1956 college football rankings

Two human polls comprised the 1956 college 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 1956 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 4. Oklahoma received 26 of the 35 first-place votes; Tennessee received five, Iowa three, and Miami one.
 * 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 final Litkenhous Ratings, released in December 1956, ranked over 600 teams. The top 100 teams as ranked by Litkenhous were:

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