September 11, 1967

This Year The Fight Will Be In The Open

Coaches of top teams have long pretended they did not care about national rankings, but Notre Dame vs. Michigan State has changed that, and this season's excitement centers on the battle to be No. 1

Dan Jenkins

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THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: FROM ROCKNE TO THE BLITZKRIEG...
On this and the following pages is a complete list of college football's mythical champions as selected by every recognized authority since 1924. The selectors represented are the Parke H. Davis Selections (1924-1935), the Dickinson System (1924-1940), The Football Annual (1924-1941), The Football Thesaurus (1927-1958), the Helms Athletic Foundation (1924-1966), the Dunkel System (1929-1966), the Litkenhous System (1934-1966), the Williamson System(1932-1963), Associated Press (1936-1966), United Press International (1950-1966), the Football Writers' Association (1954-1966) and the National Football Hall of Fame (1959-1966).
YEAR	TEAM & RECORD	COACH	TOP PLAYER	SELECTORS
1924	NOTRE DAME 10-0	Knute Rockne	Harry Stuhldreher, qb	Dick, Helms, Ann
1924	PENNSYLVANIA 9-1-1	Lou Young	Ed McGinley, t	Davis
1925	ALABAMA 10-0	Wallace Wade	Johnny Mack Brown, hb	Ann, Helms
1925	DARTMOUTH 8-0	Jesse Hawley	Andy Oberlander, hb	Dick, Davis
1926	STANFORD 10-0-1	Pop Warner	Ted Shipkey, e	Dick
	LAFAYETTE 9-0	Herb McCracken	Mike Wilson, hb	Davis
	NAVY 9-0-1	Bill Ingram	Tom Hamilton, hb	Ann
	ALABAMA 9-0-1	Wallace Wade	Hoyt Winslett, e	Helms
1927	ILLINOIS 7-0-1	Bob Zuppke	Russ Crane, c	Dick, Davis, Helms
	YALE 7-1	T.A.D. Jones	Bruce Caldwell, hb	Ann
	NOTRE DAME 7-1-1	Knute Rockne	Christy Flanagan, hb	Thes
1928	GEORGIA TECH 10-0	Bill Alexander	Peter Pund, c	Davis, Ann, Thes, Helms
	USC 9-0-1	Howard Jones	Lloyd Thomas, hb	Dick
	DETROIT 9-0	Gus Dorais	Lloyd Brazil, hb	Davis (tie)
1929	NOTRE DAME 9-0	Knute Rockne	Frank Carideo, qb	Dick, Dunk, Ann, Helms
	PITTSBURGH 9-1	Jock Sutherland	Joe Donchess, e	Davis
	USC 10-2	Howard Jones	Russ Saunders, hb	Thes
1930	NOTRE DAME 10-0	Knute Rockne	Marchy Schwartz, hb	Dick, Dunk, Ann, Helms, Thes, Davis
1930	ALABAMA 10-0	Wallace Wade	Fred Sington, t	Davis (tie)
1931	USC 10-1	Howard Jones	Gus Shaver, hb	Dick, Dunk, Ann, Helms, Thes
	PURDUE 9-1	Noble Kizer	Charles Miller, c	Davis
	PITTSBURGH 8-1	Jock Sutherland	Jess Quatse, t	Davis (tie)
1932	USC 10-0	Howard Jones	Ernie Pinckert, hb	Ann, Dunk, Thes, Helms, Wms, Davis
