Two human polls comprised the 1966 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 in early December, at the end of the 1966 regular season. In the previous season, the final poll was released in January for the first time, after the bowl games, but not in 1966 or 1967.

The AP 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, in late November.Notre Dame received twenty of the 35 first-place votes; Michigan State received ten, Alabama four, and UCLA one. Ranking Team Conference Bowl 1 Notre Dame Independentnone 2 Michigan State Big Ten 3 Alabama SEC Won Sugar, 34–7 4 Georgia SEC Won Cotton, 24–9 5 UCLA AAWU (Pac-8) none 6 Purdue Big Ten Won Rose, 14–13 7 Nebraska Big Eight Lost Sugar, 7–34 8 Georgia Tech Independent Lost Orange, 12–27 9 SMU Southwest Lost Cotton, 9–24 10 Miami (FL) Independent Won Liberty, 14–7 11 Florida SEC Won Orange, 27–12 12 Mississippi SEC Lost Bluebonnet, 0–19 13 Arkansas Southwest none 14 Tennessee SEC Won Gator, 18–12 15 Wyoming WAC Won Sun, 28–20 16 Syracuse Independent Lost Gator, 12–18 17 Houston Independent none 18 USC AAWU (Pac-8) Lost Rose, 13–14 19 Oregon State AAWU (Pac-8) none 20 Virginia Tech Independent Lost Liberty, 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. Big Ten champion Michigan State was barred from participation in the Rose Bowl due to the conference's no-repeat rule, in effect from 1946 through 1971. The Ivy League has prohibited its members from participating in postseason football since the league was officially formed in 1954.

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