The 1970 NCAA College Division football season was the 15th season of
college football in the United States organized by the
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athlete, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic sports, ...
at the
NCAA College Division The NCAA College Division was a historic subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) consisting of member schools competing at a lower level of college sports. The NCAA initially divided schools into a College Division and a ...
level.
Conference and program changes
Conference changes
Conference standings
Rankings
College Division teams (also referred to as "small college") were ranked in polls by the
AP (a panel of writers) and by
UPI
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...
(coaches). The national champion(s) for each season were determined by the final poll rankings, published at or near the end of the regular season, before any bowl games were played.
College Division final polls
In 1970, both UPI and AP ranked
Arkansas State
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
(10–0) number one. The 34 coaches on the UPI board ranked
Tampa
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough Co ...
second, followed by
Montana
Montana () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West List of regions of the United States#Census Bureau-designated regions and divisions, division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North ...
, while the AP panel ranked Montana second, followed by
North Dakota State
North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as th ...
. Arkansas State went on to beat in the
Pecan Bowl, 38–21,
while Montana lost to North Dakota State in the
Camellia Bowl, 31–16.
United Press International (coaches) final poll
Published on December 2
Associated Press (writers) final poll
Published on December 3
Includes NAIA playoff win
Bowl games
The postseason consisted of four
bowl game
In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...
s as regional finals, all played on December 12.
This was the final year for the
Pecan Bowl; it was succeeded by the
Pioneer Bowl
The Pioneer Bowl was the name of some December college football bowl games played in two different eras. Between 1971 and 1982, the game was contested 10 times in Texas as an NCAA College Division regional final, or as a playoff game for Divis ...
in
Wichita Falls
Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. According ...
in
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
.
See also
*
1970 NCAA University Division football season
The 1970 NCAA University Division football season was marked by tragedy, due to two airplane crashes. On October 2, one of the planes carrying the Wichita State football team crashed on the way to a game against Utah State, killing 31 people o ...
*
1970 NAIA Division I football season
The 1970 NAIA Division I football season was the 15th season of college football sponsored by the NAIA. It was also the first of twenty-seven seasons that the NAIA split its football competition into two separate championships.
The season was p ...
*
1970 NAIA Division II football season
The 1970 NAIA Division II football season was the 15th season of college football sponsored by the NAIA and the first season of play of the NAIA's lower division for football. Prior to the season, the NAIA split its football competition into two ...
References
{{NCAA football season navbox