	MICHIGAN 8-0	Harry Kipke	Harry Newman, qb	Dick, Davis (tie)
	COLGATE 8-0	Andy Kerr	Robert Smith, g	Davis (tie)
1933	MICHIGAN 7-0-1	Harry Kipke	Frank Wistert, t	Dick, Helms, Thes, Ann, Davis
	USC 10-1-1	Howard Jones	Cotton Warburton, hb	Wms
	OHIO STATE 7-1	Sam Willaman	Reg Monohan, g	Dunk
	PRINCETON 9-0	Fritz Crisler	Chuck Ceppi, t	Davis (tie)
1934	MINNESOTA 8-0	Bernie Bierman	Pug Lund, hb	Dick, Lit, Ann, Helms, Davis
	ALABAMA 10-0	Frank Thomas	Don Hutson, e	Dunk, Wms, Thes
	PITTSBURGH 8-1	Jock Sutherland	George Shotwell, c	Davis (tie)
1935	MINNESOTA 8-0	Bernie Bierman	Dick Smith, t	Lit, Ann, Helms, Davis
	SMU 12-1	Matty Bell	Bobby Wilson, hb	Dick, Thes
	PRINCETON 9-0	Fritz Crisler	John Weller, g	Dunk, Davis (tie)
	LSU 9-2	Bernie Moore	Abe Mickel, qb	Wms
1936	MINNESOTA 7-1	Bernie Bierman	Ed Widseth, t	AP, Dunk, Lit, Dick, Helms
	PITTSBURGH 8-1-1	Jock Sutherland	Av Danicll, t	Ann, Thes
	LSU 9-1-1	Bernie Moore	Gaynell Tinsley, e	Wms
1937	PITTSBURGH 9-0-1	Jock Sutherland	Marshall Goldberg, hb	AP, Dick, Lit, Ann, Wms, Thes
1937	CALIFORNIA 10-0-1	Stub Allison	Vic Bottari, hb	Dunk, Helms
1938	TENNESSEE 11-0	Bob Neyland	George Cafego, hb	Dunk, Lit, Ann, Thes
	TCU 11-0	Dutch Meyer	Davey O'Brien, qb	AP, Wms, Helms
	NOTRE DAME 8-1	Elmer Layden	Ed Beinor, t	Dick
1939	TEXAS A&M 11-0	Homer Norton	John Kimbrough, fb	AP, Dunk, Wms, Thes, Helms, Ann
	USC 8-0-2	Howard Jones	Grenny Lansdell, hb	Dick
	CORNELL 8-0	Carl Snavely	Nick Drahos, t	Lit
...AND FROM THE '40s TO TODAY
1940	MINNESOTA 8-0	Bernie Bierman	George Franck, fb	AP, Dick, Lit, Ann, Thes
	TENNESSEE 10-1	Bob Neyland	Bob Suffridge, g	Dunk, Wms
	STANFORD 10-0	Clark Shaughnessy	Frankie Albert, qb	Helms
1941	MINNESOTA 8-0	Bernie Bierman	Bruce Smith, hb	AP, Lit, Dunk, Helms, Ann
	TEXAS 8-1-1	Dana X. Bible	Jack Crain, hb	Wms
	ALABAMA 9-2	Frank Thomas	Holt Rast, e	Thes
1942	GEORGIA 11-1	Wally Butts	Frank Sinkwich, hb	Wms, Lit. Thes
	OHIO STATE 9-1	Paul Brown	Gene Fekete, fb	AP, Dunk
	WISCONSIN 8-1-1	Harry Stuhldreher	Dave Schreiner, e	Helms
1943	NOTRE DAME 9-1	Frank Leahy	Angelo Bertelli, qb	unanimous
1944	ARMY 9-0	Earl Blaik	Glenn Davis, hb	unanimous
1945	ARMY 9-0	Earl Blaik	Doc Blanchard, fb	unanimous
1946	NOTRE DAME 8-0-1	Frank Leahy	Johnny Lujack, qb	AP, Dunk, Lit
	ARMY 9-0-1	Earl Blaik	Arnold Tucker, qb	Helms, Thes
	GEORGIA 11-0	Wally Butts	Charlie Trippi, hb	Wms
1947	MICHIGAN 10-0	Fritz Crisler	Bob Chappuis, hb	Dunk, Lit, Thes
1947	NOTRE DAME 9-0	Frank Leahy	Johnny Lujack, qb	AP, Wms, Helms
1948	MICHIGAN 9-0	Bennie Oosterbaan	Charley Ortmann, hb	unanimous
