The1957 college football season was the 89th season ofintercollegiate football in the United States. It concluded with two teams having claim to the major college national championship:
In the preseason poll released on September 16, the defending championSooners of theUniversity of Oklahoma—who had won 40 consecutive games dating back to1953—were the first place choice for 127 of 174 writers casting votes, followed byTexas A&M,Michigan State,Minnesota, andTennessee.[6] As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.
September 20 -Abner Haynes and Leon King suited up forNorth Texas State College againstTexas Western atKidd Field in El Paso, marking the first time a major college football team based in Texas fielded African-American players. King scored a 33-yard touchdown, while Haynes had a long touchdown run called back "despite never stepping out of bounds and the whistle not blowing until he crossed the goal line." Texas Western escaped with a 14–13 win.[7]
September 20–21 - TheU.S. Air Force Academy, founded two years earlier played its first major college schedule in 1957. TheFalcons made their debut atUCLA on Friday night and lost 47–0. They would finish their first season 3–6–1, but were undefeated thefollowing year. On Saturday, No. 1 Oklahoma won at No. 8Pittsburgh 26–0, breaking the all-time record for consecutive wins. No. 2 Texas A&M beatMaryland 21–13 in a game atDallas. No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 Minnesota, and No. 5 Tennessee had not yet begun their seasons. No. 11Georgia Tech beatKentucky 13–0 and rose to third, while No. 12Navy won 46–6 atBoston College and rose to fifth. The first AP poll was No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 4 Michigan State, and No. 5 Navy.
September 28 - No. 1 Oklahoma was idle. No. 2 Texas A&M won atTexas Tech 21–0 and No. 3 Georgia Tech played to a scoreless tie with No. 15SMU. No. 4 Michigan State beatIndiana 54–0. No. 5 Navy beat visitingWilliam & Mary 33–6. No. 6 Minnesota, which beatWashington 46–7, and No. 7Duke, which had beaten Virginia 40–0, rose into the top five. The next poll was No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Minnesota, No. 4 Duke, and No. 5 Texas A&M.
October 5 - No. 1 Oklahoma beatIowa State 40–14. No. 2 Michigan State won atCalifornia 19–0. No. 3 Minnesota beat visitingPurdue 21–17, No. 4 Duke beat Maryland 14–0, and No. 5 Texas A&M won atMissouri 28–0. The next poll was No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Minnesota, and No. 5 Duke.
October 12 - A crowd of 75,504 watched in Dallas as No. 1 Oklahoma had a difficult time with unrankedTexas; the Longhorns picked off four passes and the score was 7–7 at the half before the Sooners preserved their winning streak 21–7 in a game that wasn't pretty.[8] At the same time, No. 2 Michigan State won 35–6 at No. 6 Michigan, leading the AP voters to re-evaluate. No. 3 Texas A&M won 28–6 overHouston. No. 4 Minnesota won 41–6 atNorthwestern. No. 5 Duke narrowly beat No. 15Rice in Houston, 7–6. The Spartans took over the top spot in the next poll: No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Minnesota, and No. 5 Duke.
October 19 - No. 1 Michigan State lost 20–13 to Purdue and fell out of the top five, while No. 2 Oklahoma beatKansas 47–0 and reclaimed the top spot. No. 3 Texas A&M won 7–0 atTCU and No. 4 Minnesota lost atIllinois 34–14. No. 5 Duke beatWake Forest 34–7, and No. 6Iowa beat No. 13Wisconsin 21–7, while No. 9 Auburn beat Georgia Tech 3–0 in Atlanta and rose to fifth place in the polls. The next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 3 Iowa, No. 4 Duke, and No. 5 Auburn.
October 26 - No. 1 Oklahoma edgedColorado 14–13, and lost the top spot again, despite being 5–0. No. 2 Texas A&M beatBaylor 14–0 and replaced the Sooners in the next poll. No. 3 Iowa won 6–0 at Northwestern and rose to third. No. 4 Duke went to neighboring Raleigh to play No. 11 North Carolina State and ended with a 14–14 tie. No. 5 Auburn won at Houston 48–7. No. 7Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh 13–7 and rose to fifth. The next poll: No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Iowa, No. 4 Auburn, and No. 5 Notre Dame.
