
Sep 26, 1970Oklahoma State 26, 11Houston 17
Oct 10, 1970Duke 21, 11West Virginia 13
Nov 21, 1970California 22, 11Stanford 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 1970, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13FinalAuburn: Wk 1 No. 20, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 No. 12, Wk 5 No. 9, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 12, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 13, Wk 12 No. 11, Wk 13 No. 10, Wk 14 No. 10, Final No. 1010 AuburnMichigan: Wk 1 No. 8, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 No. 10, Wk 4 No. 9, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 4, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 7, Wk 14 No. 7, Final No. 99 MichiganStanford: Wk 1 No. 10, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 12, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 11, Wk 12 No. 13, Wk 13 No. 12, Wk 14 No. 12, Final No. 88 StanfordLSU: Wk 1 No. 12, Wk 2 No. 12, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 19, Wk 6 No. 15, Wk 7 No. 14, Wk 8 No. 10, Wk 9 No. 11, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 7, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 8, Wk 14 No. 5, Final No. 77 LSUArizona State: Wk 1 No. 19, Wk 2 No. 20, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 No. 18, Wk 5 No. 14, Wk 6 No. 12, Wk 7 No. 12, Wk 8 No. 11, Wk 9 No. 12, Wk 10 No. 11, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 9, Wk 13 No. 9, Wk 14 No. 8, Final No. 66 Arizona StateOhio 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. 2, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 2, Wk 14 No. 2, Final No. 55 Ohio StateTennessee: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 17, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 20, Wk 6 No. 14, Wk 7 No. 11, Wk 8 No. 9, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 8, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 5, Wk 14 No. 4, Final No. 44 TennesseeTexas: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Wk 14 No. 1, Final No. 33 TexasNotre Dame: Wk 1 No. 6, Wk 2 No. 6, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 6, Wk 14 No. 6, Final No. 22 Notre DameNebraska: Wk 1 No. 9, Wk 2 No. 9, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 3, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 3, Wk 14 No. 3, Final No. 11 Nebraska
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. Tennesseeunranked → No. 4
  2. Toledounranked → No. 12
  3. Arizona StateNo. 19 → No. 6
  4. Georgia Techunranked → No. 13
  5. Dartmouthunranked → No. 14

Fell

  1. Ole MissNo. 5 → No. 20
  2. MissouriNo. 11 → unranked
  3. USCNo. 3 → No. 15
  4. Kansas StateNo. 14 → unranked
  5. Penn StateNo. 7 → No. 18

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

National leaders

Passing yardsBob Parker (Air Force)2,789 yds
Passing touchdownsBrian Sipe (San Diego State)23 TD
Passer ratingJerry Tagge (Nebraska)149.0
Rushing yardsDon McCauley (North Carolina)1,863 yds
Rushing touchdownsDon McCauley (North Carolina)22 TD
Yards per carryFred Henry (New Mexico)7.3
ReceptionsMike Mikolayunas (Davidson)87 catches
Receiving yardsMike Siani (Villanova)1,328 yds
Yards per catchLarry Hart (Louisville)24.1
Receiving touchdownsErnie Jennings (Air Force)17 TD
PointsDon McCauley (North Carolina)126 pts
Points per gameBrian Bream (Dayton)12.012
Total offenseJim Plunkett (Stanford)3,189 yds
Total offense per gamePat Sullivan (Auburn)285.6
Punt return averageSteve Holden (Arizona State)19.2
Kickoff return averageStan Brown (Purdue)33.6

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
Wake Forest
Big Eight
Nebraska
Big Ten
Ohio State
Ivy League
Dartmouth
Mid-American Conference
Toledo
Missouri Valley Conference
Louisville
Ohio Valley Conference
Western Kentucky
Pac-8
Stanford
Pacific Coast Athletic Association
San Diego State
Southeastern Conference
LSU
Southern Conference
William & Mary
Southland Conference
Arkansas State
Southwest Conference
Texas
Western Athletic Conference
Arizona State
Yankee Conference
UConn

Small college

Big Sky
Montana
California Collegiate Athletic Conference
Cal Poly
Gulf South Conference
Jacksonville State
Gulf States Conference
Louisiana
North Central Conference
North Dakota State
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 11 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1970 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1970 All-America teams page.

The 1970 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 12, 1970Tulane 17, Colorado 3Liberty Bowl
Dec 19, 197013Georgia Tech 17, 19Texas Tech 9Sun Bowl
Dec 19, 1970Louisville 24, Long Beach State 24Pasadena Bowl
Dec 28, 197015Toledo 40, William & Mary 12Tangerine Bowl
Dec 30, 19708Arizona State 48, North Carolina 26Peach Bowl
Dec 31, 197020Oklahoma 24, Alabama 24Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
Jan 1, 19713Nebraska 17, 5LSU 12Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 19716Notre Dame 24, 1Texas 11Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 197112Stanford 27, 2Ohio State 17Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 19714Tennessee 34, 11Air Force 13Sugar Bowl
Jan 2, 197110Auburn 35, Ole Miss 28Gator Bowl