1955 NCAA Division I-A football season

1955 NCAA football season
Total # of teams	110
Preseason AP #1	UCLA Bruins
Number of bowls	7
Champions	Oklahoma Sooners
Heisman	Howard Cassady, Ohio State HB
← 1954 College football seasons 1956 →

1955 ACC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#3 Maryland +	4	–	0	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
Duke +	4	–	0	–	0			7	–	2	–	1
Clemson	3	–	1	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Wake Forest	3	–	3	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
North Carolina	3	–	3	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
NC State	0	–	2	–	1			4	–	5	–	1
South Carolina	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Virginia	0	–	4	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

1955 Big 7 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#1 Oklahoma $	6	–	0	–	0			11	–	0	–	0
Nebraska	5	–	1	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Colorado	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Kansas State	3	–	3	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Kansas	1	–	4	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
Iowa State	1	–	4	–	1			1	–	7	–	1
Missouri	1	–	5	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1955 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#5 Ohio State $	6	–	0	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
#2 Michigan State	5	–	1	–	0			9	–	1	–	0
#12 Michigan	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
Purdue	4	–	2	–	1			5	–	3	–	1
Illinois	3	–	3	–	1			5	–	3	–	1
Wisconsin	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Iowa	2	–	3	–	1			3	–	5	–	1
Minnesota	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Indiana	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Northwestern	0	–	6	–	1			0	–	8	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1955 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Wichita State §	3	–	1	–	0			7	–	2	–	1
Detroit §	3	–	1	–	0			5	–	3	–	1
Houston	2	–	2	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Tulsa	1	–	3	–	0			2	–	7	–	1
Oklahoma A&M	1	–	3	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

1955 MSC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Colorado A&M $	6	–	1	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
Utah	4	–	1	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Denver	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
Wyoming	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Utah State	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Montana	2	–	4	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
New Mexico	1	–	5	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
BYU	0	–	7	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1955 PCC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#4 UCLA $	6	–	0	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
Oregon State	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
#16 Stanford	3	–	2	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
Oregon	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Washington	4	–	3	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
#13 USC	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
California	1	–	5	–	1			2	–	7	–	1
Washington State	1	–	5	–	1			1	–	7	–	2
Idaho	0	–	4	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1955 SEC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#10 Ole Miss $	5	–	1	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
#8 Auburn	5	–	1	–	1			8	–	2	–	1
#7 Georgia Tech	4	–	1	–	1			9	–	1	–	1
Tennessee	3	–	2	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
Vanderbilt	4	–	3	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Mississippi State	4	–	4	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Kentucky	3	–	3	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
Tulane	3	–	3	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
LSU	2	–	3	–	1			3	–	5	–	2
Florida	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Georgia	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Alabama	0	–	7	–	0			0	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1955 Southern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#19 West Virginia $	4	–	0	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
VPI	2	–	1	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
Davidson	3	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
George Washington	3	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Richmond	3	–	2	–	2			4	–	3	–	2
The Citadel	2	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Furman	1	–	1	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
William & Mary	1	–	3	–	1			1	–	7	–	1
VMI	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
Washington and Lee	0	–	1	–	0			0	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1955 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#6 TCU $	5	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
#17 Texas A&M	4	–	1	–	1			7	–	2	–	1
Texas	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Arkansas	3	–	2	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
Baylor	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
SMU	2	–	4	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Rice	0	–	6	–	0			2	–	7	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1955 NCAA football season saw the Oklahoma Sooners win the national championship after going 10-0-0. Although the final poll was taken before the postseason bowl games, Oklahoma played against the nation's other unbeaten and untied (10-0-0) team, the Maryland Terrapins, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, and won 20-6.

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 1955 consisted of the votes of as many as 391 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 the preseason poll released on September 12, 1955, the UCLA Bruins, 1954's co champions, received 33 first place votes, while Oklahoma had 32. Michigan had 34 votes, but the third most points overall. Other teams nominated for the top spot were defending champ Ohio State, Maryland, Notre Dame, Navy, Miami, Georgia Tech, Iowa, USC, Duke, West Virginia, and Purdue. As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games. The preseason Top Five was 1.UCLA 2.Oklahoma 3.Michigan 4.Ohio State 5.Maryland.

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