The1962 NCAA University Division football season was played byAmerican football teams representing 140 colleges and universities recognized by theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as major programs. The remaining 370 colleges and universities that were NCAA members and fielded football teams competed as part of the1962 NCAA College Division football season.^[2]

Four teams, including three from theSoutheastern Conference (SEC), have a claim to the 1962major college national championship:

• USC (11–0) was ranked No. 1 in the final AP and UPI polls, defeated No. 2Wisconsin in the1963 Rose Bowl, and was rated as the national champion by more than 10 other official selectors, includingThe Football News and theFootball Writers Association of America (FWAA). Head coachJohn McKay won the Coach of the Year Award from both theAmerican Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and the FWAA.
• Ole Miss (10–0) won the SEC championship and were ranked No. 3 in the final AP and UPI polls before defeating No. 6Arkansas in the1963 Sugar Bowl. The Rebels were awarded theLitkenhous Ratings trophy for the national championship.^[3] Decades later, they were also rated as national champions byBillingsley in the 2004 NCAA records book (after the selector revised its math system) andSagarin about 1978. To date, it is the only undefeated and untied season in Ole Miss football history.
• Alabama (10–1) was ranked No. 5 in the final AP and UPI polls and defeated No. 8Oklahoma in the1963 Orange Bowl. The Crimson Tide was selected as national champion by theBillingsley Report in the 1995 NCAA records book.
• LSU (9–1) defeated No. 4Texas in theCotton Bowl and was selected retroactively as national champion byBerryman QPRS. LSU halfbackJerry Stovall played on offense, defense, and special teams, won theWalter Camp Memorial Trophy as the nation's best back,^[4] was namedSEC Player of the Year, and was the runner-up for theHeisman Trophy.

Oregon State quarterbackTerry Baker won both theHeisman Trophy and theMaxwell Award as the best player in college football.Minnesota defensive linemanBobby Bell finished third in the Heisman voting and won theOutland Trophy.Baylor quarterbackDon Trull won theSammy Baugh Trophy.

Statistical leaders in the 1962 University Division included Terry Baker with 1,738 passing yards; New Mexico State halfbackPreacher Pilot with 1,247 rushing yards; Preacher Pilot and Cotton Clark of Alabama, each with 90 points scored; and Oregon State end Vern Burke with 1,007 receiving yards.

• Reduced the penalty for illegal shift from 15 to five yards.
• Allows punts downed inside the 10 yard line to be spotted where the punt is downed. Previously these punts were returned to the 20 yard line (touchback).
• Increased to 15 yards the penalty for the defense kicking a forward pass or a placekick held by an opponent.

• Four conferences began play in 1962:
  • College Athletic Conference – an active NCAA Division III conference that ended sponsorship of football after the 2017 season; known as theSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference after the 1991 season
  • Gateway Conference – active through the 1974 season
  • Western Athletic Conference – began play with former members of theBorder Conference (Arizona and Arizona State) and theSkyline Conference (BYU, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming). The remaining members of the Border (Hardin–Simmons, New Mexico State, Texas Western, and West Texas State) and the Skyline (Colorado State, Montana, and Utah State) became independents. The only exception wasDenver, who dropped its football program entirely.
• One conference upgraded to the NCAA University Division in 1962:
  • Mid-American Conference – moved up from the College Division to the University Division beginning in 1962.^{[citation needed]} The conference had been considered among the best in the college division. The previous year two MAC schools, Western Michigan and Bowling Green, were invited to bowl games. The conference produced college division national champions Ohio in 1960 and Bowling Green in 1959. In addition, Miami of Ohio finished second in the final 1958 College Division poll and was ranked in the final major AP and UPI polls in 1955.

