The 1963 NCAA College Division football season was played by

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

teams representing 299 colleges and universities recognized the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) as minor programs. The remaining 120 colleges and universities that were NCAA members and fielded football teams competed in the 1963 NCAA University Division football season.

Conference standings

Rankings

Small college poll

In 1963, both

United Press International 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 ...

(UPI) and the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

(AP) conducted "small college" polls, and selected different number one teams. UPI's panel of coaches selected

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, who had a record of 8–0 and had outscored their opponents 290–76 while winning all their games by at least 9 points. The AP's panel of sportswriters selected

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

, who finished the regular season at 9–0 including three shutouts. The Huskies went on to defeat in the Mineral Water Bowl, 21–14. After the season ended, the NCAA announced plans to play "four postseason regional games" in 1964. These were played from 1964 through 1972. However, not until 1973, when the NCAA College Division was reorganized as

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

and

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

, did these postseason games to determine a national champion. Associated Press (writers) final poll
Published on November 29 Denotes team played a game after UPI poll, hence record differs in AP poll
UMass was actually 8–0–1 when the poll was taken. United Press International (coaches) final poll
Published on December 4 Florida A&M actually 7–2 when the poll was taken.

References

{{NCAA football season navbox

Conference standings

Rankings

Small college poll

See also

References