1951 NCAA football rankings

Two human polls comprised the 1951 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 AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.

AP Poll
The final AP Poll was released on December 3, at the end of the 1951 regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.

Final Coaches Poll
The final UP Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games, on December 3. Tennessee received 23 of the 35 first-place votes; Michigan State received seven, Maryland two, and one each to Illinois, Georgia Tech, and Princeton.


 * 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 released in mid-December 1951 provided numerical rankings to over 600 college football programs. The top 100 ranked teams were:

1. Tennessee 2. Maryland 3. Michigan State 4. Oklahoma 5. California 6. Georgia Tech 7. Baylor 8. Illinois 9. Wisconsin 10. Kentucky 11. Stanford 12. UCLA 13. Texas 14. Notre Dame 15. Ole Miss 16. USC 17. TCU 18. SMU 19. Princeton 20. Texas A&M 21. Holy Cross 22. Washington State 23. Washington 24. Xavier 25. Oregon State 26. Arkansas 27. San Francisco 28. Rice 29. Michigan 30. Virginia 31. Ohio State 32. Tulsa 33. LSU 34. Cincinnati 35. Florida 36. Alabama 37. Purdue 38. Kansas 39. Penn 40. Texas Tech 41. Miami (FL) 42. Vanderbilt 43. Northwestern 44. Cornell 45. Clemson 46. Pacific 47. Colorado 48. Georgia 49. Navy 50. Mississippi State 51. Duke 52. Tulane 53. Marquette 54. Boston University 55. Indiana 56. Villanova 57. Wake Forest 58. Pittsburgh 59. Columbia 60. Penn State 61. Santa Clara 62. Wyoming 63. Houston 64. Bucknell 65. Syracuse 66. Washington & Lee 67. North Carolina 68. South Carolina 69. Iowa 70. North Texas 71. Dayton 72. Fordham 73. Auburn 74. Iowa State 75. Minnesota 76. Arizona State 77. Denver 78. Hardin Simmons 79. Dartmouth 80. Drake 81. Chattanooga 82. Memphis State 83. Miami (OH) 84. Oklahoma A&M 85. Boston College 86. Missouri 87. Arkansas State 88. Del Mar 89. Army 90. Rutgers 91. William & Mary 92. VMI 93. Nebraska 94. Colgate 95. Yale 96. Loyola Los Angeles 97. Tyler JC 98. Temple 99. Oregon 100. Toledo

HBCU rankings
The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African American newspaper, ranked the top 1951 teams from historically black colleges and universities in an era when college football was largely segregated. The rankings were published on December 8:


 * 1. Morris Brown (10–1)
 * 2. Florida A&M (7–1–1)
 * 3. Tennessee A&I (8–2)
 * 4. Prairie View A&M (9–1)
 * 5. Central State (7–2)
 * 6. North Carolina A&T (7–1–1)
 * 7. North Carolina College (6–2–1)
 * 8. West Virginia State (6–2–1)
 * 9. Xavier (LA) (8–1)
 * 10. Lincoln (MO) (7–2)
 * 11. Maryland State (7–1)
 * 12. Bethune-Cookman (6–2)

The Associated Negro Press also published rankings on December 14:


 * 1. North Carolina A&T (7–1–1)
 * 2. Morris Brown (10–1)
 * 3. Florida A&M (7–1–1)
 * 4. Prairie View A&M (9–1)
 * 5. Central State (7–2)
 * 6. North Carolina College (6–2–1)
 * 7. Tennessee A&I (8–2)
 * 8. West Virginia State (6–2–1)
 * 9. Lincoln (MO) (7–2)
 * 10. Xavier (LA) (8–1)
 * 11. Alcorn (8–3)
 * 12. Bethune-Cookman (6–2)
 * 13. Maryland State (7–1)
 * 14. Texas Southern (7–2–1)
 * 15. Benedict (7–3)
 * 16. Virginia State (5–3)
 * 17. Texas College (5–3–2)
 * 18. Hampton (5–4)
 * 19. Lincoln (PA) (5–4)
 * 20. Arkansas A&M (5–4–1)
 * 21. Southern (5–4–2)
 * 22. Fisk (6–2)
 * 23. South Carolina State (5–2)
 * 24. Tuskegee (6–3)
 * 25. Grambling (4–5–1)
 * 26. Jackson State
 * 27. Virginia Union (5–5)
 * 28. Langston (4–5)
 * 29. Mississippi Industrial
 * 30. Howard (5–4)
 * 31. Allen (3–7)