In the preseason poll released on September 17,Ohio State was the No. 1 choice for 45 of the 50 voters, and its Big Ten rival, Michigan State was 4th overall. Texas placed second, and SEC rivals Alabama and Louisiana State (LSU) were third and fifth respectively.^[5] As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games. Ohio State, Michigan State and the other Big Ten schools would not kick off until September 29. On September 22, No. 2Texas beat Oregon at home, 25–13. No. 3Alabama and No. 5LSU both recorded shutouts, defeating Georgia (at Birmingham 35–0) and Texas A&M (21–0) respectively. In the poll that followed, Alabama rose to No. 1, while Ohio State and Texas fell to 2nd and 3rd.Penn State, which had beaten Navy at home 41–7, rose from 9th to 4th, while LSU remained at No. 5. Also on the 22nd, the first games of the newly formedWestern Athletic Conference took place as Arizona beat BYU, 27–21, and New Mexico beat Wyoming 25–21. All six of the charter members (including Arizona State and Utah) had withdrawn by 1999.^[6]

The following Friday, No. 1 Alabama beat Tulane in New Orleans, 44–6. OnSeptember 29,No. 2 Ohio State beat North Carolina at home, 41–7.No. 3 Texas registered a shutout on the road against Texas Tech, 34–0 whileNo. 4 Penn State hosted Air Force, winning 20–6. In Baton Rouge,No. 5 LSU played Rice to a 6–6 tie, enough to knock it from the Top Ten. In the poll that followed, Ohio State was again No. 1, followed by No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Texas, and No. 4 Penn State.No. 8 Georgia Tech, which had blanked Florida in Gainesville, 17–0, rose to 5th.

OnOctober 6,No. 1 Ohio State was upset by the UCLA Bruins in Los Angeles, 9–7.No. 2 Alabama beat Vanderbilt in Birmingham, 17–7.No. 3 Texas hosted Tulane (fresh from a 44–6 loss to Alabama) and won 35–8.No. 4 Penn State beat Rice at Houston, 18–7.No. 5 Georgia Tech lost to LSU in Atlanta, 10–7, and dropped back out of the poll.No. 6 USC won 7–0 at Iowa, whileNo. 7 Mississippi defeated Houston 40–7. The next poll was No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Mississippi.

October 13No. 1 Alabama beatHouston 14–3 at home.No. 2 Texas survived its Dallas encounter with Oklahoma, 9–6.No. 3 Penn State lost to Army at West Point by the same 9–6 margin.No. 4 USC andNo. 5 Mississippi were both idle.No. 6 LSU improved its record to 3–0–1 with a 17–3 win against the visiting Miami Hurricanes. Though Alabama got more first place votes than Texas in the poll (24 vs. 21) the Longhorns had more points overall, and were the new No. 1. The results were No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 USC, No. 4 LSU, and No. 5 Mississippi.

OnOctober 20, all five of the top teams remained unbeaten.No. 1 Texas beat No. 7 Arkansas 7–3 at home.No. 2 Alabama defeated Tennessee at Knoxville, 27–7. TheNo. 3 USC Trojans hosted California and won 32–3.No. 4 LSU beat Kentucky at Lexington 7–0 andNo. 5 Mississippi shut out Tulane in New Orleans, 21–0. Nevertheless, LSU and Mississippi dropped to 6th and 7th in the next poll, while Big Ten rivalsNo. 8 Northwestern andNo. 10 Wisconsin reached the Top 5. Northwestern had beaten No. 6 Ohio State 18–14 at Columbus, while Wisconsin thrashed Iowa 42–14. The rankings were No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Northwestern, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Wisconsin.

In the first weekend after the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis, week 7's games were played onOctober 27. 45 days after President Kennedy asked "Why doesRice playTexas?" in aspeech atRice Stadium, the 0–3–1 Owls tied the No. 1 Longhorns on the same field, 14–14.No. 2 Alabama beat Tulsa 35–6 andNo. 3 Northwestern defeated Notre Dame 35–6 at home.No. 4 USC won 28–16 over Illinois at Champaign, andNo. 5 Wisconsin lost to Ohio State at Columbus, 14–7. TheNo. 6 LSU Tigers shut out Florida 23–0 at home. The Northwestern Wildcats were voted into first place, followed by No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 USC, No. 4 LSU, and No. 5 Texas.

