| Season: | 1953 |
| Preseason Number 1: | Notre Dame |
| Champions: | Maryland |
Two human polls comprised the 1953 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship, instead that title is bestowed by one or more different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.
| Increase in ranking | |||
| Decrease in ranking | |||
| Not ranked previous week | |||
| National champion | |||
| Win–loss record | |||
| Number of first place votes | |||
| Tied with team above or below also with this symbol |
The final AP Poll was released on November 30, at the end of the 1953 regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.
The final UP Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games, on November 30.[1]
Maryland received 20 of the 35 first-place votes; Notre Dame received thirteen, and one each went to Michigan State and UCLA.[1]
| Ranking | Team | Conference | Bowl |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maryland | ACC | Lost Orange, 0–7 |
| 2 | Notre Dame | Independent | none |
| 3 | Michigan State | Big Ten | Won Rose, 28–20 |
| 4 | UCLA | Pacific Coast | Lost Rose, 20–28 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | Big Seven | Won Orange, 7–0 |
| 6 | Rice | Southwest | Won Cotton, 28–6 |
| 7 | Illinois | Big Ten | none |
| 8 | Texas | Southwest | |
| 9 | Georgia Tech | SEC | Won Sugar, 42–19 |
| 10 | Iowa | Big Ten | none |
| 11 | Alabama | SEC | Lost Cotton, 6–26 |
| 12 | Texas Tech | Border | Won Gator, 35–13 |
| 13 | West Virginia | Southern | Lost Sugar, 19–42 |
| 14 | Wisconsin | Big Ten | none |
| 15 | Kentucky | SEC | |
| 16 | Army | Independent | |
| 17 | Stanford | Pacific Coast | |
| 18 | Duke | ACC | |
| 19 | Michigan | Big Ten | |
| 20 | Ohio State | Big Ten |
The Litkenhous Ratings released in mid-December 1953 provided numerical rankings to over 683 college football programs. The top 50 ranked teams were:[2] 1. Notre Dame
2. Maryland
3. Oklahoma
4. Rice
5. Michigan State
6. Wisconsin
7. Iowa
8. UCLA
9. Illinois
10. Texas Tech
11. Ole Miss
12. Michigan
13. Texas
14. Georgia Tech
15. Kentucky
16. Auburn
17. Mississippi State
18. Baylor
19. Ohio State
20. West Virginia
21. SMU
22. Minnesota
23. LSU
24. Marquette
25. Florida
26. Stanford
27. Penn State
28. Duke
29. California
30. Cincinnati
31. Alabama
32. Miami (FL)
33. Army
34. USC
35. Syracuse
36. Tennessee
37. Missouri
38. Navy
39. Purdue
40. TCU
41. Arkansas
42. Texas A&M<br>43. Oklahoma A&M<br>44. Houston
45. Northwestern
46. Kansas State
47. Miami (OH)
48. Pittsburgh
49. Detroit
50. Penn
The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African American newspaper, ranked the top 1953 teams from historically black colleges and universities in an era when college football was largely segregated. The rankings were published on December 19:[3]
The Associated Negro Press also published rankings on December 25:[4]