22. 1970 saw three teams claim the National Championship in college football
In 1970, there was no playoff for college football, and only 11 bowl games were played following the regular season. There was no official national champion determined by the NCAA, but there was a National Champion trophy awarded by the writer’s poll from the Associated Press. Two other major polls were recognized, one from United Press International and participating coaches, and the other from the National Football Foundation (NFF). When the season was over the Nebraska Cornhuskers were unbeaten, but they had one tie on their record. Ohio State had its only loss in the Rose Bowl to Stanford (then called the Indians), but it played two games fewer than Nebraska. Texas lost in the Cotton Bowl, it’s only loss of the season.
The result was Nebraska being declared champion by the AP Poll; Texas by the UPI Coaches poll, and Ohio State by the NFF. No clear champion was hardly a tragedy though. On October 2, the airplane carrying part of the Wichita State team (there were two planes chartered) crashed, killing 14 players. On November 14, another charter flight carrying 37 members of the Marshall University team, eight coaches, and 25 team boosters crashed in West Virginia as the team was returning from a game in Greeneville, South Carolina. All 75 people aboard were killed. The accident occurred six weeks and one day after the Wichita State tragedy.