During the 20th Century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A". The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of "wire service" (AP and UPI) polls. The "writers' poll" by Associated Press (AP) was the most popular, followed by the "coaches' poll" by United Press International) (UPI). Prior to 1965, both services issued their final polls at the close of the regular season, but before teams competed in bowl games. For the 1965 season, the AP took its final poll after the postseason games, an arrangement made permanent in 1968. The Associated Press presented the "AP Trophy" to the winner.
The AP poll in 1965 consisted of the votes of 55 sportswriters, each of whom would give their opinion of the ten best teams. Under a point system of 10 points for first place, 9 for second, etc., the "overall" ranking was determined. In the preseason poll for 1965, the writers cast first place votes for 9 different teams, and the range of points between the highest six finishers ranged from 252 to 311 points. Nebraska was #1 in the preseason rankings, followed by 2.Texas 3.Notre Dame 4.Michigan 5.Alabama 6.Arkansas.^[3] As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.
At season's end, Michigan State, Arkansas and Nebraska were all unbeaten, with records of 10-0-0, and as champions of the Big Ten, Southwestern and Big 8 conferences, respectively, they played in three separate bowl games (Rose, Cotton and Orange). Arkansas and Michigan State lost in their bowl games, and Alabama defeated Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. In the poll taken after the bowls, Alabama was crowned the national champion by the Associated Press. The school had been #1 in the UPI coaches' poll at the end of the 1964 season. Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1965_college_football_season.

Final Stats:

Conference	Best Team	Coach	Top NFL Player
SEC	Alabama 9 1 1	Bear Bryant	WR Ray Perkins picked 110th by BAL
Big Ten	Michigan State 10 1	Duffy Daugherty
SWC	Arkansas 10 1	Frank Broyles	T Dick Cunningham picked 136th by DET
AAWU	UCLA 8 2 1	Tommy Prothro	WR Dick Witcher picked 119th by SFO
Big 8	Nebraska 10 1	Bob Devaney	DT Walt Barnes picked 21st by WAS
Ind	New Mexico State 8 2	Warren Woodson
Ind	Utah State 8 2	Tony Knap	LB Ronald Sbranti picked 147th by SFO
Ind	Xavier 8 2	Edward Biles

Here are the final point standings for the 2001 IRL series:

	Driver	Car	Races	Win	Podium	Pole	Laps	Led	Points	Diff
1	Sam Hornish, Jr.	#4 Pennzoil   (Panther Racing) D/A/F	13	3	10	0	2643	765	503
2	Buddy Lazier	#91 Tae-Bo / Coors Light / Delta Faucet   (Ron Hemelgarn) D/A/F	13	4	5	0	2506	437	398	-105
3	Scott Sharp	#8 Delphi Automotive Systems   (Tom Kelley) D/A/F	13	1	4	3	2207	166	355	-148
4	Billy Boat	#98 Curb Records   (Greg Beck / Curb-Agajanian) D/A/F	13	0	1	0	2291	26	313	-190
5	Eliseo Salazar	#14 Harrah's   (A.J. Foyt) D/A/F	13	0	2	0	2438	82	308	-195
6	Felipe Giaffone	#21 Hollywood Cigarettes   (Treadway / Hubbard Racing) G/A/F	13	0	1	0	2298	51	304	-199
7	Al Unser, Jr.	#3 Starz SuperPak   (Rick Galles) G/A/F	13	1	2	0	1998	76	287	-216
8	Eddie Cheever, Jr.	#51 Cheever Indy Racing   (Eddie Cheever, Jr.) D/I/F	13	1	2	0	1977	168	261	-242
9	Buzz Calkins		13	0	1	0	2402	0	242	-261
10	Airton Dare		13	0	0	0	2160	6	239	-264
11	Jeff Ward		12	0	0	1	2089	50	238	-265
12	Robbie Buhl		13	0	2	0	1915	103	237	-266
13	Shigeaki Hattori		11	0	0	0	1979	0	215	-288
14	Mark Dismore		13	0	1	1	1798	54	205	-298
15	Donnie Beechler		9	0	1	0	1775	4	204	-299
16	Robby McGehee		11	0	0	0	1845	13	196	-307
17	Jaques Lazier		10	1	2	2	1469	139	195	-308
18	Greg Ray		10	1	1	4	1673	363	193	-310
19	Sarah Fisher		13	0	1	0	1675	0	188	-315
20	Didier Andre		12	0	0	0	1810	0	188	-315
21	Billy Roe		9	0	0	0	759	0	101	-402
22	Jeret Schroeder		7	0	0	0	852	0	77	-426
23	Jon Herb		6	0	0	0	668	0	70	-433
24	Helio Castroneves		2	1	1	0	342	56	64	-439
25	Rick Treadway		3	0	0	0	588	0	59	-444
26	Davey Hamilton		5	0	0	0	682	0	54	-449
27	Richie Hearn		2	0	0	0	396	0	50	-453
28	Gil de Ferran		2	0	1	0	276	30	46	-457
29	Laurent Redon		2	0	0	0	367	0	45	-458
30	Brandon Erwin		4	0	0	0	450	0	40	-463
31	Casey Mears		3	0	0	0	380	0	36	-467
32	Stan Wattles		3	0	0	0	304	0	36	-467
33	Chris Menninga		3	0	0	0	326	0	36	-467
34	Michael Andretti		1	0	1	0	200	16	35	-468
35	Stephan Gregoire		4	0	0	0	381	9	34	-469
36	Jimmy Vasser		1	0	0	0	200	0	32	-471
37	Bruno Junqueira		1	0	0	0	200	0	30	-473
38	Anthony Lazzaro		2	0	0	0	232	0	29	-474
39	Tony Stewart		1	0	0	0	200	13	28	-475
40	Cory Witherill		2	0	0	0	238	0	19	-484
41	Arie Luyendyk		1	0	0	0	198	1	17	-486
42	Tyce Carlson		1	0	0	0	162	0	15	-488
43	John Hollansworth, Jr.		1	0	0	0	189	0	12	-491
44	Robby Gordon		1	0	0	0	184	22	9	-494
45	Alex Barron		1	0	0	0	41	0	9	-494
46	Jack Miller		1	0	0	0	28	0	5	-498
47	Nicolas Minassian		1	0	0	0	74	0	1	-502
48	Scott Goodyear		1	0	0	0	7	0	1	-502

