The 1952 college football season was the 84th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. It ended with Oklahoma halfback Billy Vessels winning the Heisman Trophy and Notre Dame halfback Johnny Lattner winning the Maxwell Award. Three teams claim the 1952 national championship: Michigan State compiled a perfect 9–0 record and was ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press (AP) and United Press (UP) coaches polls. The team was also recognized as the 1952 national champion by the Boand System, DeVold System, Dunkel System, College Football Researchers Association, Helms Athletic Foundation, Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, Sagarin Ratings, and Williamson System. The Spartans ranked third nationally in total offense with an average of 428.7 yards per game. The 1952 season was part of a 28-game winning streak for Michigan State that began in October 1950 and continued until October 1953. Georgia Tech compiled a perfect 12–0 record and was ranked No. 1 by the International News Service poll at the end of the regular season. They finished No. 2 in the AP and UP polls. Tech went on to defeat No. 7 Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl. Georgia Tech was also rated as the 1952 national champion by the Houlgate System and Poling System and later by Berryman (QPRS), Billingsley Report, and Sagarin Ratings. The Yellow Jackets ranked second nationally in total defense, giving up an average of only 173.2 yards per game. Clarion Golden Eagles football teamThe 1952 Clarion State Teachers College football team, known as the Golden Eagles, had a perfect, undefeated season, finishing with a 9–0 record. This marked the first time in school history that Clarion completed a season unbeaten. The team was coached by Waldo S. Tippin and capped their season with a 13–6 victory over East Carolina in the Lions Bowl.

Small college teams that compiled perfect seasons in 1952 included East Texas (11–0, Lone Star and Tangerine Bowl champion), Idaho State (8–0, Rocky Mountain champion), Peru State (10–0, part of 26-game winning streak), and Shippensburg (7–0, part of 20-game winning streak). Florida A&M (8–2) was selected by the Associated Negro Press as the black college national champion.

Individual statistical leaders in major college football for the 1952 season included Detroit quarterback Ted Marchibroda with 1,813 yards of total offense, Tulsa halfback Howard Waugh with 1,372 rushing yards, Georgia quarterback Zeke Bratkowski with 1,824 passing yards, Fordham end Ed Brown with 774 receiving yards, and Mississippi State quarterback Jackie Parker with 120 points scored.

Tulsa led the major colleges in total offense with an average of 466.6 yards per game. Tennessee led in total defense, giving up an average of only 166.7 yards per game..

Conference and program changes Conference changes One conference changed its name this year: The Wisconsin State Teachers College Conference, an active NCAA Division III conference currently known as the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), changed its name to the Wisconsin State College Conference Membership changes School 1951 Conference 1952 Conference Arizona State–Flagstaff (NAU) Lumberjacks Border NMIC Bowling Green Falcons Independent MAC Bradley Braves Missouri Valley Independent Drake Bulldogs Missouri Valley Independent Loyola Marymount Lions Independent Dropped Program San Francisco Dons Independent Dropped Program Toledo Rockets Independent MAC

September September 20 Maryland won at Missouri 13–10, and Texas won at LSU 35–14. In the preseason poll released on September 22, 1952, the Michigan State Spartans were rated first, followed by the Maryland Terrapins. Maryland actually had more first place votes 79 to 77, but MSU had an edge on points, 1720–1696. The remainder of the Top Five was No. 3 Georgia Tech (which beat The Citadel 54–6), No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 5 Illinois. Defending champion Tennessee was 6th. As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.

On September 27 No. 1 Michigan State won at Michigan, 27–13. No. 2 Maryland beat Auburn 13–7 in Birmingham. No. 3 Georgia Tech narrowly beat Florida 17–14 and fell to 6th place in the next poll. No. 4 Oklahoma visited Colorado and was tied, 21–21. No. 5 Illinois, which beat Iowa State 33–7, rose to second place in the next poll. No. 8 California, which was 2–0–0 after a 28–14 win over Missouri, and No. 11 Texas (which had won at North Carolina 28–7), moved into the top five. The poll: No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 Illinois, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 California, and No. 5 Texas.

October

October 4 No. 1 Michigan State narrowly defeated Oregon State 17–14 at Portland. No. 2 Illinois lost at No. 8 Wisconsin, 20–6, and would end up finishing 1952 with a losing (4–5–0) record. No. 3 Maryland beat Clemson 28–0. No. 4 California won at Minnesota, 49–13. No. 5 Texas lost 14–3 to No. 19 Notre Dame. No. 6 Georgia Tech, which beat SMU 20–7 in Dallas, returned to the Top Five. The next poll featured No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 California, No. 4 Maryland, and No. 5 Georgia Tech.

October 11 The new No. 1, Wisconsin, lost at Columbus to unranked Ohio State, 23–14. No. 2 Michigan State beat visiting Texas A&M 48–6. No. 3 California beat Oregon at Portland, 41–7. No. 4 Maryland won at Georgia, 37–0. No. 5 Georgia Tech beat Tulane 14–0. No. 6 Duke, which won at South Carolina 33–7, was fifth in the next poll: No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 California, No. 4 Georgia Tech, and No. 5 Duke.

October 18 No. 1 Michigan State beat visiting Syracuse 48–7. No. 2 Maryland beat No. 20 Navy 38–7. No. 3 California beat Santa Clara 27–7. No. 4 Georgia Tech beat Auburn 33–0. No. 5 Duke won at N.C. State, 57–0, but was still bounced out of the top five. No. 6 Oklahoma, which had won at No. 8 Kansas 42–20, was third in the next poll: No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 California, and No. 5 Georgia Tech.

