1974 NCAA Division I football season

• Blocking below the waist is prohibited on kickoffs, punts, or free kicks, and anywhere on the field except in a three-yard area around the line of scrimmage.
• Shoulder pads are required equipment for all players. Prior to this, kickers and wide receivers frequently played without shoulder pads.
• Penalty enforcement on running plays is from the end of the run except for fouls committed by the offense; those are penalized from the spot of the foul.
• Players who enter the field are required to remain for one play, and players who leave the field are required to stay on the bench for one play. This ended the practice of sending "messenger" players in to relay plays from the sideline, then leave the field without participating.
• Players leaving the bench to participate in touchdown celebrations will result in a five-yard penalty for the scoring team. If a coach joins in the celebration on the field, the penalty is 15 yards.
• Successful field goals now must travel between the uprights; previously a field goal was declared good if the ball went over an upright, the standard still used by the National Football League. This became a point of dispute in the 1974 Ohio State-Michigan game, as Michigan's game-winning field goal attempt was declared no good due to the ball going over the left upright. Michigan claimed the ball curled just inside the left upright.

In the preseason poll released on September 2, 1974, the AP ranked Oklahoma No. 1, followed by No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 USC.

September 7 No. 3 Notre Dame, the defending national champion, beat Georgia Tech in Atlanta, 31–7, in a nationally televised game on Monday night, September 9. Arizona State, UCLA and Houston were among the few other schools playing that weekend. Elsewhere, the scheduled Ole Miss-Tulane game in New Orleans was postponed until November 30 due to the threat of Hurricane Carmen. The poll was: 1.Oklahoma 2.Notre Dame 3.Alabama 4.Ohio State 5.USC

September 14 No. 1 Oklahoma beat Baylor, 28–11. No. 2 Notre Dame was idle. No. 3 Alabama won at No. 14 Maryland, 21–16. No. 4 Ohio State won at Minnesota, 34–19. No. 5 USC lost to Arkansas in Little Rock, 22–7. No. 7 Nebraska, which beat Oregon in its opener, 61–7, rose to fourth. The poll was 1.Notre Dame 2.Ohio State 3.Oklahoma 4.Nebraska 5.Alabama

September 21 No. 1 Notre Dame won at Northwestern, 49–3. No. 2 Ohio State beat Oregon State 51–10. No. 3 Oklahoma was idle. No. 4 Nebraska lost at Wisconsin, 21–20. No. 5 Alabama beat Southern Mississippi at Alabama, 52–0. No. 6 Michigan, which beat Colorado, 31–0, rose to fifth. The poll was 1.Notre Dame 2.Ohio State 3.Oklahoma 4.Alabama 5.Michigan

September 28 No. 1 Notre Dame was upset at home by Purdue, 31–20. No. 2 Ohio State defeated SMU, 28–9. No. 3 Oklahoma rolled over visiting Utah State, 72–3.No. 4 Alabama beat Vanderbilt 23–10. No. 5 Michigan beat Navy, 52–0 No. 9 Texas A&M, which won at Washington 28–15, rose to fifth. The poll was 1.Ohio State 2.Oklahoma 3.Alabama 4.Michigan 5.Texas A & M

October 5 No. 1 Ohio State beat Washington State 42–7 in Seattle. No. 2 Oklahoma shut out Wake Forest 63–0. No. 3 Alabama beat Mississippi at Jackson, 35–21. No. 4 Michigan won at Stanford, 27–16. No. 5 Texas A&M lost at Kansas, 28–10. No. 6 Nebraska, which beat Minnesota 54–0, rose to fifth. The poll was 1.Ohio State 2.Oklahoma 3.Alabama 4.Michigan 5.Nebraska

October 12 No. 1 Ohio State beat visiting No. 13 Wisconsin 52–7. No. 2 Oklahoma barely defeated No. 17 Texas in Dallas, 16–13. No. 3 Alabama survived a game against winless (0–4–0)Florida State, winning 8–7 No. 4 Michigan beat Michigan State, 21–7. No. 5 Nebraska lost to Missouri, 21–10. No. 10 Auburn, which beat Kentucky 31–13, rose to fifth. The poll was 1.Ohio State 2.Oklahoma 3.Michigan 4.Alabama 5.Auburn

October 19 No. 1 Ohio State beat Indiana, 49–9 No. 2 Oklahoma won at Colorado, 49–14. No. 3 Michigan won at Wisconsin, 24–20. No. 4 Alabama won at Tennessee, 28–6. No. 5 Auburn beat Georgia Tech 31–22. The poll was unchanged: 1.Ohio State 2.Oklahoma 3.Michigan 4.Alabama 5.Auburn

