1954 NCAA football rankings

Two human polls comprised the 1954 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 29, at the end of the 1954 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 29. UCLA received 21 of the 35 first-place votes; Ohio State received eleven, and one each to Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and Navy.
 * The NCAA record book lists USC, Maryland, and Georgia Tech in a tie for 11th place, while contemporary sources list them in 11th, 12th, and 13th respectively.
 * 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 1954 provided numerical rankings to over 600 college football programs. The top 50 ranked teams were:

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

HBCU rankings
The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African American newspaper, ranked the top 1954 teams from historically black colleges and universities in an era when college football was largely segregated. The rankings were published on December 11:


 * 1. Tennessee A&I (10–1)
 * 2. Florida A&M (8–1)
 * 3. Southern (10–1)
 * 4. North Carolina College (7–1–1)
 * 5. Virginia State (7–2)
 * 6. Maryland State (6–1–1)
 * 7. Prairie View A&M (10–1)
 * 8. South Carolina State (8–2)
 * 9. Morris Brown (5–3)
 * 10. Alcorn State (5–2–2)
 * 11. Lincoln (MO) (4–3–1)
 * 12. Xavier (LA) (6–2)
 * 13. Morgan State (6–3)
 * 14. Texas Southern (4–3–2)
 * 15. Grambling (4–2–2)

The Associated Negro Press also published rankings on December 25:


 * 1. Tennessee A&I (10–1)
 * 2. Florida A&M (8–1)
 * 3. Prairie View A&M (10–1)
 * 4. Southern (10–1)
 * 5. N.C. College (7–1–1)
 * 6. Maryland State (6–1–1)
 * 7. Xavier (LA) (6–2)
 * 8. Virginia State (7–2)
 * 9. South Carolina State (8–2)
 * 10. Bluefield State (7–2)
 * 11. Miles (8–0)
 * 12. Virginia Union (5–3)
 * 13. Texas Southern (5–4–2)
 * 14. Allen (5–4)
 * 15. Bethune-Cookman (7–3)
 * 16. Lincoln (MO) (4–3–1)
 * 17. Alcorn (6–2–2)
 * 18. St. Augustine's (6–2)
 * 19. Central State (4–4)
 * 20. Kentucky State (5–3)
 * 21. Morris Brown (5–3)
 * 22. Grambling (4–3–2)
 * 23. Morgan State (5–3)
 * 24. North Carolina A&T (4–5)
 * 25. Mississippi Vocational (6–2)
 * 26. Delaware State (7–1)
 * 27. Elizabeth City (5–1)
 * 28. Fort Valley State (5–4)
 * 29. Langston (4–4–1)
 * 30. Claflin (6–3)
 * 31. Knoxville (5–3–1)
 * 32. Alabama State (4–3–1)
 * 33. Hampton (4–5–1)
 * 34. Dillard (4–4)
 * 35. Tuskegee (3–5)
 * 36. Texas College (4–5)
 * 37. Morehouse (4–3)
 * 38. West Virginia State (3–6)
 * 39. Lincoln (PA) (4–3–1)
 * 40. Wiley (5–5)
 * 41. Fisk (4–4)
 * 42. Arkansas A&M (2–7–2)
 * 43. Mississippi Industrial (2–3)
 * 44. Winston-Salem State (2–7)
 * 45. Fayetteville State (3–6)
 * 46. Paul Quinn (2–5–1)
 * 47. Florida Normal (3–1–1)
 * 48. Livingstone (4–1)
 * 49. Clark (1–7)
 * 50. Howard (2–6–1)
 * 51. Jackson State (1–7–1)
 * 52. Tougaloo (3–5)
 * 53. Johnson C. Smith (1–5–2)
 * 54. Saint Paul's (1–7)
 * 55. Albany State (1–3–1)
 * 56. Morris College (2–3)
 * 57. Philander Smith (1–4)
 * 58. Savannah State (1–6)
 * 59. Alabama A&M (1–7)
 * 60. Benedict (0–8)
 * 61. Shaw (0–7–1)
 * 62. Lane (1–4)
 * 63. Bishop (1–7)
 * 64. Paine (0–5)
 * 65. Rust (0–5)
 * 66. Morristown (0–4)