Conference Southwest Conference AP No. 2 | Coaches No. 2 1964 record 11–0 (7–0 SWC) | |
Head coach Frank Broyles (7th year) Home stadium Razorback Stadium
War Memorial Stadium | ||
The 1964 Arkansas Razorbacks football team represented the University of Arkansas in the Southwest Conference (SWC) during the 1964 college football season. In their seventh year under head coach Frank Broyles, the Razorbacks compiled an undefeated 11–0 record (7–0 against SWC opponents), won the SWC championship, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 231 to 64. The Razorbacks were ranked #2 in both the final AP Poll and the final UPI Coaches Poll and were recognized as the national champion based on a poll by the Football Writers Association of America.
Southwest Conference Champions
Contents
Arkansas linebacker Ronnie Caveness was selected by the Associated Press, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Football Writers Association of America, Time magazine, and the Sporting News as a first-team player on the 1964 College Football All-America Team. Caveness was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Cotton Bowl Classic
Arkansas and Nebraska met for the first time in the 1965 Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas, Texas. Arkansas' number-one rated defense was giving up only 5.7 points per game, where Nebraska's #7 scoring offense was scoring 24.9 points per contest.
A standing-room-only crowd watched as the Hogs opened the scoring on a Tom McKnelly field goal, but the Huskers responded with Harry Wilson punching it in from one yard out. The third quarter passed with no scoring before Bobby Burnett of Arkansas ran in for the go-ahead touchdown. Despite being named the AP Poll and Coaches' Poll national champion, #1 Alabama could not hold off Texas in the Orange Bowl, which left Arkansas to take the number-one spot in the FWAA Poll and a share of that year's national championship.
Source: Razorback Bowl History – 1965 Cotton Bowl
National championship
Arkansas was invited to play in the Cotton Bowl Classic on January 1, 1965 against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Razorbacks went on to beat the Cornhuskers 10–7 and were selected as national champions by the Football Writers Association of America and the Helms Athletic Foundation as the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide lost their bowl game against the Texas Longhorns, a team Arkansas had beaten in Austin. Because the final AP and Coaches (UPI) Polls were released before bowl games were played at the time, the Crimson Tide was selected national champions by the AP and Coaches' (UPI) 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 Coaches' Poll adopted the post-bowl season model in 1974 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.