1955 college football rankings explained

Season:1955
Preseason Number 1:UCLA
Champions:Oklahoma

Two human polls comprised the 1955 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.

Legend

 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

AP Poll

The final AP Poll was released on November 28, at the end of the 1955 regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.

Final Coaches Poll

The final UP Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games, on November 28.[1]
Oklahoma received 24 of the 35 first-place votes; Michigan State received seven, and two each to Maryland and UCLA.[1]

RankingTeamConferenceBowl
1 OklahomaBig SevenWon Orange, 20–6
2 Michigan StateBig TenWon Rose, 17–14
3 MarylandACCLost Orange, 6–20
4 UCLAPacific CoastLost Rose, 14–17
5 Ohio StateBig Tennone
6 TCUSouthwestLost Cotton, 13–14
7 Georgia TechSECWon Sugar, 7–0
8 AuburnSECLost Gator, 13–25
9 Ole MissSECWon Cotton, 14–13
10 Notre DameIndependentnone
11 PittsburghIndependentLost Sugar, 0–7
12 USCPacific Coastnone
13 MichiganBig Ten
14 Texas A&MSouthwest
15 ArmyIndependent
16 DukeACC
17 West VirginiaSouthern
18 Miami (FL)Independent
19 IowaBig Ten
20 Miami (OH)Mid-American
NavyIndependent
StanfordPacific Coast
23 KentuckySEC
TennesseeSEC
[1]

Litkenhous Ratings

The top 25 ranked teams in the Litkenhous Ratings were:[2] 1. Oklahoma
2. UCLA
3. TCU
4. Maryland
5. Michigan State
6. Georgia Tech
7. Ohio State
8. Ole Miss
9. USC
10. Notre Dame
11. Michigan
12. Stanford
13. Texas A&M<br>14. Miami (FL)
15. Vanderbilt
16. Tennessee
17. Army
18. Pittsburgh
19. Duke
20. Navy
21. Iowa
22. West Virginia
23. Auburn
24. LSU
25. Texas

HBCU rankings

The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African American newspaper, ranked the top 1955 teams from historically black colleges and universities in an era when college football was largely segregated. The rankings were published on December 10:[3]

The Associated Negro Press also published rankings on December 8:[4]

Notes and References

  1. News: Final UP poll . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon). United Press . November 29, 1955 . 2B.
  2. News: Oklahoma Named 1955 Grid Champ. The Chattanooga Times. December 13, 1955. 14. Newspapers.com.
  3. News: Final National Football Rating. The Pittsburgh Courier. December 10, 1955. 30. Newspapers.com.
  4. Web site: Luix Virgil Overbea. December 8, 1955. Pigskin Huddle. The Black Dispatch (p. 9).