The 1974 small college football rankings were conducted via polls of head football coaches by United Press International (UPI) and via polls of sportswriters and broadcasters by the Associated Press (AP).
The final UPI poll was released before the NCAA Division II playoffs, and ranked Louisiana Tech first. The AP poll was released after the playoffs and ranked Central Michigan first.
The 1974 NCAA Division II football season was the 17th year UPI published a small-college poll and it was the 15th year the Associated Press published their small-college poll. These "small college" polls were discontinued after this season.
| Increase in ranking | |||
| Decrease in ranking | |||
| Not ranked previous week | |||
| Win–loss record | |||
| Number of first place votes | |||
| Tied with team above or below also with this symbol |
Jet magazine ranked the top 1974 teams from historically black colleges and universities based on a poll of coaches and conference commissioners.
The poll was published on December 26.[1]