Two human polls comprised the 1974 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I 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
Final Coaches Poll For the first time, the final UPI Coaches Poll was released after the bowl games, on January 2, 1975.USC received 27 of the 34 first-place votes; Michigan received four and Alabama three. Ranking Team Conference Bowl 1 USC Pac-8 Won Rose, 18–17 2 Alabama SEC Lost Orange, 11–13 3 Ohio State Big Ten Lost Rose, 17–18 4 Notre Dame Independent Won Orange, 13–11 5 Michigan Big Ten none 6 Auburn SEC Won Gator, 27–3 7 Penn State Independent Won Cotton, 41–20 8 Nebraska Big Eight Won Sugar, 13–10 9 NC State ACC Tied Bluebonnet, 31–31 10 Miami (OH) Mid-American Won Tangerine, 21–10 11 Houston Independent Tied Bluebonnet, 31–31 12 Florida SEC Lost Sugar, 10–13 13 Maryland ACC Lost Liberty, 3–7 14 Baylor Southwest Lost Cotton, 21–4015 Texas A&M Southwest none Tennessee SEC Won Liberty, 7–3 17 Mississippi State SEC Won Sun, 26–24 18 Michigan State Big Tennone 19 Tulsa MVC Only 19 teams received votes Teams on probation were ineligible for the Coaches' poll, most notably Oklahoma (11–0). Prior to the 1975 season, the Big Ten and Pac-8 conferences allowed only one postseason participant each, for the Rose Bowl.
In the preceding poll in early December, Alabama was first, followed by Ohio State, Michigan, USC, and Auburn; Notre Dame was eighth.
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