1957 NCAA University Division football rankings
Two human polls comprised the 1957 National Collegiate Athletic Association football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship, instead that title is bestowed by one or more different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll.Legend
AP Poll
The final AP Poll was released on December 2, at the end of the 1957 regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.The final UPI Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games on
Ohio State received 14 of the 35 first-place votes; Auburn received eleven, Michigan State eight, and two to
| Ranking | Team | Conference | Bowl |
| 1 | Ohio State | Big Ten | Won Rose, 10–7 |
| 2 | Auburn | SEC | none |
| 3 | Michigan State | Big Ten | none |
| 4 | Oklahoma | Big Eight | Won Orange, 48–21 |
| 5 | Iowa | Big Ten | none |
| 6 | Navy | Independent | Won Cotton, 20–7 |
| 7 | Rice | Southwest | Lost Cotton, 7–20 |
| 8 | Ole Miss | SEC | Won Sugar, 39–7 |
| 9 | Notre Dame | Independent | none |
| 10 | Texas A&M | Southwest | Lost Gator, 0–3 |
| 11 | Texas | Southwest | Lost Sugar, 7–39 |
| 12 | Arizona State | Border | none |
| 13 | Army | Independent | none |
| 14 | Duke | ACC | Lost Orange, 21–48 |
| 15 | Wisconsin | Big Ten | none |
| 16 | Tennessee | SEC | Won Gator, 3–0 |
| 17 | Oregon | Pacific Coast | Lost Rose, 7–10 |
| 18 | Clemson | ACC | none |
| 19 | UCLA | Pacific Coast | none |
| 20 | NC State | ACC | none |
