1952 NCAA Division I-A football season

1952 NCAA football season
Preseason AP #1	Michigan State Spartans
Number of bowls	7
Heisman	Billy Vessels, Oklahoma HB
← 1951 College football seasons 1953 →

1952 Big 7 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#4 Oklahoma $	5	–	0	–	1			8	–	1	–	1
Missouri	5	–	1	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Nebraska	3	–	2	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
Kansas	3	–	3	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Colorado	2	–	2	–	2			6	–	2	–	2
Iowa State	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Kansas State	0	–	6	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1952 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#11 Wisconsin +	4	–	1	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
#18 Purdue +	4	–	1	–	1			4	–	3	–	2
#17 Ohio State	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Michigan	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Minnesota	3	–	1	–	2			4	–	3	–	2
Illinois	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Northwestern	2	–	5	–	0			2	–	6	–	1
Iowa	2	–	5	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Indiana	1	–	5	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

1952 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#19 Houston $	3	–	0	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
Tulsa	3	–	1	–	0			8	–	2	–	1
Oklahoma A&M	2	–	2	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Detroit	1	–	3	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Wichita State	0	–	3	–	0			3	–	6	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from Coaches' Poll

1952 MSC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Utah $	5	–	0	–	0			6	–	3	–	1
New Mexico	5	–	1	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
Colorado A&M	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Wyoming	4	–	3	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
BYU	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Utah State	3	–	4	–	0			3	–	7	–	1
Montana	1	–	5	–	0			2	–	7	–	1
Denver	0	–	7	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1952 PCC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#5 USC $	6	–	0	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
#6 UCLA	5	–	1	–	0			8	–	1	–	0
Washington	6	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
California	3	–	3	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Washington State	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Stanford	2	–	5	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Oregon	2	–	5	–	0			2	–	7	–	1
Idaho	1	–	3	–	0			4	–	4	–	1
Oregon State	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1952 SEC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#2 Georgia Tech $	7	–	0	–	0			12	–	0	–	0
#8 Tennessee	5	–	0	–	1			8	–	2	–	1
#7 Ole Miss	4	–	0	–	2			8	–	1	–	2
#9 Alabama	4	–	2	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
Georgia	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
#15 Florida	3	–	3	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Mississippi State	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Tulane	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
#20 Kentucky	1	–	3	–	2			5	–	4	–	2
LSU	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Vanderbilt	1	–	4	–	1			3	–	5	–	2
Auburn	0	–	7	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1952 Southern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#16 Duke $	5	–	0	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
Wake Forest	5	–	1	–	0			5	–	4	–	1
West Virginia	5	–	1	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
William & Mary	4	–	1	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
George Washington	4	–	2	–	1			5	–	3	–	1
VPI	4	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Furman	2	–	2	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
Washington and Lee	3	–	4	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
VMI	2	–	3	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
NC State	2	–	4	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
South Carolina	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
North Carolina	1	–	2	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
The Citadel	1	–	3	–	1			3	–	5	–	1
Davidson	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Clemson	0	–	1	–	0			2	–	6	–	1
Richmond	0	–	6	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
Maryland †			–					7	–	2	–	0
$ – Conference champion † League sanctions prevented Maryland from conference participation Rankings from AP Poll

1952 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#10 Texas $	6	–	0	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
Rice	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
SMU	3	–	2	–	1			4	–	5	–	1
TCU	2	–	2	–	2			4	–	4	–	2
Baylor	1	–	3	–	2			4	–	4	–	2
Texas A&M	1	–	4	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
Arkansas	1	–	5	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1952 NCAA football season ended with the unbeaten Michigan State Spartans (9–0) and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (12–0) each claiming a national championship from different polls. Michigan State finished first according to two of the "wire service" (AP and UP) polls, which both placed Georgia Tech second. Georgia Tech was first in the (Hearst chain) International News Service poll. UP and INS merged in 1958 to form UPI. Although the Spartans became members of the Big Ten Conference in 1950, full participation did not come until 1953, and under the terms of their entry into the conference, they were not allowed to participate in postseason play. Georgia Tech won the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day in New Orleans.

September 20 Maryland won at Missouri 13-10, and Texas won at LSU 35-14. In the preseason poll released on September 22, 1952, the Michigan State Spartans were rated first, followed by the Maryland Terrapins. Maryland actually had more first place votes 79 to 77, but MSU had an edge on points, 1720-1696. The remainder of the Top Five was #3 Georgia Tech (which beat The Citadel 54-6), #4 Oklahoma and #5 Illinois. Defending champion Tennessee was 6th. As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.

On September 27 #1 Michigan State won at Michigan, 27-13. #2 Maryland beat Auburn 13-7 in Birmingham #3 Georgia Tech narrowly beat Florida 17-14 and fell to 6th place in the next poll. #4 Oklahoma visited Colorado and was tied, 21-21. #5 Illinois, which beat Iowa State 33-7, rose to second place in the next poll. #8 California, which was 2-0-0 after a 28-14 win over Missouri, and #11 Texas (which had won at North Carolina 28-7), took their places. The poll: 1.Michigan State 2.Illinois 3.Maryland 4.California 5.Texas

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