The 1955 college football season finished with two teams recognized as a national champion:
Oklahoma compiled an 11–0 record in its 11th season under Bud Wilkinson. The Sooners were ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press (AP) and United Press (UP) coaches polls. Securing their claim as national champion, Oklahoma defeated No.2 Maryland, 20–6, in the Orange Bowl. The 1955 season was part of a 47-game winning streak that ran from October 10, 1953, to November 9, 1957.
Other teams compiling perfect seasons in 1955 included Miami (OH) (9–0, AP No. 15 under Ara Parseghian); Hillsdale (declined Tangerine Bowl bid after being told national scoring champion and African-American Nate Clark must stay home); Trinity (CT) (consecutive perfect seasons); and Whitworth (part of 21-game winning streak).
Ohio State halfback Howard Cassady won the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award. Individual statistical leaders in major college football in 1955 included Navy quarterback George Welsh with 1,348 yards of total offense and 1,319 passing yards; Arizona tailback Art Luppino with 1,313 rushing yards; Missouri end Hank Burnine with 594 receiving yards; and TCU halfback Jim Swink with 125 points scored.
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 AP champ Ohio State, Maryland, Notre Dame, Navy, Miami, Georgia Tech, Iowa, USC, Duke, West Virginia, and Purdue.[2] As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games. The preseason Top Five were No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 5 Maryland.
On Friday, September 16, No. 1 UCLA opened in Los Angeles with a 21–0 win over visiting Texas A&M. September 17, Oklahoma, Michigan and Ohio State were idle, but No. 5 Maryland edged Missouri on the road, 13–12. No. 10 Georgia Tech, which had beaten No. 9 Miami 14–6 in Atlanta, rose to 2nd place in the next poll: No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Georgia Tech, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Michigan, and No. 5 Maryland.
On September 24, No. 1 UCLA and No. 5 Maryland met at College Park, before a record crowd. UCLA's Doug Peters plunged into the end zone in the first half, but fumbled the ball before crossing the goal line. In the second half, the home team Terrapins had the ball 17 yards from goal, on fourth down. Rather than kicking a field goal, Ed Vereb ran for the winning touchdown, giving Maryland a 7–0 win.[3]No. 2 Georgia Tech won at No. 19 Florida, 14–7. No. 3 Oklahoma won at North Carolina 13–6. No. 4 Michigan beat Missouri 42–7. Maryland took over the top spot, while UCLA fell to 7th. No. 11 Notre Dame, which had beaten SMU 17–0, moved into the Top 5: No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Oklahoma.
October
October 1,
No. 1 Maryland won 20–6 at No. 20 Baylor in Texas.
No. 2 Michigan beat Michigan State 14–7 before a crowd of 97,239 at home in Ann Arbor. MSU had tied the score 7–7 after an errant punt by Michigan gave them the ball 39 yards from goal. Minutes later, Earl Morrall's punt was blocked to give Michigan the ball on the MSU 21, from which the winning score was made. No. 3 Georgia Tech beat SMU 20–7 in Atlanta.
No. 4 Notre Dame defeated Indiana 19–0.
No. 5 Oklahoma beat No. 12 Pittsburgh 26–14, marking its 21st consecutive win. The next poll: No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Georgia Tech, and No. 5 Notre Dame.
October 8No. 1 Maryland beat Wake Forest 28–7, and No. 2 Michigan defeated visiting No. 6 Army, 26–2. Both stayed unbeaten, but Michigan took the top spot in the next poll. No. 3 Oklahoma defeated Texas 20–0 in Dallas.
No. 4 Georgia Tech won 7–0 at LSU.
No. 5 Notre Dame won 14–0 at No. 15 Miami, with both touchdowns coming on fourth down passes from Paul Hornung, before an Orange Bowl record crowd of 75,685.[4] In a game that would eventually decide the Pacific Coast Conference title, No. 7 UCLA beat Oregon State 38–0. The next poll: No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Georgia Tech.
