1954 college football season

1954 NCAA football season
Total # of teams	111
Preseason AP #1	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Number of bowls	7
Champions	Ohio State Buckeyes (AP) UCLA Bruins (Coaches)
Heisman	Alan Ameche, Wisconsin FB
← 1953 College football seasons 1955 →

1954 ACC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#14 Duke $	4	–	0	–	0			8	–	2	–	1
#8 Maryland	4	–	0	–	1			7	–	2	–	1
North Carolina	4	–	2	–	0			4	–	5	–	1
South Carolina	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Clemson	1	–	2	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Wake Forest	1	–	4	–	1			2	–	7	–	1
Virginia	0	–	2	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
NC State	0	–	4	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1954 Big 7 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#3 Oklahoma $	6	–	0	–	0			10	–	0	–	0
Nebraska	4	–	2	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Colorado	3	–	2	–	1			7	–	2	–	1
Missouri	3	–	2	–	1			4	–	5	–	1
Kansas State	3	–	3	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Iowa State	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Kansas	0	–	6	–	0			0	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1954 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#1 Ohio State $	7	–	0	–	0			10	–	0	–	0
#9 Wisconsin	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
#15 Michigan	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Minnesota	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
Iowa	4	–	3	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Purdue	3	–	3	–	0			5	–	3	–	1
Indiana	2	–	4	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Michigan State	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Northwestern	1	–	5	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Illinois	0	–	6	–	0			1	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1954 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Wichita State $	4	–	0	–	0			9	–	1	–	0
Houston	3	–	1	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Oklahoma A&M	2	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Detroit	1	–	3	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Tulsa	0	–	4	–	0			0	–	11	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1954 MSC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Denver $	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	1	–	0
Wyoming	5	–	1	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Utah State	4	–	3	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
New Mexico	3	–	3	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Utah	3	–	3	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Colorado A&M	3	–	4	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Montana	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
BYU	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1954 PCC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#1/2 UCLA $	6	–	0	–	0			9	–	0	–	0
#17 USC	6	–	1	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Oregon	5	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
California	4	–	3	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Washington State	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Stanford	2	–	4	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Idaho	1	–	2	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Washington	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
Oregon State	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from Coaches' Poll/ AP Poll

1954 SEC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#6 Ole Miss $	5	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
Georgia Tech	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Florida	5	–	2	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Kentucky	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Georgia	3	–	2	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
#13 Auburn	3	–	3	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Mississippi State	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Alabama	3	–	3	–	2			4	–	5	–	2
LSU	2	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Tulane	1	–	6	–	1			1	–	6	–	3
Vanderbilt	1	–	5	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Tennessee	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1954 Southern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#12 West Virginia $	3	–	0	–	0			8	–	1	–	0
Furman	2	–	0	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
#16 VPI	3	–	0	–	1			8	–	0	–	1
Davidson	2	–	1	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
VMI	4	–	3	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Richmond	2	–	3	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
William & Mary	1	–	2	–	2			4	–	4	–	2
George Washington	0	–	4	–	1			1	–	7	–	1
The Citadel	0	–	4	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1954 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#10 Arkansas $	5	–	1	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
SMU	4	–	1	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
#19 Rice	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
#18 Baylor	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Texas	2	–	3	–	1			4	–	5	–	1
TCU	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Texas A&M	0	–	6	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1954 NCAA football season saw three teams finish unbeaten and untied, with Ohio State Buckeyes and the UCLA Bruins sharing the national championship as the #1 picks of the AP Poll and the UPI Poll, respectively. Although the winners of the Big Ten and the Pacific conferences normally met in the Rose Bowl, a "no repeat" prevented the two champions from meeting. UCLA, which had been in the Rose Bowl earlier in the year, was replaced by conference runner-up USC.

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 1954 consisted of the votes of as many as 419 sportswriters.

Though not all writers voted in every poll, each would give their opinion of the twenty best teams. Under a point system of 20 points for first place, 19 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 1954, a limit of 10 games per season, excluding a bowl game, was imposed on all teams, with the exception that existing contracts would not be changed.

In the preseason poll released on September 13, 1954, #1 Notre Dame had the most points, although #2 Oklahoma had more first place votes (74 vs. 52). Rounding out the Top Five were defending champion #3 Maryland, #4 Texas and #5 Illinois. As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.

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