The NCAA recognizes Division I-A national champions based on the final results of polls including the "wire service" (AP and UPI), FWAA and NFF.
The 1964 season ended with controversy as to whether Alabama or Arkansas should be recognized as the national champion: After a one-year trial run in 1965, the AP Poll began its current practice of naming their national champion at the conclusion of the bowl games in 1968.
The UPI Poll followed suit in 1974, after its choice for national champions in each of 1965, 1970, and 1973 lost their respective bowl games.
In the preseason poll released on September 14, Mississippi (Ole Miss) was ranked first and Oklahoma second.
Neither Mississippi nor Oklahoma would return to the AP Poll at any point for the rest of the year.
Two games, Duke at Tulane and Florida at LSU, were postponed until the end of the season due to the threat of Hurricane Hilda, which made landfall in Louisiana that day.
5 Kentucky, previously 3–0, was beaten 48–6 by Florida State, the start of a four-game losing streak en route to a 5–5 season.
6 Notre Dame, enjoying a resurgence under new coach Ara Parseghian, won 34–7 at Air Force and No.
4 Notre Dame remained unbeaten, defeating Tennessee (19–8) and UCLA (24–0) respectively.
6 Nebraska, which had beaten Kansas State 47–0 (and outscored its opponents 171–34 in five wins), moved into the top five.
2 Notre Dame defeated Navy 40–0, causing the two teams to switch spots in the next poll.
With two weeks still to go in the regular season, all three of the preceding teams had clinched their conference championships (the SEC, SWC, and Big 8 respectively).
3 Arkansas beat Texas Tech 17–0 to close its regular season with five straight shutouts and a 10–0 record.
7 Ohio State with the Big Ten title and a berth in the Rose Bowl on the line.
In the November 23 AP poll, unbeaten Notre Dame, Alabama, and Arkansas were first, second, and third, followed by No.
2 Alabama finish the regular season unbeaten (10–0) with a 21–14 win over Auburn in Birmingham.
8 Oregon State, and a controversial tiebreaker sent the Beavers to face Michigan in the Rose Bowl.
[4] With only Alabama and Arkansas remaining unbeaten, both with records of 10–0, the final AP poll was taken on November 30.
Unusually, the SEC and Big 8 champions did not play in the Sugar and Orange Bowls this year.
Alabama won the SEC championship, but a "no repeat rule" prevented them from playing in the Sugar Bowl for a second straight year; instead, runner-up LSU (ranked No.
[5] The Cotton Bowl had already set up a meeting between Big 8 winner Nebraska and Southwestern Conference champ Arkansas, in what the organizers hoped would be a meeting of undefeated teams; the arrangements were finalized before Nebraska lost to Oklahoma in their last game of the regular season.
[6] Notre Dame, which was undefeated and the presumptive champion at the time the bowls were being set up, also lost its last game.
(Notre Dame had a longstanding policy against playing in bowl games, which was not rescinded until the 1969 season.)
Thus, the season ended with only two undefeated teams, but the early bowl commitments prevented the possibility of a No.
Friday, January 1, 1965 Top-ranked Alabama, led by quarterback Joe Namath, fell to No.
In the final minutes, down by four and facing 4th-and-goal at the Texas one-yard line, Namath's quarterback sneak was denied by the Longhorn defense.
Notable members of the 1964 Arkansas team include Jerry Jones, who would later become a billionaire as owner of the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL, and Jimmy Johnson, whom Jones would hire as coach of the Cowboys.
A five-member committee of the Football Writers Association of America awarded Arkansas the "Grantland Rice Trophy" as the No.
The Helms Athletic Foundation, which also took polls after the bowl games, named Arkansas as the national champions.
In 1965, the AP's final poll came after the bowl games, but the policy did not become permanent until 1968.