The 1954 college football season was the 86th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. It saw three major college teams finish unbeaten and untied: Ohio State compiled a 10–0 record in its fourth season under Woody Hayes and defeated USC in the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes were ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press (AP) poll and No. 2 in the final United Press (UP) coaches poll. Halfback Howard Cassady was named the team's most valuable player. UCLA compiled a 9–0 record in its sixth season under Red Sanders. The Bruins were ranked No. 1 in the UP poll and No. 2 in the AP poll. The Bruins were also ranked No. 1 by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA). Despite winning the Pacific Coast Conference championship, UCLA did not play in the Rose Bowl due to a "no repeat" rule (UCLA having played in the game the prior year). Oklahoma compiled a 10–0 record in its 10th season under Bud Wilkinson and was ranked No. 3 in the final AP and UP polls. The Sooners ranked seventh nationally in total offense (382.7 yards per game) and fifth in total defense (186.3 yards per game). The 1954 season was part of a 47-game winning streak that ran from October 10, 1953, to November 9, 1957. California played all three of the undefeated teams. They lost in week 1 to Oklahoma in Berkeley 27-13, they lost in week 3 to Ohio State in Columbus 21-13, and they lost in week 7 to UCLA in Berkeley 27-6.

Wisconsin fullback Alan Ameche won the Heisman Trophy, and Navy end Ron Beagle won the Maxwell Award. Individual statistical leaders in major college football included Arizona tailback Art Luppino with 1,359 rushing yards and 166 points scored, Oregon quarterback George Shaw with 1,536 yards of total offense, California quarterback Paul Larson with 1,537 passing yards, and California end Jim Hanifan with 44 receptions.

Small college teams with perfect seasons included Omaha (10–0 Tangerine Bowl champion), Juniata (three consecutive undefeated seasons), Trinity (CT) (consecutive perfect seasons), and Whitworth (part of a 21-game winning streak).

Conference and program changes The ACC voted to add Virginia as its eighth football-playing member in December 1953.

School 1953 Conference 1954 Conference Virginia Cavaliers Independent ACC DePauw Tigers Independent ICC

September In the preseason poll released on September 13, 1954, No. 1 Notre Dame had the most points, although No. 2 Oklahoma had more first place votes (74 vs. 52). Rounding out the Top Five were defending champion No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Illinois. As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.

September 18, No. 2 Oklahoma won at No. 12 California 27–13, and No. 3 Maryland won at Kentucky, 20–0. Notre Dame and Texas, No. 1 and No. 4, were preparing to meet at South Bend to open their seasons. Oklahoma replaced Notre Dame as No. 1 in the first regular poll. No. 7 Georgia Tech, which beat Tulane 28–0 in Atlanta, replaced Illinois in the Top Five. Defying high expectations, the Illini would lose their opener to Penn State, 14–12, and finish the season with a 1–8–0 record. The next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 Texas, and No. 5 Georgia Tech.

September 25 No. 2 Notre Dame hosted No. 4 Texas and won 21–0. No. 1 Oklahoma beat No. 20 Texas Christian (TCU) 21–16. No. 3 Maryland was idle, and No. 5 Georgia Tech lost to Florida, 13–12. Notre Dame took back over the top spot from O.U., and Texas, Maryland and Georgia Tech were replaced by No. 8 UCLA (32–7 over Kansas), No. 10 Wisconsin (52–14 over Marquette) and No. 11 Iowa (14–10 over No. 7 Michigan State). The poll: No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Iowa, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 5 Wisconsin.

October In a Friday game, No. 4 UCLA beat defending national champion No. 6 Maryland 12–7. The next day, October 2, No. 1 Notre Dame was upset by No. 19 Purdue, 27–14. No. 2 Oklahoma which was idle, moved to the top as Notre Dame dropped to eighth. No. 3 Iowa defeated visiting Montana, 48–6, and No. 5 Wisconsin beat No. 13 Michigan State 6–0. The next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 4 Iowa, and No. 5 Purdue.

October 9 No. 1 Oklahoma won its annual game in Dallas against No. 15 Texas, 14–7. No. 2 UCLA edged Washington 21–20. No. 3 Wisconsin beat No. 11 Rice 13–7. No. 4 Iowa lost to unranked Michigan, 14–13, and No. 5 Purdue was tied by No. 6 Duke, 13–13. No. 10 Ohio State, which had won at Illinois 40–7, entered the Top Five: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 5 Purdue.

October 16 No. 2 Wisconsin hosted No. 5 Purdue and won 20–6. No. 1 Oklahoma visited Kansas and annihilated it, 65–0, while No. 3 UCLA went one better in beating Stanford 72–0. No. 4 Ohio State beat No. 13 Iowa 20–14. No. 7 Ole Miss, which had beaten Tulane 34–7, entered the Top Five: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 5 Mississippi.

October 23 No. 2 Wisconsin faced its second high-ranked opponent in a week, visiting Big Ten rival and No. 4 Ohio State. OSU won, 31–14, to take the No. 1 spot. No. 1 Oklahoma beat Kansas State 21–0, and No. 3 UCLA beat Oregon State 61–0. No. 5 Mississippi lost to No. 7 Arkansas at Little Rock, 6–0. No. 9 Army, which had won 67–12 at Columbia, moved up. The next poll: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Arkansas, and No. 5 Army.

