Two human polls comprised the 1963 NCAA University Division football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship, instead that title is bestowed by one or more different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.

Legend   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week   National champion   Win–loss record   Number of first place votes Tied with team above or below also with this symbol

AP Poll

The final AP Poll was released on December 9, at the end of the 1963 regular season, weeks before the bowls. (The season had been extended due to postponements after the assassination of President Kennedy.)The poll ranked only the top ten teams from 1962 through 1967.

Final Coaches Poll The final UPI Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games, on December 3. Texas received 31 of the 35 first-place votes and Navy received the other four.

Ranking Team Conference Bowl 1 Texas Southwest Won Cotton, 28–6 2 Navy Independent Lost Cotton, 6–28 3 Pittsburgh Independent none 4 Illinois Big Ten Won Rose, 17–7 5 Nebraska Big Eight Won Orange, 13–7 6 Auburn SEC Lost Orange, 7–13 7 Mississippi SEC Lost Sugar, 7–12 8 Oklahoma Big Eight none 9 Alabama SEC Won Sugar, 12–7 10 Michigan State Big Ten none 11 Mississippi State SEC Won Liberty, 16–12 12 Syracuse Independentnone 13 Arizona State WAC 14 Memphis State Independent 15 Washington AAWU Lost Rose, 7–1716 Penn State Independentnone USC AAWU Missouri Big Eight 19 North Carolina ACC Won Gator, 35–0 20 Baylor Southwest Won Bluebonnet, 14–7

Prior to the 1975 season, the Big Ten and AAWU (later Pac-8) conferences allowed only one postseason participant each, for the Rose Bowl. The Ivy League has prohibited its members from participating in postseason football since the league was officially formed in 1954.

Litkenhous Ratings The following teams were ranked as the top 25 teams in the final Litkenhous Ratings, released in December 1963:

1. Texas 2. Ole Miss 3. Navy 4. Illinois 5. Pittsburgh 6. Michigan State 7. Auburn 8. Alabama 9. Syracuse 10. USC 11. Nebraska 12. Baylor 13. Georgia Tech 14. Oklahoma 15. Arkansas 16. Air Force 17. Mississippi State 18. Washington 19. Michigan 20. Northwestern 21. Ohio State 22. Oregon 23. LSU 25. Missouri 25. Rice

References