1955 college football rankings

Two human polls comprised the 1955 college 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.

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

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 Coastnone 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 Ten20 Miami (OH) Mid-American Navy Independent Stanford Pacific Coast23 Kentucky SEC Tennessee SEC

Prior to the 1975 season, the Big Ten and Pacific Coast (later AAWU / Pac-8) conferences allowed only one postseason participant each, for the Rose Bowl. The Ivy League has prohibited its members from participating in postseason football since the league was officially formed in 1954.

Litkenhous Ratings The Litkenhous Ratings included rankings of over 650 teams. The top 200 teams in the Litkehous analysis were:

1. Oklahoma (11-0) - 109.2 2. UCLA (9-2) - 107.5 3. TCU (9-2) - 107.2 4. Maryland (10-1) - 107.0 5. Michigan State (9-1) - 106.9 6. Georgia Tech (9-1-1) - 101.7 7. Ohio State (7-2) - 100.9 8. Ole Miss (10-1) - 100.5 9. USC (6-4) - 99.9 10. Notre Dame (8-2) - 99.0 11. Michigan (7-2) - 98.3 12. Stanford (6-3-1)195 - 98.2 13. Texas A&M (7-2-1) -98.2 14. Miami (FL) (9-0) - 97.2 15. Vanderbilt (8-3) - 96.9 16. Tennessee (6-3-1) - 95.7 17. Army (6-3) - 95.4 18. Pittsburgh (7-4) - 95.3 19. Duke (7-2-1) - 95.2 20. Navy (6-2-1) - 94.5 21. Iowa (3-5-1) - 93.3 22. West Virginia (8-2) - 93.0 23. Auburn (8-2-1) - 92.6 24. LSU (3-5-2) - 92.1 25. Texas (5-5) - 92.1 26. Kentucky (6-3-1) - 92.0 27. Illinois (5-3-1) - 91.9 28. Purdue (5-3-1) - 91.9 29. Miami (OH) - 91.3 30. SMU (4-6) - 91.1 31. Washington (5-4-1) - 90.8 32. Wisconsin (4-5) - 90.6 33. Arkansas (5-4-1) - 90.0 34. Clemson (7-3) - 89.6 35. Xavier (7-2) - 89.5 36. Baylor (5-5) - 88.8 37. Mississippi State (6-4) - 88.8 38. Tulane (5-4-1) - 87.8 39. Florida (4-6) - 87.6 40. Syracuse (5-3) - 87.6 41. Georgia (4-6) - 87.3 42. Mississippi Southern (9-1) - 86.6 43. Oregon (6-4) - 86.5 44. Minnesota (3-6) - 85.9 45. Pacific (5-4) - 85.5 46. Texas Tech (7-3-1) - 85.5 47. Rice (2-7-1) - 84.5 48. Colorado (6-4) - 83.9 49. Boston College (5-2-1) - 83.4 50. Arizona State (8-2-1) - 83.3 51. Indiana (3-6) - 82.9 52. Texas Western (6-2-2) - 82.7 53. Oregon State (6-3) - 81.7 54. Wichita (7-2-1) - 81.0 55. Yale (7-2) - 81.0 56. Denver (8-2) - 80.9 57. Penn State (5-4) - 80.3 58. Colgate (6-3) - 79.8 59. Houston (6-4) - 79.7 60. Nebraska (5-5) - 79.2 61. Trinity (TX) (9-0) - 78.3 62. North Carolina (3-7) - 78.0 63. Utah (6-3) - 77.7 64. Wake Forest (5-4-1) - 77.6 65. George Washington - 76.8 66. Chattanooga (5-4-1) - 76.7 67. Delaware (8-1) - 76.7 68. California (2-7-1) - 76.3 69. North Texas (5-4-1) - 76.3 70. San Jose State (5-3-1) - 76.2 71. Virginia Tech (6-3-1) - 75.9 72. Kent State (6-2-1) 73. Bowling Green (7-1-1) - 75.7 74. Arizona (5-4-1) - 75.2 75. Missouri (1-9) - 75.0 76. Princeton (7-2) - 74.8 77. Kansas State (4-6) - 74.1 78. Louisiana Tech (9-1) - 73.9 79. NC State (4-5-1) - 73.6 80. Colorado A&M (8-2) - 73.4 81. West Texas (4-4-1) - 73.0 82. Alabama (0-10) - 72.9 83. Wyoming (8-3) - 72.8 84. Detroit (5-3-1) - 72.4 85. Lafayette (6-2) - 72.4 86. Boise (7-2) - 72.3 87. Louisville (7-2) - 72.1 88. Northwestern (0-8-1) - 72.0 89. Compton (11-0) - 71.9 90. Ohio (5-4) - 71.9 91. Dayton (3-6-1) - 71.4 92. Florida State (5-5) - 71.3 93. Cornell (5-4) - 71.0 94. Hardin–Simmons (5-5) - 70.7 95. Tennessee Tech (7-3) - 69.9 96. Kansas (3-6-1) - 69.5 97. Oklahoma A&M (2-8) - 69.2 98. Harvard (3-4-1) - 69.0 99. Richmond (4-3-2) - 68.7 100. Central Michigan (8-1) - 68.6 101. South Carolina (3-6) - 68.6 102. Tampa (7-2) - 68.6 103. Virginia (1-9) - 68.6 104. Southwest Texas (6-1-2) - 68.5 