Washington and Lee (9–0) won Timmie Trophy as the outstanding small college football team in the country.

Syracuse halfback Ernie Davis won the Heisman Trophy.

Wisconsin quarterback Ron Miller won the Sammy Baugh Trophy, and Utah State tackle Merlin Olsen won the Outland Trophy.

Individual statistical leaders in major college football for 1961 included Iowa State halfback Dave Hoppmann with 1,638 yards of total offense, San Jose State quarterback Chon Gallegos with 117 pass completions and 14 touchdown passes, Washington State end Hugh Campbell with 53 pass receptions, and New Mexico State halfback Preacher Pilot with 1,278 rushing yards and 138 points scored.

[2] As the regular season progressed, new polls were issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.

10 Syracuse, which had beaten Oregon State 19–8 in Portland, rose into the top five.

September 30 California played a top-ranked team for the second straight week, losing at No.

5 Syracuse defeated visiting West Virginia 29–14, but fell to seventh in the next ratings.

3 Alabama beat North Carolina State 26–7 at Birmingham, and No.

4 Texas played its annual game against Oklahoma at Dallas, winning 28–7.

1 spot from Ole Miss by a margin of only two points (431 to 429), though the Rebels had more first place votes than the Spartans (21 vs. 16).

The top three (Michigan State, Ole Miss and Texas) were unchanged, while Alabama and Iowa traded places at 4th and 5th.

6 Ohio State, which had won at Wisconsin 30–21, took fifth place from Iowa, whom they would play the following Saturday.

Texas, Alabama and Ohio State moved up to 1st, 2nd and 3rd, and giant-killers LSU and Minnesota were 4th and 5th.

2 Alabama crushed the visiting Richmond Spiders (which would be I-AA later) 66–0 at home.

6 Michigan State, too, lost its second straight, falling 7–6 at Purdue.

November 18 Texas Christian University had earlier tied Ohio State 6–6 in Columbus, and bested that with a win over No.

After his team's loss, legendary Texas coach Darrell Royal uttered his immortal description of TCU: "They're like a bunch of cockroaches.

1 Alabama won its annual Birmingham game against the Auburn Tigers, 34–0, to close the season with a 10–0–0 record, an SEC championship, and a berth in the Sugar Bowl against No.

For the third year in a row, Ole Miss was undefeated and untied against all opponents other than LSU, which had beaten them in 1959 and 1961 and tied them in 1960.

Unbeaten and tied only once, Ohio State University qualified for the Rose Bowl.

In a move that stunned the sports world, however, the university's faculty council voted, 28–25, on November 28 not to accept the invitation, declaring that the school's emphasis on sports over academics was excessive.

The wire service commented that "A team of 57 Ohio State University faculty members handed the second ranked Buckeyes their only defeat of the season.".

[3] Minnesota took the Buckeyes' place in the Rose Bowl, where they would play UCLA.

The number one selection of both wire services was the Pittsburg State Gorillas,[8][9] who compiled a regular season record of 9–0 while outscoring opponents 299–25 and registering seven shutouts.

[10] The Gorillas went on to win two NAIA postseason games and finished 11–0 for the season.

Monday, January 1, 1962 The 1961 NAIA season culminated in the sixth annual NAIA Football National Championship, played at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, California.

Pittsburg State defeated Linfield in the championship game, 12–7, to win their second NAIA national title and first since 1957.

[14] The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player Source: [16][17] For the year 1961, the NCAA recognizes six published All-American teams as "official" designations for purposes of its consensus determinations.

The following chart identifies the NCAA-recognized consensus All-Americans and displays which first-team designations they received.