1949	NOTRE DAME 10-0	Frank Leahy	Leon Hart, e	unanimous
1950	OKLAHOMA 10-1	Bud Wilkinson	Leon Heath, fb	AP, UPI, Lit, Helms, Wms
1950	TENNESSEE 11-1	Bob Neyland	Bud Sherrod, e	Dunk, Thes
1951	TENNESSEE 10-1	Bob Neyland	Hank Lauricella, hb	AP, UPI, Lit, Wms
	MARYLAND 10-0	Jim Tatum	Jack Scarbath, qb	Dunk
	MICHIGAN STATE 9-0	Biggie Munn	Don Coleman, t	Helms
	GEORGIA TECH 11-0-1	Bobby Dodd	Lamar Wheat, t	Thes
1952	MICHIGAN STATE 9-0	Biggie Munn	Leroy Bolden, hb	AP, UPI, Helms, Dunk, Lit, Wms
1952	GEORGIA TECH 12-0	Bobby Dodd	Leon Hardeman, fb	Thes
1953	NOTRE DAME 9-0-1	Frank Leahy	Johnny Lattner, hb	Helms, Dunk, Wms, Lit, Thes
1953	MARYLAND 10-1	Jim Tatum	Bernie Faloney, qb	AP, UPI
1954	UCLA 9-0	Red Sanders	Bob Davenport, fb	UPI, FWA, Helms, Dunk, Lit
1954	OHIO STATE 10-0	Woody Hayes	Howard Cassady, hb	AP, Wms, Thes
1955	OKLAHOMA 11-0	Bud Wilkinson	Tommy McDonald, hb	unanimous
1956	OKLAHOMA 10-0	Bud Wilkinson	Tommy McDonald, hb	all but Thes
1956	GEORGIA TECH 10-1	Bobby Dodd	Paul Rotenbcrry, hb	Thes
1957	AUBURN 10-0	Shug Jordan	Red Phillips, e	AP, Helms, Wms, Thes
	OHIO STATE 9-1	Woody Hayes	Bob White, fb	UPI, FWA, Lit
	MICHIGAN STATE 8-1	Duffy Daugherty	Walt Kowalczyk, hb	Dunk
1958	LSU 11-0	Paul Dietzel	Billy Cannon, hb	all but FWA
1958	IOWA 8-1-1	Forest Evashevski	Randy Duncan, qb	FWA
1959	SYRACUSE 11-0	Ben Schwartzwalder	Ernie Davis, hb	all but Dunk
1959	MISSISSIPPI 10-1	Johnny Vaught	Charley Flowers, fb	Dunk
1960	MISSISSIPPI 10-0-1	Johnny Vaught	Jake Gibbs, qb	FWA, Wms, Dunk
	MINNESOTA 8-2	Murray Warmath	Sandy Stephens, qb	AP, UPI, HF
	WASHINGTON 10-1	Jim Owens	Bob Schloredt, qb	Helms
	IOWA 8-1	Forest Evashevski	Larry Ferguson, hb	Lit
1961	ALABAMA 11-0	Bear Bryant	Lee Roy Jordan, c	all but FWA
1961	OHIO STATE 9-0-1	Woody Hayes	Bob Ferguson, fb	FWA
1962	USC 11-0	John McKay	Pete Bcathard, qb	all but Lit
1962	MISSISSIPPI 10-0	Johnny Vaught	Glynn Griffing, qb	Lit
1963	TEXAS 11-0	Darrell Royal	Tommy Nobis, g	unanimous
1964	ALABAMA 10-1	Bear Bryant	Joe Namath, qb	AP, UPI, Lit
	ARKANSAS 11-0	Frank Broyles	Bobby Crockett, c	FWA, Helms
	NOTRE DAME 9-1	Ara Parseghian	John Huarte, qb	HF
	MICHIGAN 9-1	Bump Elliott	Bob Timberlake, qb	Dunk
1965	MICHIGAN STATE 10-1	Duffy Daugherty	Clinton Jones, hb	UPI, Helms, FWA, Dunk, HF, Lit
1965	ALABAMA 9-1-1	Bear Bryant	Steve Sloan, qb	AP, FWA (tie)
1966	NOTRE DAME 9-0-1	Ara Parseghian	Nick Eddy, hb	AP, UPI, FWA, Helms, HF, Dunk, Lit
1966	MICHIGAN STATE 9-0-1	Duffy Daugherty	George Webster, lb	Helms (tie), HF (tie)