105. Idaho (2-7) - 68.2 106. Rhode Island (6-1-2) - 68.2 107. Trinity (CT) (7-0) - 67.8 108. Gettysburg - 67.7 109. William & Mary (1-7-1) - 67.7 110. Marquette (2-6-1) - 67.6 111. Dartmouth (3-6) - 66.7 112. Lehigh (7-2) - 66.6 113. Sam Houston (6-1-2) - 66.6 114. Villanova (1-9) - 66.6 115. Iowa State - 66.4 116. Washington State (1-7-2) - 66.4 117. Marshall (3-6) - 66.2 118. Utah State (4-6) - 66.2 119. Maine (5-1-1) - 65.6 120. McNeese (7-1-1) - 65.5 121. Cincinnati (1-6-2) - 65.1 122. Holy Cross (6-4) - 65.1 123. Memphis State (2-7) - 64.8 124. Tulsa (2-7-1) - 64.2 125. Youngstown - 64.0 126. Muskingum (8-0) - 63.7 127. Northeast Oklahoma A&M - 63.4 128. Fresno State (9-1) - 63.2 129. Brown (2-7) - 63.1 130. Hawaii (7-4) - 62.8 131. East Texas (5-4-1) - 62.8 132. Abilene Christian (3-5-2) - 62.4 133. Arkansas State (6-3) - 62.2 134. Connecticut (4-4) - 61.8 135. Southeastern Louisiana - 61.5 136. Cal Poly (7-3) - 61.0 137. Akron (6-2) - 60.7 138. Howard Payne - 60.7 139. Florence 60.1 140. Heidelberg (9-0) - 60.0 141. Murray - 59.8 142. McMurry - 59.6 143. Boston University (2-6) - 59.0 144. Tufts - 58.8 145. 146. Jacksonville - 58.2 147. Eastern Montana - 58.2 148. Mt. San Antonio - 58.2 149. New Hampshire (2-4-2) - 58.2 150. Middle Tennessee (7-2-1) - 58.1 151. Northwestern Louisiana - 57.9 152. Rutgers (3-5) - 57.9 153. Cameron State - 57.8 154. Southwestern Louisiana (5-4) - 57.2 155. Bucknell (2-6-1) - 57.0 156. Yuba - 57.0 157. Eastern Kentucky - 56.6 158. Lenoir Rhyne - 56.6 159. Tyler JC - 56.5 160. William Carey - 56.5 161. Penn (0-9) - 56.4 162. Stephen F. Austin (5-4) - 56.4 163. South Dakota State (6-2-1) - 55.8 164. Hillsdale (9-0) - 55.6 165. Toledo (3-5-1) - 55.5 166. Springfield - 55.4 167. Idaho State (8-1) - 55.2 168. Morris Harvey - 55.2 169. Westminster (PA) - 55.1 170. Alfred - 55.0 171. Concordia (MN) - 55.0 172. Lewis & Clark - 55.0 173. Worcester Poly - 55.0 174. Columbia (1-8) - 54.9 175. Moravian - 54.9 176. Omaha - 54.9 177. St. Joseph (IN) - 54.8 178. Midwestern - 54.7 179. San Francisco CC - 54.7 180. Evansville (6-3) - 54.6 181. Antelope Valley - 54.3 182. Texas A&I (4-6) - 54.2 183. Menlo JC 184. Iowa State Teachers (8-1) - 53.5 185. Davidson (5-4) - 53.4 186. Kilgore JC 187. Wofford 188. VMI (1-9) - 53.2 189. Porterville - 53.1 190. Michigan State Normal (7-2) - 53.0 191. St. Cloud - 53.0 192. St. Olaf - 52.8 193. UMass (4-4) - 52.7 194. Western Kentucky (3-6) - 52.4 195. New Mexico (2-8) - 52.4 196. Juniata (8-0-1) - 52.2 197. Lamar Tech (4-6) - 52.1 198. Wharton City - 52.1 199. Newberry - 51.9 200. El Camino - 51.5 215. Drake (4-4) - 53.0 224. Montana (3-7) - 48.7 225. South Dakota (4-4) - 48.7 232. North Dakota (6-3) - 46.3 254. New Mexico A&M (3-7) - 46.3 255. BYU (1-9) - 46.2 262. Washington University (5-4) - 45.9

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:

1. Grambling (10–0) 2. Maryland State (9–0) 3. Florida A&M (7–1–1) 4. Tennessee A&I (7–2) 5. Southern (7–2–1) 6. Langston (6–2–1) 7. North Carolina A&T (4–1–3) 8. Texas Southern (7–2–1) 9. North Carolina College (4–1–2) 10. Prairie View A&M (8–2–1) 11. Kentucky State (7–2) 12. Delaware State (7–1) 13. Morgan State (6–2) 14. Virginia State (5–2–2) 15. Morris Brown (6–3)

The Associated Negro Press also published rankings on December 8:

1. Grambling (10–0) 2. Maryland State (9–0) 3. Florida A&M (7–1–1) 4. Southern (7–2–1) 5. Langston (6–2–1) 6. Tennessee A&I (7–2) 7. Texas Southern (7–2–1) 8. Prairie View A&M (8–2–1) 9. North Carolina A&T (4–1–3) 10. Lincoln (MO) (6–3) 11. Kentucky State (7–2) 12. Morris Brown (6–3) 13. Morgan State (6–2) 14. Delaware State (7–1)

See also

1955 College Football All-America Team

References