November 2 - No. 1 Texas A&M got past No. 11Arkansas 7–6 in Fayetteville, and No. 2 Oklahoma won atKansas State 13–0. No. 3 Iowa played No. 12Michigan to a 21–21 tie, and No. 4 Auburn beat No. 19Florida 13–0. No. 5 Notre Dame lost 20–6 to visiting No. 16 Navy, and No. 6 Michigan State won 21–7 at Wisconsin to rise into the top five. The next poll: No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Michigan State, and No. 5 Iowa.
November 9 - No. 1 Texas A&M beat SMU 19–6 and No. 2 Oklahoma won at Missouri 39–14. No. 3 Auburn beat No. 17Mississippi State 15–7 inBirmingham, No. 4 Michigan State beat No. 15 Notre Dame 34–6, and No. 5 Iowa beat Minnesota 44–20. The poll remained unchanged.
November 16 - No. 1 Texas A&M lost 7–6 to No. 20 Rice in Houston. No. 2 Oklahoma had won a record 47 consecutive games when they hosted Notre Dame. The Irish, 4–2 and on a losing streak, were an 18–point underdog coming into Norman. The Sooners, who had scored in 123 consecutive games dating back to 1945, were unable to reach the end zone, but had held off the Irish on two goal line stands. In the final minutes, Notre Dame was on the 3–yard line on fourth down, whenDick Lynch "crossed up the Sooners" and ran around right end for a touchdown. Oklahoma's desperate passing drive at game's end was stopped by a Notre Dame interception, and the crowd of 62,000 was stunned into silence... and then stood up and applauded for both the Sooners and the Irish. Oklahoma's previous defeat, more than four years earlier, had been at the hands of Notre Dame as well.[9] Final score: Notre Dame 7, Oklahoma 0. No. 3 Auburn beat Georgia 6–0 atColumbus, Georgia while No. 4 Michigan State beat Minnesota 42–13. No. 5 Iowa lost 17–13 at No. 6 Ohio State; the 7–1 Buckeyes rose to third, while the 6–1–1 Hawkeyes fell to eighth. No. 8Mississippi, which beat No. 7Tennessee 14–7 in Memphis, rose to fifth. The next poll: No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Texas A&M, and No. 5 Mississippi.
November 23 - No. 1 Michigan State closed its season with a 27–0 win over Kansas State, but fell to third. No. 2 Auburn won atFlorida State 29–7. As the only unbeaten (9–0) school among the majors, Auburn was voted No. 1 in the AP poll. No. 3 Ohio State wrapped up its season with a win 31–14 at No. 19 Michigan and was first in the UPI poll. No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 5 Mississippi were idle, while No. 6 Oklahoma won 53–6 at Nebraska and returned to the top five. The poll: No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 Texas A&M, and No. 5 Oklahoma.
November 28–30 -Thanksgiving Day sawBear Bryant's No. 4 Texas A&M team lose 9–7 to Texas. On Saturday, No. 1 Auburn shut out rivalAlabama 40–0 at their annual meeting in Birmingham to close its season 10–0, while the Crimson Tide finished at 2–7–1. Bryant, who had transformed the Aggies from a 1–9 team in1953 to a contender (Texas A&M was undefeated in 1956, and their two losses in 1957 were by a total of three points), would accept the job as head coach at his alma mater Alabama at season's end. No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan State were both 8–1 in the regular season, but Ohio State was 7–0 inBig Ten play, compared to the 5–1 Spartans, and got theRose Bowl bid against unranked Oregon. No. 5 Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State 53–6 and prepared for theOrange Bowl. No. 8 Navy, which won theArmy-Navy game 14–0 in Philadelphia, finished with an 8–1–1 record, a bid to meet SWC champion Rice in theCotton Bowl, and a fifth-place finish in thefinal poll.
The services were split as to the national champion. The AP Trophy went to Auburn, the choice of a majority of writers for No. 1, and the only major college program to finish unbeaten (Arizona State, then a lesser power, also finished 10–0). Auburn, however, was on probation and was ineligible for a bowl (conference runner-up Mississippi received the SEC's automatic slot in theSugar Bowl), and the UPI coaches poll awarded No. 1 to the Ohio State Buckeyes (8–1). Both Auburn and Ohio State are recognized in the NCAA Football Guidebook as unofficial national champions for 1957. The final AP poll was: No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 Navy, while the UPI poll was No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 Iowa.
A game between Missouri Valley and William Jewell scheduled for October 26 was cancelled when more than 20 players on each team were stricken by the flu.
