Factoid 252 - College Football in 1965

In 1965 there were 120 teams in Division 1, nine bowl games played, Mike Garrett ( halfback for USC) won the Heisman, Nebraska was the preseason AP #1 team, and Alabama and Michigan State would share National Champion honors. Alabama won the AP poll, and Michigan State won the Coaches poll.

Alabama would go 9-1-1 under coach Bear Bryant and finished out the season with a 39-28 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Michigan State would go 10-1 under coach Duffy Daugherty, finishing out the season by losing 14-12 to the UCLA Bruins in the Rose Bowl. The UPI poll came out at the end of the season before the bowl games, while the AP had started coming out after the bowl games.

All that being said, if the second ranked Arkansas Razorbacks could have beaten LSU in the Cotton Bowl, they would have easily won the AP poll. Instead, they lost by a score of 14-7. Muddy years in college football as far as National Champions go, but the final AP poll being released after the bowl games was a step in the right direction.

National Champions

• Alabama 9–1–1 Bear Bryant (AP, CFRA, FWAA, NCF) */**
• Michigan State 10–1 Duffy Daugherty (B(QPRS), BR, DeS, DuS, FN, FWAA, HAF, L, NFF, PS, SR, UPI) */**

• Ranger 8 was crashed into the Moon after successfully photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
• Gemini 3: NASA launched the United States' first 2-person crew (Gus Grissom, John Young) into Earth orbit.
• Gemini 4: Astronaut Edward Higgins White made the first U.S. space walk.