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.
| 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 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.
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]
| Ranking | Team | Conference | Bowl |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma | Big Seven | Won Orange, 20–6 |
| 2 | Michigan State | Big Ten | Won Rose, 17–14 |
| 3 | Maryland | ACC | Lost Orange, 6–20 |
| 4 | UCLA | Pacific Coast | Lost Rose, 14–17 |
| 5 | Ohio State | Big Ten | none |
| 6 | TCU | Southwest | Lost Cotton, 13–14 |
| 7 | Georgia Tech | SEC | Won Sugar, 7–0 |
| 8 | Auburn | SEC | Lost Gator, 13–25 |
| 9 | Ole Miss | SEC | Won Cotton, 14–13 |
| 10 | Notre Dame | Independent | none |
| 11 | Pittsburgh | Independent | Lost Sugar, 0–7 |
| 12 | USC | Pacific Coast | none |
| 13 | Michigan | Big Ten | |
| 14 | Texas A&M | Southwest | |
| 15 | Army | Independent | |
| 16 | Duke | ACC | |
| 17 | West Virginia | Southern | |
| 18 | Miami (FL) | Independent | |
| 19 | Iowa | Big Ten | |
| 20 | Miami (OH) | Mid-American | |
| Navy | Independent | ||
| Stanford | Pacific Coast | ||
| 23 | Kentucky | SEC | |
| Tennessee | SEC |
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
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]