1947 NCAA football rankings

One human poll comprised the 1947 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 Associated Press Poll and the Coaches' Poll. The United Press Coaches' Poll began operation in 1950; in addition, the AP Poll did not begin conducting preseason polls until that same year.

AP Poll
The final official AP Poll was released on December 8, at the end of the 1947 regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP did not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.

Post-bowl poll
The final regular season AP poll, taken in early December before the bowls, had Notre Dame No. 1 (107 first-place votes) and Michigan second, with 25 first-place votes. Michigan won the Rose Bowl 49–0 over USC while Notre Dame did not play in a bowl game. Detroit Free Press sports editor Lyall Smith arranged a special post-bowl poll with only Michigan or Notre Dame as choices, which favored Michigan 226–119. However, it was stated that "The new ballot does not supersede the Associated Press' regular final season rating of college football teams, released last December 8, which named Notre Dame the mythical National champion with Michigan the runnerup."

Litkenhous Ratings
The final Litkenhous Ratings released in December 1947 provided numerical rankings to more than 500 college and military football programs. The top 100 ranked teams were:

1. Michigan (10–0) - 114.0 2. Notre Dame (9–0) - 109.4 3. Texas (10–1) - 103.6 4. USC (7–2–1) - 100.0 5. Penn (7–0–1) - 99.6 6. Army (5–2–2) - 98.2 7. Rice (6–3–1) - 98.1 8. Illinois (5–3–1) - 95.7 9. UCLA (5–4) - 95.0 10. SMU (9–0–2) - 93.9 11. California (9–1) - 93.4 12. Penn State (9–0–1) - 93.2 13. North Carolina (8–2) - 91.7 14. Minnesota (6–3) - 91.2 15. Ole Miss (9–2) - 91.1 16. Wisconsin (5–3–1) - 90.5 17. Indiana (5–3–1) - 89.0 18. Purdue (5–4) - 88.7 19. Georgia Tech (10–1) - 86.9 20. Alabama (8–3) - 86.7 21. Kansas (8–1–2) - 86.5 22. Northwestern (3–6) - 86.2 23. TCU (4–5–2) - 86.0 24. William & Mary (9–2) - 85.7 25. Iowa (3–5–1) - 85.3 26. Virginia (7–3) - 84.9 27. Arkansas (6–4–1) - 84.8 28. Missouri (6–4) - 84.5 29. Kentucky (8–3) - 84.4 30. Columbia (7–2) - 83.0 31. Vanderbilt (6–4) - 82.7 32. Navy (1–7–1) - 81.9 33. Washington (3–6) - 81.7 34. LSU (5–3–1) - 81.1 35. Ohio State (2–6–1) - 80.4 36. Oregon (7–3) - 80.2 37. San Francisco (7–3) - 80.2 38. Michigan State (7–2) - 80.1 39. Oklahoma (7–2–1) - 79.9 40. Georgia (7–4–1) - 79.5 41. Texas A&M (3–6–1) - 79.4 42. West Virginia (6–4) - 79.3 43. Baylor (5–5) -78.5 44. Mississippi State (7–3) - 78.0 45. Maryland (7–2–2) - 77.9 46. Tennessee (5–5) - 77.9 47. Villanova (6–3–1) - 77.9 48. Detroit (6–4) - 77.8 49. Princeton (5–3) - 77.1 50. NC State (5–3–1) - 77.0 51. Duke (4–3–2) - 76.6 52. Oregon State (5–5) - 76.6 53. Yale (6–3) - 75.3 54. Boston College (5–4) - 75.2 55. Nevada (9–2) - 75.2 56. Hardin–Simmons (8–3) - 74.8 57. Wake Forest (6–4) - 74.2 58. Rutgers (8–1) - 73.9 59. Tulane (2–5–2) - 73.2 60. Pacific (10–1) - 71.6 61. Holy Cross (4–4–2) - 71.5 62. Tulsa (5–5) - 71.4 63. Pepperdine (9–0) - 70.4 64. Washington State (3–7) - 70.4 65. Oklahoma A&M (3–7) - 70.3 66. Dartmouth (4–4–1) - 70.1 67. Marquette (4–5) - 70.1 68. Muhlenberg (9–1) - 70.1 69. Clemson (4–5) - 69.9 70. Stanford (0–9) - 69.4 71. Miami (OH) (9–0–1) - 68.9 72. South Carolina (6–2–1) - 68.8 73. Santa Clara (4–4) - 68.4 74. Florida (4–5–1) - 68.0 75. Cornell (4–5) - 67.7 76. Nebraska (2–7) - 67.7 77. Dayton (6–3) - 67.6 78. North Texas (10–2) - 67.5 79. Brown (4–4–1) - 67.3 80. Utah (8–1–1) - 66.9 81. Pittsburgh (1–8) - 66.4 82. San Jose State (9–3) - 66.4 83. Oklahoma City (7–3) - 66.2 84. Virginia Tech (4–5) - 66.1 85. Wichita (7–4) - 66.1 86. McNeese JC - 66.0 87. Miami (FL) (2–7–1) - 66.0 88. St. Bonaventure (6–3) - 64.8 89. Cincinnati (7–3) - 64.7 90. Iowa State (3–6) - 64.4 91. Georgetown (3–4–1) - 63.9 92. Arizona (5–4–1) - 63.7 93. Harvard (4–5) - 63.7 94. West Texas (7–4) - 63.6 95. Denver (5–4–1) - 63.1 96. Xavier (4–4–1) - 62.5 97. Marshall (9–3) - 62.2 98. V. M. I. - 62.1 99. Saint Louis (4–6) - 62.0 100. Temple (3–6) - 61.6 101. Saint Mary's (3–7) - 60.9 102. Utah State (6–5) - 60.8 103. Texas Mines (5–3–1) - 60.5 104. Washington and Lee (5–3) - 60.3 105. Canisius - 60.2 106. Youngstown (8–2) - 59.8 107. Toledo (9–2) - 59.5 108. East Texas (8–2) - 59.3 109. Colorado (4–5)- 56.7 116. Bowling Green (5–5) - 56.7 117. Catawba (11–1) - 56.6 118. Chattanooga (4–6) - 56.6 119. Idaho (4–4) - 56.6 120. Boston - 56.0 121. Davidson (6–3–1) - 55.8 122. Wayne (5–2) - 55.6 123. Syracuse (3–6) - 55.5 124. Lawrence - 55.4 125. New Hampshire (8–1) - 54.9 126. New Mexico (4–5–1) - 54.7 127. Buffalo (8–1) - 54.4 128. John Carroll - 54.3 129. Delaware (4–4) - 54.2 130. San Diego State (7–3–1) - 54.1 131. Abilene Christian - 53.8 132. BYU (3–7) - 53.7 133. Rollins - 53.4 134. George Washington (1–7–1) - 53.3 135. Wyoming (4–5) - 52.6 136. Missouri Valley (12–0) - 52.3 137. Western Michigan (5–4) - 52.0 138. Colorado A&M (5–4–1) - 51.8 139. Southwest Texas (5–4) - 51.7 140. Texas Tech (6–5) - 51.7 141. Hardin - 51.6 142. Denison - 51.5 143. Richmond (3–7) - 51.4 144. Loras - 50.7 145. Western Reserve (4–5) - 50.7 146. Louisville (7–0–1) - 50.6 147. Cameron State - 50.5 148. Drake (1–7–1) - 50.5 149. Kansas State (0–10) - 50.0 150. Compton - 49.8