October 15No. 1 Michigan defeated Northwestern, 14–2. No. 2 Maryland won at North Carolina, 25–7. No. 3 Oklahoma beat Kansas 44–6. However, No. 5 Georgia Tech lost to visiting No. 17 Auburn 14–12, and No. 4 Notre Dame lost 21–7 when it hosted No. 13 Michigan State. They dropped from the top five and were replaced by No. 8 Navy (which had won 34–14 at Penn State) and No. 11 Duke (which had won at No. 14 Ohio State, 20–14). The poll: No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Navy, and No. 5 Duke.
October 22 In Minneapolis, No. 1 Michigan faced a 1–3–0 Minnesota team and was stunned when the Gophers racked up two touchdowns in the first quarter. Michigan's Terry Barr blocked the extra point attempt on the second touchdown, but the nation's No. 1 team was losing 13–0. Still down 13–7 at the half, the Wolverines fought back. Jim Van Pelt passed to Tom Maentz for a touchdown, and Van Pelt added the extra point to save Michigan, 14–13.[5] Minnesota would go on to a 3–6–0 finish. Meanwhile, No. 2 Maryland won more convincingly at Syracuse, 34–13, to regain the top spot. No. 3 Oklahoma beat No. 14 Colorado, 56–21. No. 4 Navy won at Penn, 33–0. No. 5 Duke lost to Pitt, 26–7, and was replaced in the top five by No. 6 Michigan State, which beat Illinois 21–7. The next poll: No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Navy, and No. 5 Michigan State.
October 29 Back at the top, No. 1 Maryland beat South Carolina 27–0, while No. 2 Oklahoma won at Kansas State, 40–7. No. 3 Michigan beat Iowa 33–21. No. 4 Navy lost at No. 9 Notre Dame, 21–7. No. 5 Michigan State won at Wisconsin, 27–0. UCLA returned to the Top Five from No. 6 after a 47–0 win over California. The next poll: No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Michigan State, and No. 5 UCLA.
November
November 5 As both stayed undefeated, No. 1 Maryland beat LSU 13–0 and No. 2 Oklahoma won at Missouri, 20–0.
No. 3 Michigan lost at Illinois 25–6, while No. 4 Michigan State won at Purdue, 27–0. No. 5 UCLA won at Pacific, 34–0. No. 6 Notre Dame, which had won at Penn 46–14, returned to the top five. The next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 5.Notre Dame.
November 12 Back at No. 1, Oklahoma beat Iowa State 52–0. No. 2 Maryland won at Clemson, 25–12. No. 3 Michigan State beat Minnesota 42–14. No. 4 UCLA was trailing Washington 17–16 in the closing seconds, but Jim Decker kicked a field goal for a 19–17 victory.[6] The game is referenced in Back to the Future Part II. No. 5 Notre Dame won at North Carolina, 27–7. The next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 UCLA. All scores from this day were correctly reported by the radio announcer in the BTTF movie (over the radio in Biff's car when Marty was trying to the recover the Sports Almanac).
November 19 Although No. 1 Oklahoma was 8–0–0 and host Nebraska was 5–4–0, both had 5–0–0 records in Big 7 conference play when they met at Lincoln. The Sooners rolled, 41–0, to get the Orange Bowl bid. No. 2 Maryland closed its season with a 19–0 win over George Washington University and accepted the invitation to meet Oklahoma, but what would have been a No. 1 vs. No. 2 meeting changed when the Terrapins were dropped to third by the AP voters. No. 3 Michigan State, which had a 5–1 record in Big Ten play, beat Marquette 33–0 in a non-conference game. No. 6 Michigan's 17–0 loss to No. 9 Ohio State gave the Wolverines a 5–2 conference mark and knocked them out of contention for the Rose Bowl. Ohio State had the best record in the Big Ten, 6–0 overall, but had gone to the Rose Bowl the year before, so Michigan State got the bid. The Spartans' opponent would be No. 5 UCLA, which beat USC 17–7. No. 4 Notre Dame beat Iowa 17–14. Though Maryland, like Oklahoma, was unbeaten, the voters put once-beaten Michigan State in the second spot instead. The next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 5 Notre Dame.