Here are the final points standings for the 2001 CART series:

	Driver	Car	Races	Win	Podium	Pole	Laps	Led	Points	Diff
1	Gil de Ferran	#1 Penske Racing   (Roger Penske) Reynard / Honda	20	2	8	4	2327	328	199
2	Kenny Brack	#8 Shell   (Bobby Rahal) Lola / Ford	20	4	6	2	2245	621	163	-36
3	Michael Andretti	#39 Motorola   (Team Motorola) Reynard / Honda	20	1	5	0	2156	108	147	-52
4	Helio Castroneves	#3 Marlboro   (Roger Penske) Reynard / Honda	20	3	4	3	2216	411	141	-58
5	Cristiano da Matta	#6 Texaco-Havoline / Kmart   (Newman Haas Racing) Lola / Toyota	20	3	5	0	2006	104	140	-59
6	Max Papis	#7 Miller Lite   (Bobby Rahal) Lola / Ford	20	2	4	1	2358	222	107	-92
7	Dario Franchitti	#27 Kool   (Team Green) Reynard / Honda	20	1	4	0	2223	53	105	-94
8	Scott Dixon		20	1	2	0	2521	74	98	-101
9	Tony Kanaan		19	0	1	1	2383	179	93	-106
10	Patrick Carpentier		20	1	4	0	1974	41	91	-108
11	Alex Tagliani		20	0	3	2	2238	70	80	-119
12	Jimmy Vasser		20	0	0	0	2186	12	77	-122
13	Roberto Moreno		20	1	3	1	2382	51	76	-123
14	Paul Tracy		20	0	2	0	1811	1	73	-126
15	Christian Fittipaldi		20	0	1	0	2266	12	70	-129
16	Bruno Junqueira		20	1	1	1	2043	38	68	-131
17	Memo Gidley		14	0	3	0	1594	147	65	-134
18	Adrian Fernandez		20	0	2	0	2101	38	45	-154
19	Oriol Servia		20	0	0	0	2394	15	42	-157
20	Michel Jourdain, Jr.		20	0	1	0	2251	6	30	-169
21	Tora Takagi		20	0	0	0	2087	4	29	-170
22	Bryan Herta		20	0	1	0	1772	22	28	-171
23	Alex Zanardi		15	0	0	0	1565	20	24	-175
24	Mauricio Gugelmin		19	0	0	1	2141	6	17	-182
25	Max Wilson		15	0	0	0	1092	23	12	-187
26	Shinji Nakano		20	0	0	0	2255	0	11	-188
27	Nicolas Minassian		6	0	0	0	824	0	7	-192
28	Casey Mears		4	0	0	0	394	2	7	-192
29	Alex Barron		2	0	0	0	285	3	4	-195
30	Townsend Bell		2	0	0	0	293	0	1	-198