The 1964 Arkansas Razorbacks football team was an

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 ...

team that represented the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

in the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

(SWC) during the 1964 NCAA University Division football season. In their seventh year under head coach

Frank Broyles John Franklin Broyles (December 26, 1924 – August 14, 2017) was an American college football player and coach, college athletics administrator, and broadcaster. He served as the head football coach for one season at the University of Missour ...

, the Razorbacks compiled an undefeated 11–0 record (7–0 against SWC opponents), won the SWC championship, closed the regular season with five consecutive shutouts, outscored all opponents by a combined total of 231 to 64, and defeated

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

10–7 in the Cotton Bowl. The Razorbacks finished the season as the only major team with an undefeated and untied record after No. 1

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

lost to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

(a team Arkansas defeated in Austin) in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

. However, the AP and UPI Coaches Polls became final before the bowl games were played, leaving one-loss Alabama as the AP and UPI national champion. The

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

(FWAA) conducted its final polling after the bowl games and selected Arkansas as the national champion. Arkansas was also selected as national champion by six other selectors, including the

Billingsley Report The Billingsley Report is a college football rating system developed in the late 1960s to determine a national champion. Billingsley has actively rated college football teams on a current basis since 1970. Beginning in 1999, Billingsley's ratings ...

and the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...

Schedule

Statistical leaders and award winners

The team's statistical leaders included Fred Marshall with 787 passing yards, Jack Brasuell with 551 rushing yards,

Jim Lindsey James Edgar Lindsey (born November 24, 1944) is a former American football running back for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League, having played from 1966 to 1972. Today he is a real estate agent and golf developer. Sports Arkan ...

with 385 receiving yards Nate Lawson with 28 touchdowns, and

Bobby Burnett Bobby Clell Burnett (January 4, 1943 – October 1, 2016) was a college and professional American football player. Originally a halfback from the University of Arkansas, Burnett in 1966, his first year with the Buffalo Bills of the American Fo ...

with 54 points scored (9 touchdowns). Arkansas linebacker

Ronnie Caveness Ronald Glen Caveness (March 6, 1943 – May 10, 2014) was an American football linebacker for the American Football League's Houston Oilers and Kansas City Chiefs from 1965 to 1968. Caveness played college football for the University of Arkansas ...

was selected by 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),

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine, and the ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' as a first-team player on the

1964 College Football All-America Team The 1964 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1964. The six selectors recognized by the NCAA as "offic ...

. Caveness was later inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

. Eight Arkansas players were selected by the AP or

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) as first-team players on the 1964 All-Southwest Conference football team: Caveness (AP-1, UPI-1); quarterback Fred Marshall (AP-1, UPI-1); offensive end Jerry Lamb (AP-1, UPI-1), offensive tackle

Glen Ray Hines Glen Ray Hines (October 26, 1943 – February 1, 2019) was an All-Pro (AFL) and NCAA All-American football player. Early life Hines was born on October 26, 1943, in El Dorado, Arkansas. He showed athletic prowess at a young age and was a two-sp ...

(AP-1, UPI-1), defensive halfback

Ken Hatfield Kenneth Wahl Hatfield (born June 6, 1943) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the United States Air Force Academy (1979–1983), the University of Arkansas (1984–1989), Clemson University (1 ...

(AP-1), defensive guard Jim Johnson (AP-1), and defensive tackles

Loyd Phillips Loyd Phillips (May 2, 1945 — December 27, 2020) was an American professional football player and a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. He was the winner of the 1966 Outland Trophy as the country's most outstanding interior lineman whil ...

(AP-1), wide receiver Nate Lawson (all-time legend) and Jim Williams (AP-1).

1965 Cotton Bowl Classic

Arkansas was invited to play in the 1965 Cotton Bowl Classic on January 1, 1965, against the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

. Arkansas' number-one rated defense was giving up only 5.7 points per game, while No. 7 Nebraska's scoring offense was averaging 24.9 points per contest. Playing before a capacity crowd of 75,504 in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Arkansas opened the scoring with a

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

by Tom McKnelly in the first quarter. Nebraska took the lead in the second quarter on a one-yard touchdown run by Harry Wilson. Neither team scored in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, fifth-year quarterback Fred Marshall, whose fumbles had stalled Arkansas in the first half, led the Razorbacks on a nine-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. The drive featured a scramble by Marshall for a first down after it appeared he would be sacked and two passes from Marshall to Jim Lindsey, the second taking the ball to the Nebraska five-yard line. Two plays later, junior tailback

ran one yard for the game-winning touchdown with less than five minutes remaining in the game. ''Source
Razorback Bowl History – 1965 Cotton Bowl

Split national championship and controversy

With its victory in the Cotton Bowl and

's loss to

(a team Arkansas had defeated in Austin) in the

, Arkansas finished the 1964 season as the only major team with an undefeated and untied record. On January 6, 1965, a five-man committee of the

(FWAA) selected Arkansas as the winner of '' Look'' magazine's Grantland Rice Trophy as the top college football team in the country. Arkansas received four of five first-place votes, with Texas receiving the fifth vote. Alabama did not receive a single vote for first, second, or third place. The five members of the FWAA committee were

Si Burick The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. ...