October 26 No. 1 Ohio State won at Northwestern, 55–7. No. 2 Oklahoma beat Kansas State, 63–0. No. 3 Michigan beat Minnesota, 49–0. No. 4 Alabama beat TCU 41–3 at Birmingham. No. 5 Auburn beat Florida State 38–6. The poll was unchanged 1.Ohio State 2.Oklahoma 3.Michigan 4.Alabama 5.Auburn

November 2 No. 1 Ohio State defeated Illinois at home, 49–7. With a record of 8–0–0, the Buckeyes had outscored their opposition 360 to 75. No. 2 Oklahoma won at Iowa State, 28–10. No. 3 Michigan won at Indiana, 21–7. No. 4 Alabama beat No. 17 Mississippi State 35–0, and thereby jumped over Michigan to No. 3. No. 5 Auburn lost at No. 11 Florida, 25–14. No. 8 Texas A&M, which beat Arkansas 20–10, returned to the Top Five. The poll was 1.Ohio State 2.Oklahoma 3.Alabama 4.Michigan 5.Texas A & M

November 9 In East Lansing, Michigan, No. 1 Ohio State was upset by unranked (and 4–3–1) Michigan State, 16–13. No. 2 Oklahoma, which had beaten Missouri 37–0, took the first spot. No. 3 Alabama beat LSU in Birmingham, 30–0. No. 4 Michigan won at Illinois, 14–6. No. 5 Texas A&M lost at SMU, 18–14. No. 8 Notre Dame was idle, but rose to fifth place. The AP poll was 1.Oklahoma 2.Alabama 3.Michigan 4.Ohio State 5.Notre Dame while the UPI poll was 1.Alabama 2.Michigan 3.Ohio State 4.Notre Dame 5.USC

November 16 No. 1 Oklahoma won at Kansas, 45–14. No. 2 Alabama won in Florida over Miami, 28–7. The other Miami, Miami University, was ranked 12th with a record of 8–0–1. No. 3 Michigan beat Purdue, 51–0, to extend its record to 10–0–0. No. 4 Ohio State won at Iowa, 35–10. No. 5 Notre Dame beat No. 17 Pittsburgh, 14–10. The AP poll was unchanged: 1.Oklahoma 2.Alabama 3.Michigan 4.Ohio State 5.Notre Dame, while the UPI poll was 1.Alabama 2.Michigan 3.Ohio State 4.Notre Dame 5.USC

November 23 No. 1 Oklahoma beat No. 6 Nebraska, 28–14. No. 2 Alabama was idle as it prepared for its season ender with Auburn. The game that determined the Big Ten championship took place in Columbus, Ohio, as No. 3 Michigan (10–0–0) met No. 4 Ohio State (10–1–0). OSU won, 12–10. No. 5 Notre Dame beat Air Force, 38–0. USC topped UCLA 34–9 for the Pac-8 title and Rose Bowl berth. The AP poll was 1.Oklahoma 2.Alabama 3.Ohio State 4.Notre Dame 5.USC and the UPI poll was 1.Alabama 2.Ohio State 3.Notre Dame 4.USC 5.Michigan

The annual Alabama-Auburn game took place on a Friday night, played in Birmingham on November 29, with No. 2 Alabama winning 17–13 over No. 7 Auburn to close its season at 11–0–0. On November 30 No. 1 Oklahoma won its annual season ender against OK State, 44–13, to also close its season 11–0–0. Alabama would go to the Sugar Bowl, while Oklahoma would stay home due to NCAA probation. No. 4 Notre Dame met No. 5 USC in Los Angeles. USC won, 55–24 after trailing 24–0, and reached the Top four.

In other action, Tulane lost its final game at Tulane Stadium 26–10 to Ole Miss. The Green Wave played 38 of their next 39 seasons at the Superdome, except for 2005, when they were forced to play all of their games away from New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Tulane returned to campus in 2014 when Yulman Stadium opened.

The AP poll was 1.Oklahoma 2.Alabama 3.Ohio State 4.USC 5.Michigan and the UPI poll was 1.Alabama 2.Ohio State 3.USC 4.Michigan 5.Auburn.

Oklahoma and Alabama, both 11–0–0, were the only undefeated and untied teams at season's end. AP ranked Oklahoma first, and UPI ranked Alabama No. 1.

Wednesday, January 1, 1975

1. Archie Griffin, RB - Ohio State, 1,920 points
2. Anthony Davis, RB - USC, 819
3. Joe Washington, RB - Oklahoma, 661
4. Tom Clements, QB - Notre Dame, 244
5. David Humm, QB - Nebraska, 210
6. Dennis Franklin, QB - Michigan, 100
7. Rod Shoate, LB -Oklahoma, 97
8. Gary Sheide, QB - BYU, 90
9. Randy White, DT - Maryland, 85
10. Steve Bartkowski, QB - California, 74

• Griffin and Washington were juniors

Source:[5][6]

• 1974 NCAA Division I football rankings
• 1974 College Football All-America Team
• 1974 NCAA Division II football season
• 1974 NCAA Division III football season