| Week | Date | Rank | Rec | Points | FPV | CP | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre | Sep 10 | NR | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | DNP | |
| 1 | Sep 25 | 7 | 0-0 | 220 | 2 | DNP | |
| 2 | Oct 2 | NR | 0 | 0 | |||
| 3 | Oct 9 | NR | 0 | 0 | |||
| 4 | Oct 16 | NR | 0 | 0 | |||
| 5 | Oct 23 | NR | 0 | 0 | |||
| 10 | Nov 27 | NR | 6-3 | 0 | 0 | W 35-16 at TCU | |
| Final | Dec 4 | RV | 7-3 | 5 | 0 |
Note: Rice's 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.