| Week | Date | Rank | Rec | Points | FPV | CP | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre | Aug 21 | 7 | 0-0 | 1070 | 2 | DNP | |
| 1 | Aug 31 | 7 | 0-0 | 1146 | 2 | DNP | |
| 2 | Sep 6 | 9 | 1-0 | 1053 | 2 | W 19-14 at Georgia Tech | |
| 3 | Sep 13 | 9 | 2-0 | 1091 | 2 | W 44-0 at New Mexico State | |
| 4 | Sep 20 | 8 | 2-0 | 1115 | 1 | DNP | |
| 5 | Sep 27 | 6 | 3-0 | 1199 | 1 | W 34-10 at Stanford | |
| 6 | Oct 4 | 6 | 4-0 | 1202 | 1 | W 30-10 vs Oregon State | |
| 7 | Oct 11 | 14 | 4-1 | 709 | 0 | L 21-16 vs Colorado State | |
| 8 | Oct 18 | 14 | 5-1 | 764 | 0 | W 10-7 at Washington State | |
| 9 | Oct 25 | 11 | 6-1 | 890 | 0 | W 34-24 vs UCLA | |
| 10 | Nov 1 | 18 | 6-2 | 504 | 0 | L 10-9 at Oregon | |
| 11 | Nov 8 | 13 | 7-2 | 686 | 0 | W 13-6 vs California | |
| 12 | Nov 15 | 19 | 7-3 | 334 | 0 | L 45-28 at USC | |
| 13 | Nov 22 | 16 | 7-3 | 539 | 0 | DNP | |
| 14 | Nov 29 | 15 | 8-3 | 610 | 0 | W 28-27 vs Arizona State | |
| 15 | Dec 6 | 15 | 8-3 | 625 | 0 | DNP | |
| Final | Jan 3 | 20 | 8-4 | 364 | 0 | L 16-13 vs #14 Utah (Freedom) |
Note: Arizona'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.