1953 NCAA football rankings

Two human polls comprised the 1953 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 November 30, at the end of the 1953 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 November 30. Maryland received 20 of the 35 first-place votes; Notre Dame received thirteen, and one each went to Michigan State and UCLA.
 * 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.

Litkenhous Ratings
The Litkenhous Ratings released in mid-December 1953 provided numerical rankings to over 683 college football programs. The top 50 ranked teams were:

1. Notre Dame 2. Maryland 3. Oklahoma 4. Rice 5. Michigan State 6. Wisconsin 7. Iowa 8. UCLA 9. Illinois 10. Texas Tech 11. Ole Miss 12. Michigan 13. Texas 14. Georgia Tech 15. Kentucky 16. Auburn 17. Mississippi State 18. Baylor 19. Ohio State 20. West Virginia 21. SMU 22. Minnesota 23. LSU 24. Marquette 25. Florida 26. Stanford 27. Penn State 28. Duke 29. California 30. Cincinnati 31. Alabama 32. Miami (FL) 33. Army 34. USC 35. Syracuse 36. Tennessee 37. Missouri 38. Navy 39. Purdue 40. TCU 41. Arkansas 42. Texas A&M 43. Oklahoma A&M 44. Houston 45. Northwestern 46. Kansas State 47. Miami (OH) 48. Pittsburgh 49. Detroit 50. Penn

HBCU rankings
The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African American newspaper, ranked the top 1953 teams from historically black colleges and universities in an era when college football was largely segregated. The rankings were published on December 19:


 * 1. Prairie View A&M (12–0)
 * 2. Florida A&M (10–1)
 * 3. Tennessee A&I (8–0–1)
 * 4. Lincoln (MO) (8–0–1)
 * 5. Maryland State (7–1)
 * 6. Southern (9–2)
 * 7. North Carolina College (5–3)
 * 8. Virginia State (5–3–1)
 * 9. Morgan State (6–2)
 * 10. Texas Southern (7–3)
 * 11. West Virginia State (6–3)
 * 12. Grambling (8–2)

The Associated Negro Press also published rankings on December 25:


 * 1. Prairie View A&M (12–0)
 * 2. Tennessee A&I (8–0–1)
 * 3. Lincoln (MO) (8–0–1)
 * 4. Florida A&M (10–1)
 * 5. Southern (9–2)
 * 6. Maryland State (7–1)
 * 7. North Carolina College (5–3)
 * 8. Virginia State (5–3–1)
 * 9. Texas Southern (7–3)
 * 10. South Carolina State (6–3)