1956 National Champion: And Who Else Claims It

The case for each side

Oklahoma

10-0

Recognized byAPConsensusFWAARecognizedUPIConsensus· claimed by the program

AP, UPI, and FWAA national champion.

Oklahoma’s 1956 schedule

Iowa

9-1

Claimed by the program: no recognized selector picked them

Finished No. 3 in final polls; recognized only decades later by the College Football Researchers Association, not by AP, UPI, or FWAA.

Iowa’s 1956 schedule

No national title game was played after the 1956 season: before 1998 there was no mechanism to play one, which is why so many of these seasons were settled by vote instead.