October 30 No. 1 Ohio State won at Northwestern, 14–7. No. 2 Oklahoma won 13–6 at Colorado. No. 3 UCLA won at California 27–6 and was given top billing in the next poll. No. 4 Arkansas won 14–7 at Texas A&M. No. 5 Army, which got to stay home, edged Virginia 21–20. No. 6 Notre Dame, which beat No. 15 Navy 6–0 in Baltimore, moved up. The next poll: No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Arkansas, and No. 5 Notre Dame.

November November 6 No. 1 UCLA won at Oregon 41–0. No. 2 Ohio State beat visiting No. 20 Pittsburgh, 26–0. No. 3 Oklahoma won at Iowa State 40–0. No. 4 Arkansas, playing at Little Rock, beat No. 15 Rice 28–15, and No. 5 Notre Dame won at Penn, 42–7. The top five remained the same.

November 13 No. 1 UCLA had the week off, while No. 2 Ohio State won at Purdue 28–6 and got back the top rung. No. 3 Oklahoma beat Missouri 34–13. No. 4 Arkansas lost to No. 19 SMU, 21–14. No. 5 Notre Dame beat North Carolina, 42–13. No. 6 Army, which at won at Penn 35–0, came back to the Top Five: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Army.

November 20 No. 1 Ohio State beat No. 12 Michigan 21–7. In Los Angeles, No. 2 UCLA beat its crosstown rival, No. 7 USC, 34–0. No. 3 Oklahoma beat Nebraska 55–7. No. 4 Notre Dame won at No. 19 Iowa 34–18. No. 5 Army had the day off, preparing for the Army-Navy game. The top five remained the same.

November 27 No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 UCLA had finished their seasons, both of them undefeated and untied. No. 3 Oklahoma also finished with a perfect record, winning its annual season-closer at Oklahoma A&M 14–0. No. 4 Notre Dame beat No. 17 USC 23–17. In Philadelphia, No. 5 Army was beaten by No. 6 Navy, 27–20. The AP's final top five were No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Navy, although the Coaches Poll selected UCLA as its top team. Under normal circumstances the Buckeyes and Bruins would have met in the Rose Bowl for a national championship showdown, but the Pacific Coast Conference's short-lived "no-repeat" rule forced UCLA to stay home because they had played in the previous year's Rose Bowl. Instead, Ohio State matched up with No. 17 USC, whom they defeated 20–7.

Conference standings Major conference standings

Independents

Minor conferences ConferenceChampion(s)RecordCalifornia Collegiate Athletic Association Fresno State Normal 4–0 Central Church College Conference Concordia (NE) 3–0 Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association North Carolina College 6–0–1 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Kansas State Teachers–HaysWashburn 4–1 College Conference of Illinois MillikinWheaton (IL) 5–1 Evergreen Conference Whitworth 6–0 Far Western Conference San Francisco State 5–0 Frontier Conference Carroll (MT) 4–0 Gulf Coast Conference Trinity (TX) 2–0 Indiana Collegiate Conference Valparaiso 5–1 Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Luther 6–0 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference College of Emporia 7–0 Lone Star Conference East Texas State TeachersSouthwest Texas State Teachers 5–0–1 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Hillsdale 6–0 Mid-American Conference Miami (OH) 4–0 Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference Carleton 8–0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Gustavus Adolphus 6–0 Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association Northeast Missouri State 5–0 Nebraska College Conference Hastings 7–0 New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference Panhandle A&M 5–0 North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference MorningsideSouth Dakota State College 5–1 North Dakota College Athletic Conference Minot State TeachersValley City State 6–0 Ohio Athletic Conference Heidelberg 5–0–1 Ohio Valley Conference Eastern Kentucky State 5–0 Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference Central State College (OK)Southwestern State College (OK) 4–1 Oregon Collegiate Conference Unknown — Pacific Northwest Conference College of IdahoLewis & ClarkWillamette 4–1 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Stroudsburg State TeachersShippensburg State Teachers 4–15–1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Western State 7–1 South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference Southern State Teachers (USD–Springfield) 6–1 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Pomona-Pitzer 4–0 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Florida A&M 4–0 Southwestern Athletic Conference Prairie View A&M College 6–0 State Teacher's College Conference of Minnesota St. Cloud State Teachers 4–0 Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference Howard Payne 2–0 Wisconsin State College Conference Wisconsin State–La Crosse 4–0–1

Minor conference standings

Rankings

Final AP poll AP ranked Ohio State as No. 1, while the UPI coaches' poll gave the top spot to UCLA. Both wire services' rankings were made at the end of the regular season, and were unaffected by the postseason bowl games. Ohio State and UCLA had two common opponents in 1954; Cal and USC. Ohio State defeated Cal 21–13 and USC 20–7, while UCLA defeated Cal 27–6 and USC 34–0.

Ranking Team Record Conference 1 Ohio State 9–0–0 Big 10 2 UCLA 9–0–0 PCC 3 Oklahoma 10–0–0 Big 7 4 Notre Dame 8–1–0 Indep. 5 Navy 7–2–0 Indep. 6 Mississippi 9–1–0 SEC 7 Army 7–2–0 Indep. 8 Maryland 7–2–1 ACC 9 Wisconsin 7–2–0 Big 10 10 Arkansas 8–2–0 SWC 11 Miami (Florida) 8–1–0 Indep. 12 West Virginia 8–1–0 Southern 13 Auburn 7–3–0 SEC 14 Duke 7–2–1 ACC 15 Michigan 6–3–0 Big 10 16 Virginia Tech 8–0–1 Southern 17 USC 8–3–0 PCC 18 Baylor 7–3–0 SWC 19 Rice 7–3–0 SWC 20 Penn State 7–2–0 Indep.

Final Coaches Poll