1954 college football season
The 1954 college 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" 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, the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl, and the Cotton Bowl.
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.
Conference and program changes
- The ACC voted to add Virginia as its eighth football-playing member in December 1953.
| School | 1953 Conference | 1954 Conference |
| Virginia Cavaliers | Independent | ACC |
| DePauw Tigers | Independent | ICC |
September
In the preseason poll released on September 13, 1954, #1 Notre Dame had the most points, although #2 Oklahoma had more first place votes. 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.September 18, #2 Oklahoma won at #12 California 27-13, and #3 Maryland won at Kentucky, 20-0. Notre Dame and Texas, #1 and #4, were preparing to meet at South Bend to open their seasons. Oklahoma replaced Notre Dame as #1 in the first regular poll. #7 Georgia Tech, which beat Tulane 28-0 in Atlanta, replaced Illinois in the Top Five. Defying high expectations, the Illini would lose their opener to Penn State, 14-12, and finish the season with a 1-8-0 record. The poll: 1.Oklahoma 2.Notre Dame 3.Maryland 4.Texas 5.Georgia Tech.
September 25 #2 Notre Dame hosted #4 Texas and won 21-0. #1 Oklahoma beat #20 Texas Christian 21-16. #3 Maryland was idle, and #5 Georgia Tech lost to Florida, 13-12. Notre Dame took back over the top spot from O.U., and Texas, Maryland and Georgia Tech were replaced by #8 UCLA, #10 Wisconsin and #11 Iowa. The poll: 1.Notre Dame 2.Oklahoma 3.Iowa 4.UCLA 5.Wisconsin
October
In a Friday game, #4 UCLA beat #6 Maryland 12-7. The next day, October 2, #1 Notre Dame was upset by #19 Purdue, 27-14. #2 Oklahoma which was idle, moved to the top as Notre Dame dropped out. #3 Iowa defeated visiting Montana, 48-6, and #5 Wisconsin beat #13 Michigan State 6-0. In Columbia, the #15 South Carolina Gamecocks fell 26-6 against unranked West Virginia. The poll: 1.Oklahoma 2.UCLA 3.Wisconsin 4.Iowa 5.PurdueOctober 9 #1 Oklahoma won its annual game in Dallas against #15 Texas, 14-7. #2 UCLA edged Washington 21-20. #3 Wisconsin beat #11 Rice 13-7. #4 Iowa lost to unranked Michigan, 14-13, and #5 Purdue was tied by #6 Duke, 13-13. #10 Ohio State, which had won at Illinois 40-7, entered the Top Five: 1.Oklahoma 2.Wisconsin 3.UCLA 4.Ohio State 5.Purdue.
October 16 #2 Wisconsin hosted #5 Purdue and won 20-6. #1 Oklahoma visited Kansas and annihilated it, 65-0, while #3 UCLA went one better in beating Stanford 72-0. #4 Ohio State beat #13 Iowa 20-14. #14 West Virginia Mountaineers knocked off the #9 Penn State Nittany Lions 19-14 at Beaver Stadium. #7 Ole Miss, which had beaten Tulane 34-7, entered the Top Five: 1.Oklahoma 2.Wisconsin 3.UCLA 4.Ohio State 5.Mississippi.
October 23 #2 Wisconsin faced its second top-ranked opponent in a week, visiting Big Ten rival and #4 Ohio State. OSU won, 31-14, to take the #1 spot. #1 Oklahoma beat Kansas State 21-0, and #3 UCLA beat Oregon State 61-0. #5 Mississippi lost to #7 Arkansas at Little Rock, 6-0. #9 Army, which had won 67-12 at Columbia, moved up. The poll: 1.Ohio State 2.Oklahoma 3.UCLA 4.Arkansas 5.Army
October 30 #1 Ohio State won at Northwestern, 14-7. #2 Oklahoma won 13-6 at Colorado.
- 3 UCLA won at California 27-6 and was given top billing in the next poll. #4 Arkansas won 14-7 at Texas A & M. #5 Army, which got to stay home, edged Virginia 21-20. #6 Notre Dame, which beat #15 Navy 6-0 in Baltimore, moved up. The poll: 1.UCLA 2.Ohio State 3.Oklahoma 4.Arkansas 5.Notre Dame.
November
November 13 #1 UCLA had the week off, while #2 Ohio State won at Purdue 28-6 and got back the top rung. #3 Oklahoma beat Missouri 34-13. #4 Arkansas lost to #19 SMU, 21-14. #5 Notre Dame beat North Carolina, 42-13. #6 Army, which at won at Penn 35-0, came back to the Top Five: 1.Ohio State 2.UCLA 3.Oklahoma 4.Notre Dame 5.Army.
