Two human polls comprised the 1971 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
For the first time, the top two teams in the final poll were from the same conference; Nebraska (13–0) and Oklahoma (11–1) were joined by Colorado (10–2) in third for a sweep by the Big Eight Conference.
Final Coaches Poll The final UPI Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games, in early December. Nebraska received 29 of the 31 first place votes; Alabama received the other two. Ranking Team Conference Bowl 1 Nebraska Big Eight Won Orange, 38–6 2 Alabama SEC Lost Orange, 6–38 3 Oklahoma Big Eight Won Sugar, 40–22 4 Michigan Big Ten Lost Rose, 12–13 5 Auburn SEC Lost Sugar, 22–40 6 Arizona State WAC Won Fiesta, 45–38 7 Colorado Big Eight Won Bluebonnet, 31–21 8 Georgia SEC Won Gator, 7–3 9 Tennessee SEC Won Liberty, 14–13 10 LSU SEC Won Sun, 33–15 11 Penn State Independent Won Cotton, 30–6 12 Texas Southwest Lost Cotton, 6–30 13 Toledo Mid-American Won Tangerine, 28–3 14 Houston Independent Lost Bluebonnet, 21–31 15 Notre Dame Independent none (declined) 16 Stanford Pac-8 Won Rose, 13–12 17 Iowa State Big Eight Lost Sun, 15–33 18 North Carolina ACC Lost Gator, 3–7 19 Florida State Independent Lost Fiesta, 38–4520 Arkansas Southwest Lost Liberty, 13–14 Mississippi SEC Won Peach, 13–12
Prior to the 1975 season, the Big Ten and Pac-8 conferences allowed only one postseason participant each, for the Rose Bowl.
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