| Week | Date | Rank | Rec | Points | FPV | CP | BCS | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 5 | RV | 7 | -- | ||||
| 2 | Sep 10 | RV | 32 | -- | ||||
| 3 | Sep 17 | RV | 46 | -- | ||||
| 4 | Sep 24 | 23 | 4-0 | 117 | 0 | -- | ||
| 5 | Oct 1 | 24 | 5-0 | 178 | 0 | -- | ||
| 6 | Oct 8 | 24 | 5-0 | 194 | 0 | -- | ||
| 7 | Oct 15 | 19 | 6-0 | 400 | 0 | 16 | ||
| 8 | Oct 22 | 16 | 7-0 | 579 | 0 | 14 | ||
| 9 | Oct 29 | 15 | 7-0 | 644 | 0 | 12 | ||
| 10 | Nov 5 | 15 | 8-0 | 721 | 0 | 13 | ||
| 11 | Nov 12 | 7 | 9-0 | 1212 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 12 | Nov 19 | 15 | 9-1 | 736 | 0 | 14 | ||
| 13 | Nov 26 | 13 | 10-1 | 906 | 0 | 13 | ||
| 14 | Dec 3 | 16 | 10-2 | 631 | 0 | 16 | ||
| Final | Jan 9 | 12 | 11-2 | 884 | 0 | -- | W 37-10 vs Kansas State (Texas) |
Note: Rutgers' ranking in the final 1961 poll has been changed to unranked after the original AP wire story and poll was revisited and confirmed across several newspapers.