Two human polls comprised the 1964 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 November 30, at the end of the 1964 regular season, a month before the bowls. 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 1.Alabama received 22 of the 35 first-place votes; Arkansas received seven, Notre Dame four, and Michigan two. Ranking Team Conference Bowl 1 Alabama SEC Lost Orange, 17–21 2 Arkansas Southwest Won Cotton, 10–7 3 Notre Dame Independent none 4 Michigan Big Ten Won Rose, 34–7 5 Texas Southwest Won Orange, 21–17 6 Nebraska Big Eight Lost Cotton, 7–10 7 LSU SEC Won Sugar, 13–10 8 Oregon State AAWU (Pac-8) Lost Rose, 7–34 9 Ohio State Big Tennone 10 USC AAWU (Pac-8) 11 Florida State Independent Won Gator, 36–19 12 Syracuse Independent Lost Sugar, 10–13 13 Princeton Ivynone14 Penn State Independent Utah WAC Won Liberty, 32–616 Illinois Big Tennone New Mexico WAC18 Tulsa MVC Won Bluebonnet, 14–7 Missouri Big Eightnone20 Michigan State Big Ten Mississippi SEC Lost Bluebonnet, 7–14

Notre Dame did not participate in bowl games from 1925 through 1968. Prior to the 1975 season, the Big Ten and 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 1964:

1. Alabama 2. Michigan 3. Notre Dame 4. Arkansas 5. Texas 6. USC 7. Florida State 8. Florida 9. Ohio State 10. Nebraska 11. Illinois 12. Utah 13. Tulsa 14. Purdue 15. Penn State 16. Syracuse 17. UCLA 18. Ole Miss 19. LSU 20. Michigan State 21. Utah State 22. Oregon State 23. Oregon 24. Minnesota 25. Oklahoma

References