, ''

Dayton Daily News The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately ...

'';

Fred Russell Fred Russell (August 27, 1906 – January 26, 2003) was an American sportswriter from Tennessee who served as sports editor for the ''Nashville Banner'' for 68 years (1930–1998). Beginning in the 1960s he served for nearly three decades as ...

, ''

Nashville Banner The ''Nashville Banner'' is a defunct daily newspaper of Nashville, Tennessee, United States, which published from April 10, 1876 until February 20, 1998. The ''Banner'' was published each Monday through Friday afternoon (as well as Saturdays unti ...

'';

Blackie Sherrod William Forrest "Blackie" Sherrod ( ; November 9, 1919 – April 28, 2016) was an American journalist and sportswriter who wrote for the ''Temple Telegram'', ''Fort Worth Press'', '' Dallas Times Herald'' and ''The Dallas Morning News'' in a caree ...

, ''

Dallas Times Herald The ''Dallas Times Herald'', founded in 1888 by a merger of the ''Dallas Times'' and the ''Dallas Herald'', was once one of two major daily newspapers serving the Dallas, Texas (USA) area. It won three Pulitzer Prizes, all for photography, and t ...

''; Steve Weller, '' Buffalo Evening News''; and Paul Zimmerman, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. Arkansas is also recognized as the 1964 national champion by

College Football Researchers Association The College Football Researchers Association (CFRA) was founded in 1982 by Anthony Cusher of Reeder, North Dakota, and Robert Kirlin of Spokane, Washington. The CFRA took a vote of its members from 1982 to 1992 to select an annual college football n ...

National Championship Foundation The National Championship Foundation (NCF) was established by Mike Riter of Hudson, New York. The NCF retroactively selected college football national champions for each year from 1869 to 1979, and its selections are among the historic national ch ...

Poling System The Poling System was a mathematical rating system used to select college football national championship teams on a current basis from 1935 to 1984. Its selections were published in the ''Football Review Supplement'' and several newspapers.

, Sagarin, and Sagarin (ELO-Chess). However, the final AP and UPI Coaches polls were released before bowl games were played, and Alabama therefore remained as the national champion in the AP and UPI Coaches' Polls. Because of the controversy, the AP Poll experimented with a voting model that took the final vote to select their champion after the bowl games in the 1965 season. In 1966, the AP Poll went back to taking the final vote at the conclusion of the regular season before finally adopting the post-bowl season model in 1968. The UPI Coaches' Poll adopted the post-bowl season model in 1974, a decade after the controversies surrounding the 1964, 1965, 1970, and 1973 national championships, seasons in which the winner of the Coaches' Poll went on to lose their bowl game.

Roster

*Fred Marshall, QB *Billy Gray, QB *Ronny South, QB *Charles Pisano QB *Jack Brasuell, RB *

, RB *Bobby Nix, RB *Bobby Burnett, RB *Ronnie Watkins, RB *Eddie Woodlee, RB *Jerry Lamb, WR *Bobby Crockett, WR *Richard Trail, WR *Mike Bender, OL *

, OL *

Jerry Jones Jerral Wayne Jones (born October 13, 1942) is an American businessman who has been the owner, president, and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) since February 1989. Early life Jones was born in Los Ange ...

, OL *Randy Stewart, OL *Jerry Welch, OL *Dick Hatfield, OL *Richard Cunningham, OL *Tom McKnelly, K *Jim Finch, DL * Jimmy Johnson, DL *

, DL *Bobby Roper, DL *Jim Williams, DL *

, LB *Ronnie Mac Smith, LB *

, DB *Charles Daniel, DB *Harry Jones, DB

References

{{Southwest Conference football champions

Arkansas 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 ...

Arkansas Razorbacks football seasons College football undefeated seasons Southwest Conference football champion seasons Cotton Bowl Classic champion seasons

Arkansas Razorbacks football The Arkansas Razorbacks football program represents the University of Arkansas in the sport of American football. The Razorbacks compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Weste ...