HBCU rankings
The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African American newspaper, ranked the top 1947 teams from historically black colleges and universities using the Dickinson System in an era when college football was largely segregated. The rankings were published on December 6.


 * 1. Tennessee A&I (10–0)
 * 2. Wilberforce State (11–1)
 * 3. Florida A&M (9–1)
 * 4. Hampton (7–2–1)
 * 5. Shaw (10–0)
 * 6. Grambling (10–2)
 * 7. Virginia State (8–1)
 * 8. Southern (10–2)
 * 9. Morgan State (5–2–1)
 * 10. South Carolina State (7–1–2)
 * 11. Howard (6–2–1)
 * 12. Louisville Municipal (6–1–1)
 * 13. Lincoln (MO) (3–3–1)
 * 14. West Virginia State (7–2–1)
 * 15. Fort Valley State (7–1–1)
 * 16. Texas College (5–2–3)
 * 17. Prairie View A&M (6–6)
 * 18. Lane (6–5)
 * 19. Lincoln (PA) (5–4–1)
 * 20. Wiley (5–3–1)
 * 21. Clark (4–3–1)
 * 22. Kentucky State (4–6)

The Courier also ranked 7 what they called "smaller colleges" teams:
 * 1. Alcorn A&M (10–1)
 * 2. Bethune Cookman (10–2)
 * 3. LeMoyne-Owen (4–1–1)
 * 4. Florida Normal (5–2–1)
 * 5. Allen (6–3)
 * 6. Dillard (4–2–1)
 * 7. Alabama A&M (3–1–1)

The Baltimore Afro-American also published post-season rankings on December 13:
 * 1. Tennessee A&I (10–0)
 * 2. Virginia State (8–1)
 * 3. Wilberforce State (11–1)
 * 4. Shaw (8–0)
 * 5. Southern (10–2)
 * 6. Florida A&M (9–1)
 * 7. Howard (6–2–1)
 * 8. Texas College (5–2–3)
 * 9. Hampton (7–2–1)
 * 10. South Carolina State (7–1–2)