1951 NCAA Division I-A football season

1951 NCAA football season
Total # of teams	116
Preseason AP #1	Tennessee Volunteers
Number of bowls	8
Champions	Tennessee Volunteers (AP, Coaches) Maryland Terrapins (Various) Michigan State Spartans (Various) Illinois Fighting Illini (Boand)
Heisman	Dick Kazmaier, Princeton HB
← 1950 College football seasons 1952 →

1951 Big 7 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#10 Oklahoma $	6	–	0	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
Colorado	5	–	1	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Kansas	4	–	2	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
Iowa State	2	–	4	–	0			4	–	4	–	1
Missouri	2	–	4	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Nebraska	2	–	4	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
Kansas State	0	–	6	–	0			0	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1951 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#4 Illinois $	5	–	0	–	1			9	–	0	–	1
Purdue	4	–	1	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
#8 Wisconsin	5	–	1	–	1			7	–	1	–	1
Michigan	4	–	2	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Ohio State	2	–	2	–	2			4	–	3	–	2
Northwestern	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Minnesota	1	–	4	–	1			2	–	6	–	1
Indiana	1	–	5	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Iowa	0	–	5	–	1			2	–	5	–	2
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1951 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Tulsa $	4	–	0	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
Drake	3	–	1	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
Oklahoma A&M	3	–	2	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Houston	2	–	2	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Detroit	2	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Wichita	2	–	4	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Bradley	0	–	3	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

1951 MSC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Utah $	4	–	1	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Wyoming	5	–	1	–	1			7	–	2	–	1
Denver	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Colorado A&M	3	–	3	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
BYU	2	–	3	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
Utah State	2	–	4	–	1			3	–	5	–	1
New Mexico	2	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Montana	1	–	4	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1951 PCC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#7 Stanford $	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
#17 UCLA	4	–	1	–	1			5	–	3	–	1
#12 California	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
USC	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
#18 Washington State	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Oregon State	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Washington	1	–	5	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
Oregon	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
Idaho	0	–	3	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1951 SEC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#5 Georgia Tech +	7	–	0	–	0			11	–	0	–	1
#1 Tennessee +	5	–	0	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
LSU	4	–	2	–	1			7	–	3	–	1
Ole Miss	4	–	2	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
#15 Kentucky	3	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Auburn	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Vanderbilt	3	–	5	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Alabama	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Florida	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Georgia	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Mississippi State	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Tulane	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1951 Southern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#3 Maryland +	5	–	0	–	0			10	–	0	–	0
VMI +	5	–	0	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Washington and Lee	5	–	1	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
William & Mary	5	–	1	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
#19 Clemson	3	–	1	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Duke	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	1
South Carolina	5	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Wake Forest	5	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
George Washington	2	–	3	–	1			2	–	6	–	1
North Carolina	2	–	3	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
West Virginia	2	–	3	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
NC State	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Richmond	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
The Citadel	1	–	3	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Furman	1	–	4	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
Davidson	1	–	5	–	0			1	–	8	–	0
VPI	1	–	7	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

1951 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#11 TCU $	5	–	1	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
#9 Baylor	4	–	1	–	1			8	–	2	–	1
Texas	3	–	3	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Rice	3	–	3	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Texas A&M	1	–	3	–	2			5	–	3	–	2
Arkansas	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
SMU	1	–	4	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1951 NCAA football season finished with seven unbeaten major college teams, of which five were unbeaten and untied. Ultimately, the Tennessee Volunteers were voted the best team by the Associated Press, followed by the Michigan State Spartans, with the Vols having a plurality of first place votes (139 to 104). Tennessee lost in the Sugar Bowl to the equally undefeated and untied #3 Maryland Terrapins, but the postseason games were not taken into account by the major polls. Tennessee, Maryland, Michigan State, and Illinois all claim national championships for 1951.

During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A". The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of "wire service" (AP and UPI) polls. The extent of that recognition came in the form of acknowledgment in the annual NCAA Football Guide of the "unofficial" national champions. The AP poll in 1951 consisted of the votes of as many as 307 sportswriters.

Though not all writers voted in every poll, each would give their opinion of the ten best teams. Under a point system of 10 points for first place, 9 for second, etc., the "overall" ranking was determined. Although the rankings were based on the collective opinion of the representative sportswriters, the teams that remained "unbeaten and untied" were generally ranked higher than those that had not. A defeat, even against a strong opponent, tended to cause a team to drop in the rankings, and a team with two or more defeats was unlikely to remain in the Top 20. Generally, the top teams played on New Year's Day in the four major postseason bowl games: the Rose Bowl (near Los Angeles at Pasadena), the Sugar Bowl (New Orleans), the Orange Bowl (Miami), and the Cotton Bowl (Dallas).

In the preseason poll released on September 24, 1951, Tennessee and Michigan State were ranked first and second, with Tennessee having 60 of the 115 first place votes. MSU had opened its season on the 22nd with a 6-0 win over Oregon State. They were followed by #3 Ohio State, defending champion #4 Oklahoma, and #5 California (which had won its opener against Santa Clara, 34-0). As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.

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