1970 NCAA University Division football season

• Teams are allowed to schedule 11 regular season games, up from 10.[3][4]
• Defensive pass interference is penalized from the spot of the foul, regardless if the pass was thrown or not. Previously, interference before the pass was thrown was a 15-yard penalty from the previous spot. This change would be repealed in the 1984 season.
• Also, defenders were not allowed to touch pass receivers if the receiver had caught up to them in their pattern or if it was obvious they were attempting to catch a pass.
• Cleat length is reduced from 3/4 inches to 1/2 inch.

In the preseason poll released on September 7, Texas was placed No. 1 with 19 1st place votes. Ohio State and USC followed, with 7 and 6 votes, and Arkansas and Mississippi, each with a vote. USC beat Alabama 42–21 at Birmingham, and Arkansas lost to No. 10 Stanford 34–28 at Little Rock on September 12. In the poll that followed, Stanford took the place of Arkansas, while the rest of the Top 5 was the same: 1.Texas 2.Ohio State 3.USC 4.Stanford 5.Mississippi.

September 19: Number 1 Texas won in Austin against California 56–15. In Los Angeles, No. 3 USC tied Nebraska 21–21. No. 4 Stanford beat San Jose State 34–3. No. 5 Mississippi opened with a 47–13 win at Memphis State. No. 7 Penn State, which had beaten Navy 55–7, reached the Top Five. Poll: 1.Ohio State 2.Texas 3.Stanford 4.Mississippi 5.Penn State

September 26: No. 1 Texas won in Lubbock over Texas Tech, 35–13. No. 2 Ohio State opened its season at home in Columbus, beating Texas A&M 56–13. No. 3 Stanford (in a battle between Jim Plunkett and Dan Fouts) won at Oregon 33–10. No. 4 Mississippi escaped a loss to Kentucky in Jackson, 20–17 and fell to 5th. No. 5 Penn State lost at Colorado 41–13. No. 7 USC returned to 6th place with a 48–0 win at Iowa. No. 6 Notre Dame, which had beaten Purdue 48–0, rose to 4th. The new poll was 1.Texas 2.Ohio State 3.Stanford 4.Notre Dame 5.Mississippi 6. USC.

October 3: No. 1 Texas squeaked by UCLA at home 20–17 on a touchdown in the last 20 seconds. No. 2 Ohio State beat Duke at home 34–10. No. 3 Stanford lost to Purdue 26–14. No. 4 Notre Dame beat Michigan State in East Lansing, 29–0. No. 4 Mississippi earned a 48–23 win in Jackson over Alabama. No. 5 USC beat visiting Oregon State 45–13 Poll: 1.Texas 2.Ohio State 3.Notre Dame 4.Mississippi 5.USC

October 10: No. 1 Texas defeated Oklahoma in Dallas, 41–9. No. 2 Ohio State beat Michigan State in East Lansing, 29–0. No. 3 Notre Dame beat Army at home, 51–10. No. 4 Mississippi won at Georgia 31–21. No. 5 USC lost at Stanford 24–14. No. 6 Nebraska, which had tied USC earlier, rose to fifth after its 21–7 win over Missouri gave it a 4–0–1 record. Poll: 1.Texas 2.Ohio State 3.Notre Dame 4.Mississippi 5.Nebraska

October 17: No. 1 Texas was idle. No. 2 Ohio State beat Minnesota at home, 28–8. No. 3 Notre Dame won at Missouri, 24–7. No. 4 Mississippi lost at home in Oxford to Southern Mississippi, 30–14. No. 5 Nebraska won at Kansas 41–20. No. 6 Michigan, which had beaten Michigan State 34–20 at home to reach 5–0, got into the top five. Poll: 1.Texas 2.Ohio State 3.Notre Dame 4.Nebraska 5.Michigan

October 24: No. 1 Texas defeated Rice 45–21 in Houston. No. 2 Ohio State won at Illinois 48–29. No. 3 Notre Dame was idle. No. 4 Nebraska beat Oklahoma State 65–31. No. 5 Michigan beat Minnesota 39–13 at home. Poll: 1.Texas 2.Ohio State 3.Notre Dame 4.Nebraska 5.Michigan

October 31: No. 1 Texas beat SMU at home 42–15. No. 2 Ohio State beat Northwestern 24–10. No. 3 Notre Dame defeated Navy 56–7 in Philadelphia. No. 4 Nebraska won at Colorado 29–13. No. 5 Michigan won at Wisconsin 29–15. Despite reaching 6–0, Ohio State dropped to No. 3. The poll was : 1.Texas 2.Notre Dame 3.Ohio State 4.Nebraska 5.Michigan

November 7 No. 1 Texas won at Baylor 21–14. No. 2 Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh 46–14 at home. No. 3 Ohio State won at Wisconsin 24–7. No. 4 Nebraska won at Iowa State 54–29. No. 5 Michigan beat visiting Illinois 42–0. Notre Dame took over the top spot from Texas. Poll: 1.Notre Dame 2.Texas 3.Ohio State 4.Nebraska 5.Michigan

November 14 No. 1 Notre Dame survived visiting Georgia Tech, 10–7, and lost its top ranking. No. 2 Texas, which won at Texas Christian, 58–0, returned to No. 1. No. 3 Ohio State eked out a win at Purdue 10–7 . No. 4 Nebraska beat visiting Kansas State 51–13, and No. 5 Michigan shut out Iowa 55–0. . Poll: 1.Texas 2.Notre Dame 3.Ohio State 4.Nebraska 5.Michigan

November 21 As No. 1 Texas prepared for a Thanksgiving Day game, No. 2 Notre Dame won, but just barely, beating visiting LSU 3–0. No. 3 Ohio State finished its season with a 20–9 win in Columbus over No. 5 Michigan to go to the Rose Bowl. No. 4 Nebraska beat Oklahoma 28–21 at home to finish its season unbeaten. Arkansas won at Texas Tech 24–10, to reach the Top Five.

Poll: 1.Texas 2.Notre Dame3.Ohio State 4.Nebraska 5.Arkansas

On Thanksgiving Day, No. 1 Texas beat Texas A & M at home 52–14 to reach 9–0–0. That Saturday, November 28 No. 2 Notre Dame lost to USC in Los Angeles, 38–28, despite over 500 passing yards by quarterback Joe Theismann in a torrential downpour. No. 4 Nebraska and No. 5 Arkansas were idle. No. 7 Tennessee, which had beaten Vanderbilt 24–6 in Nashville to finish its season at 9–1–0, rose to fifth in the poll. LSU defeated Tulane 26–14 at New Orleans to keep its hopes of an Orange Bowl berth alive. The Tigers still needed to defeat Ole Miss December 5. The 7–4 Green Wave were invited to the Liberty Bowl to play Colorado.

The poll was: 1.Texas 2.Ohio State 3.Nebraska 4.Arkansas 5.Tennessee.

December 5 No. 1 Texas beat No. 4 Arkansas at Austin, 42–7 to close a perfect season at 10–0–0, running its winning streak to 30 and clinching the UPI national championship for the Longhorns. LSU crushed Ole Miss 61–17 at Baton Rouge to clinch the Southeastern Conference championship and rise into the top 5.

Poll: 1.Texas 2.Ohio State 3.Nebraska 4.Tennessee 5.LSU