Two human polls comprised the 1968 NCAA University Division football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship, instead that title is bestowed by one or more different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.

Legend   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week   National champion   Win–loss record   Number of first place votes Tied with team above or below also with this symbol

AP Poll

For the 1968 season, the AP Poll returned to ranking 20 teams per week, after ranking only 10 per week from 1961 to 1967. This was also the second time (first since 1965) that the final AP Poll was conducted in January after the completion of bowl season, rather than at the end of the regular season. The final poll would continue to be conducted after bowl season from this season forward.

Final Coaches Poll The final UPI Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games, in early December.Ohio State received 28 of the 34 first-place votes; USC received four and Penn State two. Ranking Team Conference Bowl 1 Ohio State Big Ten Won Rose, 27–16 2 USC Pac-8 Lost Rose, 16–27 3 Penn State Independent Won Orange, 15–14 4 Georgia SEC Lost Sugar, 2–16 5 Texas Southwest Won Cotton, 36–13 6 Kansas Big Eight Lost Orange, 14–15 7 Tennessee SEC Lost Cotton, 13–36 8 Notre Dame Independent none 9 Arkansas Southwest Won Sugar, 16–2 10 Oklahoma Big Eight Lost Bluebonnet, 27–28 11 Purdue Big Ten none 12 Alabama SEC Lost Gator, 10–35 13 Oregon State Pac-8 none 14 Florida State Independent Lost Peach, 27–31 15 Michigan Big Ten none 16 SMU Southwest Won Bluebonnet, 28–27 17 Missouri Big Eight Won Gator, 35–1018 Ohio Mid-American Lost Tangerine, 42–49 Minnesota Big Tennone20 Houston Independent Stanford Pac-8

Notre Dame did not participate in bowl games from 1925 through 1968. Prior to the 1975 season, the Big Ten and Pac-8 conferences allowed only one postseason participant each, for the Rose Bowl. The Ivy League has prohibited its members from participating in postseason football since the league was officially formed in 1954.

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