October 25 No. 1 Michigan State beat No. 17 Penn State 34–7. No. 2 Maryland beat LSU 34–6. No. 3 Oklahoma beat Kansas State 49–6. In Los Angeles, a matchup of unbeaten teams pitted No. 4 California (5–0–0) against the 5–0–0 and No. 7 USC Trojans. USC won 10–0. Cal would lose this and the next two games after its perfect start. No. 5 Georgia Tech beat Vanderbilt 30–0. The next poll: No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Georgia Tech, and No. 5 USC.

November November 1 No. 1 Michigan State narrowly won at No. 8 Purdue, 14–7. No. 2 Maryland won at Boston University, 34–7. No. 3 Oklahoma won at Iowa State 41–0. No. 4 Georgia Tech (6–0–0) faced unbeaten No. 6 Duke (also 6–0–0) and won 28–7. No. 5 USC was idle, and its place was taken by No. 7 UCLA, which handed No. 11 California a 28–7 defeat. The next poll: No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 UCLA.

November 8 No. 1 Michigan State won at Indiana 41–14. No. 2 Maryland was idle. No. 3 Georgia Tech beat Army 45–6. No. 4 Oklahoma lost at No. 10 Notre Dame, 27–21, and dropped back out of the Top Five. No. 5 UCLA beat visiting Oregon State 57–0. No. 6 USC rose to fifth after a 54–7 win at Stanford. The next poll: No. 1. Michigan State, No. 2 Georgia Tech, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 5 USC.

November 15 Unbeaten No. 1 Michigan State hosted once-beaten (5–1–1) No. 6 Notre Dame and won 21–3. In Atlanta, unbeaten (8–0–0) No. 2 Georgia Tech faced once-beaten (7–1–0) No. 12 Alabama and won, 7–3. And on the road, unbeaten (7–0–0) No. 3 Maryland lost at unbeaten (6–0–2) No. 11 Mississippi, 21–14. No. 4 UCLA was idle. No. 5 USC beat No. 17 Washington 33–0. No. 8 Oklahoma, which had beaten Missouri 47–7, returned to the Top Five. The next poll: No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 Georgia Tech, No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Oklahoma.

November 22 No. 1 Michigan State won 62–13 over Marquette to close its season unbeaten. No. 2 Georgia Tech also stayed unbeaten as it beat Florida State 30–0. No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 USC (both 8–0–0) met in Los Angeles, with USC winning 14–12 to take the crown of the Pacific Coast Conference and a trip to the Rose Bowl. No. 5 Oklahoma beat Nebraska 34–13. The new poll: No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 UCLA.

November 29 No. 1 Michigan State had closed its season. No. 2 USC hosted No. 7 Notre Dame and lost 9–0. No. 3 Georgia Tech finished its season unbeaten (11–0–0) with a 23–9 win over Georgia. The Yellow Jackets were invited to the Sugar Bowl to face unbeaten, but twice tied (8–0–2) and No. 6 Mississippi, a conference rival whom they had not faced during the regular season. No. 4 Oklahoma closed its season at Oklahoma A&M, winning 54–7 to finish 8–1–1. In the final AP poll, released December 1, No. 1 Michigan State was the champion, followed by No. 2 Georgia Tech, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 USC.

Conference standings Major conference standings

Independents

Minor conferences ConferenceChampion(s)RecordCalifornia Collegiate Athletic Association Cal Poly–San Luis Obispo 4–0 Central Church College Conference Concordia (NE) 3–0 Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association Virginia State 7–0 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Kansas State Teachers (Emporia State) 5–0 College Conference of Illinois Lake ForestMillikin 3–0–1 Evergreen Conference Pacific Lutheran 5–0–1 Far Western Conference Humboldt State College 3–0 Frontier Conference Carroll (MT) 4–0 Gulf Coast Conference North Texas State 2–0 Indiana Collegiate Conference ButlerValparaiso 3–1 Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Buena Vista 2–1 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference McPherson 6–0 Lone Star Conference East Texas State Teachers 5–0 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Albion 5–0 Mid-American Conference Cincinnati 3–0 Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference Coe 6–0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Gustavus AdolphusConcordia–Moorhead 6–0 Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association Northeast Missouri StateNorthwest Missouri State 4–1 Nebraska College Conference Peru State 7–0 New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference Eastern New MexicoPanhandle A&M 4–1 North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Iowa State Teachers (Northern Iowa) 5–1 North Dakota College Athletic Conference Jamestown CollegeMinot State TeachersValley City State 5–1 Ohio Athletic Conference Heidelberg 5–1 Ohio Valley Conference Tennessee TechWestern Kentucky State 4–1 Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference Northeastern State College (OK) 5–0 Oregon Collegiate Conference Oregon College — Pacific Northwest Conference College of IdahoPacific (OR) 4–0–1 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Chester State Teachers 5–0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Idaho State College 5–0 South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference Northern State Teachers 4–1 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Whittier 4–0 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Bethune–Cookman 5–1 Southwestern Athletic Conference Prairie View A&M College 6–0 State Teacher's College Conference of Minnesota Mankato State TeachersMoorhead State TeachersSt. Cloud State Teachers 3–1 Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference Abilene Christian 4–0 Wisconsin State College Conference North: Wisconsin State–La CrosseSouth: Wisconsin State–Platteville 5–04–0

Minor conference standings

Rankings

Bowl games