Back in the days when college football players wore one-piece leather suits, did not throw passes and ran with the dazzling speed of tree trunks, it was fairly easy to recognize a No. 1 team every season. Somebody like Casper Whitney in Harper's Weekly or J. Parmly Paret in Outing looked at the records of Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Penn, quickly deciphered which one had out-groped Columbia Law School by the biggest margin, and boldly proclaimed them the mythical national champion. Nobody argued about it, preoccupied as most people were with striking for an eight-hour work day and wondering where Khartoum was. Nobody even cared. You told a man that your school was No. 1 some 80 years ago and all he said was, "That's swell but, excuse me, I got to go invent the airplane."

Things have changed a lot since then, of course. Players can now run faster than a coach going to pick up a new set of tires from a friendly booster. Uniforms are sleek and handsome when the socks stay up. A vast number of teams have discovered the forward pass. And absolutely nothing can get the college enthusiast as outrageously excited as a debate over who should be No. 1.

Last season, for example, there was blood spilled all over South Bend, Ind., East Lansing, Mich. and Tuscaloosa, Ala., as the decisions were about to be made by all the people who currently chose national champions—everyone, it seems, from the AP to Sara Lee. Notre Dame and Michigan State played a 10-10 tie before millions on television, knocking each other out of perfect records. Then millions more watched as Alabama whomped Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl and finished with the only spotless record in the country. But when the final selections were made it was Notre Dame by the length of Ara Parseghian's name. Five of the seven best-known award-givers—AP, UPI, the Football Writers, Dick Dunkel and Frank Litkenhous—liked the Irish despite their cozy tie with Michigan State. The other two, the Hall of Fame and the Helms Athletic Foundation, settled on a tie of their own between Notre Dame and the Spartans. And the loyal friends of Alabama had to be content to put license plates on their cars that said, TO HELL WITH AP AND UPI, ALABAMA IS STILL NO. 1.

Precisely because of all this commotion about the magic of being No. 1—it suggests to fans that their boys are tougher, psychologists say—a season has never come along packed with as much collegiate interest as this one of 1967.

What last year's tie between the Irish and the Spartans did was finally bring it out in the open—winning a national title is a goal that ranks with world peace. For years before last November almost all coaches had a way of dancing around the subject. They would say such things as 1) "We've got our conference race to worry about," 2) "We've got our traditional rivals to think about," 3) "We haven't had a punt blocked since I've been here," 4) "We may not win many games, but we'll hit people," and 5) "Aw, those polls are just a little something for the fans."

It was not so much the fact that Notre Dame and Michigan State tied that did it, but the way the game ended. Notre Dame refused to gamble with passes—as Michigan State had—on its last series of downs, ending the "game of the decade" awkwardly and emptily. Ara Parseghian hasn't yet recovered fully from the criticism he received for his strategy, but at least he now admits that Notre Dame's immense popularity in the polls partly affected his decision.

The teams were hardly off the field before the hundreds of journalists in the press box at East Lansing thought of the same joke: tie one for the Gipper. A day later both Ara and Duffy Daugherty were publicly trying to shove their teams into No. 1—and so was Alabama's Bear Bryant.

Ara said that when you're No. 1 and you only get tied, you can't lose it. Duffy said that when you're No. 2 and you tie No. 1, then you become No. 1 and the other guy becomes No. la. Bryant said he just hoped that if his Alabama seniors got drafted and had to go to Vietnam they wouldn't play for a tie. Later, however, Bryant made the truest observation of all. "Ara had the last laugh, because he wound up with most of the awards," said Bear. "Playing that old tie must have been smart."

One thing the big controversy of last year has done is make coaches speak openly for the first time about the rating systems they used to pretend to ignore and about the mythical national championship they would slug a chancellor to win.

Parseghian says frankly, "Polls are vitally necessary to college football. I like the interest and excitement they create on our squad, on the campus and in the cities. We always look forward to the weekly ratings on Tuesdays. And the polls aren't that bad. Regardless of which system it is, they usually vary only slightly, because there is a natural exchange of opinion between coaches and writers."

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	ARTICLES	GALLERIES	COVERS
College Football	12088	0	92
Parke Davis	1	0	0
Big Ten Conference	2041	0	51
Michigan State Spartans	356	0	3
Alabama	808	0	7

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