CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 1975 season

Oklahoma finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–⁠1 under Barry Switzer, after it beat Michigan 14–⁠6 in the Orange Bowl. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Ohio State 21, No. 4 Michigan 14 (Nov 22, 1975). 37 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Archie Griffin, RB, Ohio State, who also won the Maxwell and Walter Camp.

The Heisman vote: Archie Griffin 1,800 points, Chuck Muncie 730
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Archie Griffin RB, Ohio State1,800454167104
Chuck Muncie RB, California73014510487
Ricky Bell RB, USC70870169160
Tony Dorsett RB, Pittsburgh61666149120
Joe Washington RB, Oklahoma250294769
Jimmy DuBose RB, Florida112191329
John Sciarra QB, UCLA86121520
Gordon Bell RB, Michigan8422724
Lee Roy Selmon DT, Oklahoma7972214
Gene Swick QB, Toledo7351920

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

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1OklahomaBig Eight
2Arizona StateWestern Athletic Conference
3AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
4Ohio StateBig Ten
5UCLAPac-8
6TexasSouthwest Conference
7ArkansasSouthwest Conference
8MichiganBig Ten
9NebraskaBig Eight
10Penn StateIndependent
11Texas A&MSouthwest Conference
12Miami (OH)Mid-American Conference
13MarylandAtlantic Coast Conference
14CaliforniaPac-8
15PittsburghIndependent
16ColoradoBig Eight
17USCPac-8
18ArizonaWestern Athletic Conference
19GeorgiaSoutheastern Conference
20West VirginiaIndependent

Biggest upsets

Sep 8, 1975Missouri 20, 2Alabama 7
Nov 8, 1975Kansas 23, 2Oklahoma 3
Dec 22, 1975USC 20, 2Texas A&M 0
Nov 1, 1975California 28, 4USC 14
Sep 13, 1975Memphis 31, 7Auburn 20
Oct 4, 1975Michigan State 10, 8Notre Dame 3
Nov 8, 1975NC State 15, 8Penn State 14
Nov 8, 1975Stanford 13, 9USC 10
Nov 15, 1975Pittsburgh 34, 9Notre Dame 20
Dec 6, 197518Arkansas 31, 2Texas A&M 6
Nov 8, 1975Georgia 10, 11Florida 7
Sep 20, 1975NC State 8, 13Florida 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 1975, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13FinalPenn State: Wk 1 No. 6, Wk 2 No. 10, Wk 3 No. 7, Wk 4 No. 12, Wk 5 No. 10, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 9, Wk 8 No. 9, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 11, Wk 12 No. 10, Wk 13 No. 10, Wk 14 No. 8, Final No. 1010 Penn StateNebraska: Wk 1 No. 7, Wk 2 No. 6, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 7, Wk 14 No. 6, Final No. 99 NebraskaMichigan: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 9, Wk 5 No. 12, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 7, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 7, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 4, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 6, Wk 14 No. 5, Final No. 88 MichiganArkansas: Wk 1 No. 19, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 16, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 No. 20, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 unranked, Wk 10 unranked, Wk 11 unranked, Wk 12 No. 19, Wk 13 No. 19, Wk 14 No. 18, Final No. 77 ArkansasTexas: Wk 1 No. 11, Wk 2 No. 12, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 8, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 7, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 5, Wk 14 No. 9, Final No. 66 TexasUCLA: Wk 1 No. 14, Wk 2 No. 16, Wk 3 No. 12, Wk 4 No. 10, Wk 5 No. 13, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 No. 18, Wk 8 No. 19, Wk 9 No. 13, Wk 10 unranked, Wk 11 No. 19, Wk 12 No. 14, Wk 13 No. 14, Wk 14 No. 11, Final No. 55 UCLAOhio State: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 3, 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. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Wk 14 No. 1, Final No. 44 Ohio StateAlabama: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 13, Wk 3 No. 14, Wk 4 No. 11, Wk 5 No. 9, 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. 4, Wk 14 No. 4, Final No. 33 AlabamaArizona State: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 18, Wk 4 No. 13, Wk 5 No. 14, Wk 6 No. 11, Wk 7 No. 11, Wk 8 No. 11, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 8, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 8, Wk 14 No. 7, Final No. 22 Arizona StateOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 3, Wk 14 No. 3, Final No. 11 Oklahoma
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. Arizona Stateunranked → No. 2
  2. Miami (OH)unranked → No. 12
  3. ArkansasNo. 19 → No. 7
  4. Californiaunranked → No. 14
  5. Pittsburghunranked → No. 15