On November 26, No. 5 Notre Dame lost in Los Angeles to USC, 42–20, and dropped to 6th in the final AP poll, where it would be replaced at No. 5 by Ohio State. The top four teams (Oklahoma, Michigan State, Maryland, and UCLA) had finished their seasons and were ranked in the same order in the final poll.
Conference standings
Major conference standings
For this article, major conferences defined as those including at least one state flagship public university and the Ivy League.
The final rankings were made on November 28, after the regular season and without consideration of the postseason bowl games:
1. Oklahoma
(10–0–0)
Big 7
2. Michigan State
(8–1–0)
Big 10
3. Maryland
(10–0–0)
ACC
4. UCLA
(9–1–0)
PCC
5. Ohio State
(7–2–0)
Big 10
6. TCU
(9–1–0)
SWC
7. Georgia Tech
(8–1–1)
SEC
8. Auburn
(8–1–1)
SEC
9. Notre Dame
(8–2–0)
Indep.
10. Mississippi
(9–1–0)
SEC
11. Pittsburgh
(7–3–0)
Indep.
12. Michigan
(7–2–0)
Big 10
13. USC
(6–4–0)
PCC
14. Miami (Florida)
(6–3–0)
Indep.
15. Miami (Ohio)
(9–0–0)
MAC
16. Stanford
(6–3–1)
PCC
17. Texas A&M
(7–2–1)
SWC
18. Navy
(6–2–1)
Indep.
19. West Virginia
(8–2–0)
Southern
20. Army
(6–3–0)
Indep.
Final Coaches Poll
Ranking
Team
1
Oklahoma
2
Michigan State
3
Maryland
4
UCLA
5
Ohio State
6
Texas Christian
7
Georgia Tech
8
Auburn
9
Mississippi
10
Notre Dame
11
Pittsburgh
12
USC
13
Michigan
14
Texas A&M
15
Army
16
Duke
17
West Virginia
18
Miami (Fla.)
19
Iowa
20 (t)
Navy
20 (t)
Stanford
20 (t)
Miami (Ohio)
Other champions
Orange Blossom Classic
Prior to the integration of sports teams, Miami Orange Bowl stadium hosted the New Year's Day game of the same name, and a December game for historically black colleges, the Orange Blossom Classic. Grambling (9–0) and Florida A&M (8–0–1) met to determine the best Negro college football team in the nation, with Grambling winning, 28–21.
The following players were the individual leaders in pass completions among major college football players during the 1955 season:
1. George Welsh, Navy, 94 of 150 (.627), 1,319 yards, 6 interceptions, 8 touchdowns
2. Claude Benham, Columbia, 89 of 188 (.473), 999 yards, 15 interceptions, 7 touchdowns
3. Len Dawson, Purdue, 87 of 155 (.561), 1,005 yards, 14 interceptions, 7 touchdowns
4. John Brodie, Stanford, 76 of 133 (.571), 1,024 yards, 7 interceptions, 5 touchdowns
5. Bill Beagle, Dartmouth, 75 of 155 (.484), 812 yards, 12 interceptions, 6 touchdowns
6. Ken Ford, Hardin-Simmons, 73 of 135 (.541), 854 yards, 10 interceptions, 8 touchdowns
7. Jim Haluska, Wisconsin, 71 of 132 (.538), 1,036 yards, 10 interceptions, 6 touchdowns
8. Nick Consoles, Wake Forest, 66 of 123 (.537), 787 yards, 8 interceptions, 6 touchdowns
9. Joe Clements, Texas, 65 of 128 (.508), 818 yards, 13 interceptions, 6 touchdowns
10. John Roach, SMU, 64 of 141 (.454), 907 yards, 14 interceptions, 6 touchdowns [14]
Rushing
The following players were the individual leaders in rushing yards among major college football players during the 1955 season:
1. Art Luppino, Arizona, 1,313 yards on 209 carries (6.28 average)
2. Jim Swink, TCU, 1,283 on 157 carries (8.17 average)
3. Howard Cassady, Ohio State, 958 yards on 161 carries (5.95 average)
4. Fob James, Auburn, 879 yards on 123 carries (7.15 average)
5. Jim Brown, UCLA, 829 yards on 130 carries (6.38 average)
6. Bobby Moss, West Virginia, 807 yards on 98 carries (8.23 average)
7. Joel Wells, Clemson, 782 yards on 134 carries (5.79 average)
8. Jim Bakhtiar, Virginia, 733 yards on 158 carries (4.64 average)
9. Bob Pascal, Duke, 750 yards on 156 carries (4.81 average)
10. Jim Shanley, Oregon, 711 yards on 100 carries (7.11 average) [15]
Receiving
The following players were the individual leaders in receptions among major college football players during the 1955 season:
1. Hank Burnine, Missouri, 44 receptions, 594 yards, 2 touchdowns
2. Johnny Bredice, Boston University, 35 receptions, 468 yards, 4 touchdowns
3. Barnes, Wake Forest, 31 receptions, 349 yards, 0 touchdowns
4. Ron Beagle, Navy, 30 receptions, 451 yards, 4 touchdowns
5. Hurley, Montana, 25 receptions, 431 yards, 2 touchdowns
6. Jimmy Orr, Georgia, 24 receptions, 443 yards, 3 touchdowns
6. Sanders, Colorado A&M, 24 receptions, 351 yards, 3 touchdowns
6. Pascoe, Dartmouth, 24 receptions, 331 yards, 3 touchdowns
6. Massegee, Hardin-Simmons, 24 receptions, 321 yards, 4 touchdowns
6. Seitz, Columbia, 24 receptions, 286 yards, 1 touchdown [16]
Scoring
The following players were the individual leaders in scoring among major college football players during the 1955 season:
1. Jim Swink, TCU, 125 points (20 TD, 5 PAT)
2. Jon Arnett, USC, 108 points (15 TD, 18 PAT)
3. Tommy McDonald, Oklahoma, 96 points (16 TD)
3. Ed Vereb, Maryland, 96 points (16 TD)
3. Art Luppino, 96 points (13 TD, 18 PAT)
6. Howard Cassady, 90 points (15 TD)
7. Paige Cothren, Ole Miss, 74 points (6 TD, 20 PAT, 6 FG)
8. Charles Horton, Vanderbilt, 73 points (12 TD, 1 PAT)
9. Jim Brown, UCLA, 69 points (9 TD, 15 PAT)
10. Jack Morris, Oregon, 67 points (8 TD, 19 PAT) [17]
Team
Total offense
The following teams were the leaders in total offense in major college football during the 1955 season:
1. Oklahoma, 410.7 yards per game
2. West Virginia, 384.5 yards per game
3. Denver, 368.9 yards per game
4. Michigan State, 364.4 yards per game
5. Navy, 358.6 yards per game
6. Notre Dame, 357.3 yards per game
7. Stanford, 355.1 yards per game
8. TCU, 353.1 yards per game
9. Miami (FL), 344.9 yards per game
10. Ole Miss, 339.6 yards per game [18]
Total defense
The following teams were the leaders in total defense in major college football during the 1955 season:
1. Army, 160.7 yards per game
2. Maryland, 169.1 yards per game
3. Navy, 181.7 yards per game
4. Auburn, 183.2 yards per game
5. Holy Cross, 183.5 yards per game
6. Oklahoma, 186.4 yards per game
7. Detroit, 194.1 yards per game
8. West Virginia, 194.8 yards per game
9. George Washington, 197.7 yards per game
10. Georgia Tech, 199.9 yards per game [19]