November 3No. 1 Northwestern narrowly defeated Indiana, 26–21, at Bloomington.No. 2 Alabama andNo. 3 USC shut out Mississippi State (20–0) and No. 9 Washington (14–0), respectively.No. 4 LSU lost 15–7 at home toNo. 7 Mississippi, which had been 0–2–1 against LSU and 27–0 against all other opponents in the last three regular seasons.No. 5 Texas got past SMU at home, 6–0. The next poll was No. 1 Northwestern, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 Mississippi, and No. 5 Texas.

November 10No. 1 Northwestern was beaten at Madison by No. 8 Wisconsin, 37–6.No. 3 Alabama beat Miami 36–3 andNo. 2 USC won at Stanford, 39–14.No. 4 Mississippi defeated UT-Chattanooga 52–7, andNo. 5 Texas won at Baylor, 27–12. With the return of Wisconsin to the Top 5 and Northwestern dropping out, the poll was No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Mississippi, No. 4 Wisconsin, and No. 5 Texas.

November 17No. 1 Alabama travelled to Atlanta and lost to Georgia Tech, 7–6.No. 2 USC defeated Navy, 13–6, at home.No. 3 Mississippi beat Tennessee at Knoxville, 19–6.No. 4 Wisconsin won at Illinois, 35–6, andNo. 5 Texas beat Texas Christian, 14–0.No. 8 Minnesota defeated Purdue 7–6. The last two unbeaten and untied teams, USC and Mississippi, were first and second in the next poll, followed by No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 4 Texas, and No. 5 Minnesota.

On Thanksgiving Day (the 22nd),No. 4 Texas hosted Texas A&M and won 13–3 to clinch the Southwestern Conference title and theCotton Bowl bid, half a game ahead of Arkansas. OnNovember 24No. 1 USC beat UCLA, 14–3, extending its record to 9–0–0 and finishing a game ahead of Washington for the AAWU title and theRose Bowl bid.No. 2 Mississippi was idle. USC's bowl opponent was determined in the season-ending game betweenNo. 3 Wisconsin andNo. 5 Minnesota, both 5–1–0 in Big Ten conference play. They met at Madison and the Badgers won on their home field, 14–9, to take the Big Ten title and the trip to the Rose Bowl. In the penultimate poll, USC retained the No. 1 spot, and Wisconsin was 2nd with an 8–1–0 record. Despite being unbeaten and untied, Mississippi placed third in the voting, followed by No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Alabama. The stage was set for a meeting of No. 1 and No. 2 at the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day, the first time in the 26-year history of the AP Poll that the top two teams would face off against each other in a bowl game.

December 1,No. 1 USC closed a perfect season by beating Notre Dame 25–0 in Los Angeles for a 10–0–0 finish.No. 3 Mississippi beat Mississippi State 13–6 at home to close with a 9–0–0 record, the SEC championship, and a trip to theSugar Bowl against No. 6 Arkansas, whileNo. 5 Alabama beat Auburn 38–0 in the season-ender at Birmingham to close their season at 10–1–0 and second place. The Tide accepted a bid to face the Big 8 champions, No. 8 Oklahoma, in theOrange Bowl. No. 7 LSU, the SEC's third-place finisher, filled the final major bowl slot by accepting a bid to the Cotton Bowl against Texas. The final AP poll, which determined the unofficial national championship, was released on December 3. USC finished first, followed by No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 3 Mississippi, No. 4 Texas, and No. 5 Alabama. TheNCAA Football Guide recognized the University of Southern California as the 1962 champion as number one in both the AP poll and the UPI poll.

The 1962–1963 Bowl Season is notable for the1963 Rose Bowl. This game is the first No. 1 versus No. 2bowl game pairing in the history of theAP Poll and theUPI Poll, both singly and jointly. However, neither poll published rankings after the bowl games at this time, so USC was already the season-ending No. 1 and would remain so, regardless of the outcome of the game.

Tuesday, January 1, 1963

Games played in December 1962, rankings from Coaches Poll

TheHeisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player

Source:^[7][8]

• 1962 NCAA University Division football rankings
• 1962 College Football All-America Team

• 1962 NCAA University Division football season

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