November 20 #1 Ohio State beat #12 Michigan 21-7. In Los Angeles, #2 UCLA beat its crosstown rival, #8 USC, 34-0. #3 Oklahoma beat Nebraska 55-7. #4 Notre Dame won at Iowa 34-18. #5 Army had the day, preparing for the Army-Navy game.
November 27 #1 Ohio State and #2 UCLA had finished their seasons. #3 Oklahoma won its annual season-closer at Oklahoma State, 14-0. #4 Notre Dame beat #17 USC 23-17. In Philadelphia, #5 Army was beaten by #6 Navy, 27-20, with the Midshipmen taking Army's spot in the poll.
Conference standings
Major conference standings
Independents
Minor conferences
Minor conference standings
Rankings
Final AP Poll
AP ranked Ohio State as #1, while the UPI coaches' poll gave the top spot to UCLA. Both wire services' rankings were made at the end of the regular season, and were unaffected by the postseason bowl games. Ohio State and UCLA had two common opponents in 1954; Cal and USC. Ohio State defeated Cal 21-13 and USC 20-7, while UCLA defeated Cal 27-6 and USC 34-0.| Ranking | Team | Record | Conference |
| 1 | Ohio State | 9-0-0 | Big 10 |
| 2 | UCLA | 9-0-0 | PCC |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 10-0-0 | Big 7 |
| 4 | Notre Dame | 8-1-0 | Indep. |
| 5 | Navy | 7-2-0 | Indep. |
| 6 | Mississippi | 9-1-0 | SEC |
| 7 | Army | 7-2-0 | Indep. |
| 8 | Maryland | 7-2-1 | ACC |
| 9 | Wisconsin | 7-2-0 | Big 10 |
| 10 | Arkansas | 8-2-0 | SWC |
| 11 | Miami | 8-1-0 | Indep. |
| 12 | West Virginia | 8-1-0 | Southern |
| 13 | Auburn | 7-3-0 | SEC |
| 14 | Duke | 7-2-1 | ACC |
| 15 | Michigan | 6-3-0 | Big 10 |
| 16 | Virginia Tech | 8-0-1 | Southern |
| 17 | USC | 8-3-0 | PCC |
| 18 | Baylor | 7-3-0 | SWC |
| 19 | Rice | 7-3-0 | SWC |
| 20 | Penn State | 7-2-0 | Indep. |
Final Coaches Poll
The United Press International poll, taken from a panel of 35 coaches, had UCLA as the number one team beginning with the poll released on October 26. A rival to the AP poll, the UPI prefaced its release with the statement, "The men who know the game the best, the coaches themselves, voted UCLA to the top spot by the slender margin of seven points over Ohio State, the perfect record champions of the Big 10 Conference," The UPI poll was a Top Ten, with a first place vote by a coach being worth 10 points, second worth 9 points, etc. With 350 being the maximum number of points, and 315 being the total for 35 second place votes, the panel was split on whether UCLA or Ohio State was the best team in the nation. The UPI Top Ten Ohio State and UCLA had two common opponents in 1954; Cal and USC. Ohio State defeated Cal 21-13 and USC 20-7, while UCLA defeated Cal 27-6 and USC 34-0.| Ranking | Team |
| 1 | UCLA |
| 2 | Ohio State |
| 3 | Oklahoma |
| 4 | Notre Dame |
| 5 | Navy |
| 6 | Mississippi |
| 7 | Army |
| 8 | Arkansas |
| 9 | Miami |
| 10 | Wisconsin |
| 11 | USC |
| 11 | Maryland |
| 11 | Georgia Tech |
| 14 | Duke |
| 15 | Michigan |
| 16 | Penn State |
| 17 | SMU |
| 18 | Denver |
| 19 | Rice |
| 20 | Minnesota |
Bowl games
| Rose Bowl | #1 Ohio State Buckeyes | 20 | #17 USC Trojans | 7 |
| Sugar Bowl | #5 Navy Midshipmen | 21 | #6 Mississippi Rebels | 0 |
| Cotton Bowl | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | 14 | #10 Arkansas Razorbacks | 6 |
| Orange Bowl | #14 Duke Blue Devils | 34 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | 7 |
| Gator Bowl | #13 Auburn Tigers | 33 | #18 Baylor Bears | 13 |
| Refrigerator Bowl | Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens | 19 | Kent State Golden Flashes | 7 |