1955 NCAA football rankings

Two human polls comprised the 1955 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 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.

Final Coaches Poll
The final 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.


 * 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 top 25 ranked teams in the Litkenhous Ratings were:

1. Oklahoma 2. UCLA 3. TCU 4. Maryland 5. Michigan State 6. Georgia Tech 7. Ohio State 8. Ole Miss 9. USC 10. Notre Dame 11. Michigan 12. Stanford 13. Texas A&M 14. Miami (FL) 15. Vanderbilt 16. Tennessee 17. Army 18. Pittsburgh 19. Duke 20. Navy 21. Iowa 22. West Virginia 23. Auburn 24. LSU 25. Texas

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)