It finished with five teams having claim to a national championship: At the small-college level, Montana State (9–0–1) and Saint Joseph's (8–1–1 ) played to a scoreless tie in the NAIA national championship game.

In the preseason poll released on September 17, the defending champion Oklahoma Sooners, coming into the season with a 30-game winning streak, were the first place choice for 116 of 149 writers casting votes.

5 Ohio State, which had not started play, fell out of the Top 5 and was replaced by No.

8 TCU (which beat Arkansas 41–6 on national television) returned to the top five: No.

A commentator of the day wrote, "The overpowering charge of the big red-shirted Oklahoma line ahead of adroit Quarterback Jimmy Harris is just one of the reasons why Oklahoma may be the greatest college football team of all time...

They showed it in the sudden, lifting charge of a line which moved all of a piece, like a wave breaking evenly along a beach.

1 Oklahoma gave up its first points of the season, but registered its fourth win, 34–12, at Kansas.

2 Michigan State stayed unbeaten with a 47–14 win at Notre Dame.

1 Michigan State went to Champaign, and had a 13–0 lead over unranked Illinois at halftime.

Abe Woodson plunged for a score to cut the lead to 13–6 after three quarters.

In the fourth, Woodson ran 70 yards from scrimmage to help tie the game 13–13.

After an MSU field goal was short, Woodson ran the ball up to the Illini 18.

2 Oklahoma was determined to prove itself number 1, and Coach Bud Wilkinson directed the team to six touchdowns for a 40–0 win at Notre Dame.

1 Oklahoma (5–0), met the Colorado Buffaloes (5–1) on the road, and were losing 19–6 at halftime to a team that was a four-touchdown underdog, but came back with touchdowns by Tommy McDonald and Clendon Thomas for a difficult 27–19 win.

1 Oklahoma registered its fifth shutout in seven games, trouncing Iowa State 44–0, No.

3 Tennessee met in Atlanta for a game that proved to determine the SEC title.

There were 23 punts altogether, and no score until midway through the third quarter, when Tennessee end Buddy Cruze noticed that Tech had stopped double-teaming him.

Halfback Johnny Majors (who would later be head coach for UT) passed to Cruze at the 35–yard line, and Cruze ran 64 yards down to the Tech goal line, setting up the touchdown that won the game 6–0.

Though on probation since 1955 for recruiting violations, coach Bear Bryant's Aggies had appealed to the NCAA to allow them to play in the postseason (as the top contenders for the Southwest Conference title, they would receive an automatic bid in the Cotton Bowl).

The next day, however, the NCAA announced that Texas A&M was still banned, because of an additional recruiting violation of a basketball player.

2 Oklahoma showed off its offense in crushing Missouri 67–14, sufficiently enough to regain the top spot in the next poll.

The MSU visitors lost, 14–13, and dropped to tenth place in the next poll.

7 Iowa, which clinched an unexpected Big Ten championship by defeating No.

1 Oklahoma gained 656 net yards in a defeat of visiting Nebraska 54–6.

3 Iowa finished its season with a 48–8 non-league win over Notre Dame, then accepted a bid to the Rose Bowl to play the PCC champion, No.

Tech would be invited back to the city for the Gator Bowl at season's end.

2 Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 27–7 to close with a 10–0 record and a spot in the Sugar Bowl, where it would face 8–2 Baylor.

5 Texas A&M won the Southwest Conference title, but the ban against post-season play sent runner-up TCU to the Cotton Bowl instead.

The top five teams in the final poll remained the same from the previous week.

Tuesday, January 1, 1957 Minor bowls Final polls were released in the first week of December.