Fell

  1. AuburnNo. 8 → unranked
  2. Notre DameNo. 10 → unranked
  3. Michigan StateNo. 12 → unranked
  4. NC StateNo. 13 → unranked
  5. USCNo. 5 → No. 17

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

National leaders

Passing yardsCraig Penrose (San Diego State)2,660 yds
Passing touchdownsSteve Myer (New Mexico)21 TD
Passer ratingJim Kubacki (Harvard)147.6
Rushing yardsRicky Bell (USC)1,957 yds
Rushing touchdownsPete Johnson (Ohio State)25 TD
Yards per carryDavid Sims (Georgia Tech)8.2
ReceptionsDave Quehl (Holy Cross)63 catches
Receiving yardsSteve Largent (Tulsa)1,000 yds
Yards per catchKelvin Kirk (Dayton)24.5
Receiving touchdownsSteve Largent (Tulsa)14 TD
PointsPete Johnson (Ohio State)150 pts
Points per gamePete Johnson (Ohio State)13.6
Total offenseGene Swick (Toledo)2,706 yds
Total offense per gameGene Swick (Toledo)246.0
Punt return averageDonnie Ross (New Mexico State)16.1
Kickoff return averageJohn Schultz (Maryland)31.0

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

Division I

Atlantic Coast Conference
Maryland
Big Eight
Nebraska and Oklahoma (shared)
Big Sky
Boise State
Big Ten
Ohio State
Ivy League
Harvard
Mid-American Conference
Miami (OH)
Missouri Valley Conference
Tulsa
Pac-8
California and UCLA (shared)
Pacific Coast Athletic Association
San José State
Southeastern Conference
Alabama
Southern Conference
Richmond
Southland Conference
Arkansas State
Southwest Conference
Arkansas, Texas and Texas A&M (shared)
Western Athletic Conference
Arizona State

Division II and below

Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Norfolk State
Far Western Conference
UC Davis
Great Plains Athletic Conference
Northern Colorado
Gulf South Conference
Nicholls
Indiana Collegiate Conference
Butler
Metropolitan Intercollegiate Conference
Long Island University
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
Southeast Missouri State
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
North Carolina A&T and South Carolina State (shared)
North Central Conference
North Dakota
Ohio Valley Conference
Tennessee Tech and Western Kentucky (shared)
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Bethune-Cookman
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Grambling, Jackson State and Southern (shared)
Virginia Collegiate Athletic Association
James Madison

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

22 playersAll 9 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1975 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1975 All-America teams page.

The 1975 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 20, 197516Miami (OH) 20, South Carolina 7Tangerine Bowl
Dec 22, 1975USC 20, 2Texas A&M 0Liberty Bowl
Dec 26, 19757Arizona State 17, 6Nebraska 14Fiesta Bowl
Dec 26, 197520Pittsburgh 33, 19Kansas 19Sun Bowl
Dec 27, 19759Texas 38, 10Colorado 21Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
Dec 29, 197517Maryland 13, 13Florida 0Gator Bowl
Dec 31, 19754Alabama 13, 8Penn State 6Sugar Bowl
Dec 31, 1975West Virginia 13, NC State 10Peach Bowl
Jan 1, 197618Arkansas 31, 12Georgia 10Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 19763Oklahoma 14, 5Michigan 6Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 197611UCLA 23, 1Ohio State 10Rose Bowl