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1951 college football rankings

Two human polls comprised the 1951 college 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 3, at the end of the 1951 regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.

United Press poll

The final UP Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games, on <br>Tennessee received 23 of the 35 first-place votes; Michigan State received seven, Maryland two, and one each to Illinois, Georgia Tech,

  • <small>Prior to the 1975 season, the Big Ten and Pacific Coast (later AAWU / Pac-8) conferences allowed only one postseason participant each, for the Rose Bowl.</small>
  • <small>The Ivy League has prohibited its members from participating in postseason football since the league was officially formed in 1954.</small>

Litkenhous Ratings

The Litkenhous Ratings released in mid-December 1951 provided numerical rankings to over 650 college football programs. The top 100 ranked teams were:

1. Tennessee (10–1)<br> 2. Maryland (10–0)<br> 3. Michigan State (9–0)<br> 4. Oklahoma (8–2)<br> 5. California (8–2)<br> 6. Georgia Tech (11–0–1)<br> 7. Baylor (8–2–1)<br> 8. Illinois (9–0–1)<br> 9. Wisconsin (7–1–1)<br> 10. Kentucky (8–4)<br> 11. Stanford (9–2)<br> 12. UCLA (5–3–1)<br> 13. Texas (7–3)<br> 14. Notre Dame (7–2–1)<br> 15. Ole Miss (6–3–1)<br> 16. USC (7–3)<br> 17. TCU (6–5)<br> 18. SMU (3–6–1)<br> 19. Princeton (9–0)<br> 20. Texas A&M (5–3–2)<br> 21. Holy Cross (8–2)<br> 22. Washington State (7–3)<br> 23. Washington (3–6–1)<br> 24. Xavier (9–0–1)<br> 25. Oregon State (4–6)<br> 26. Arkansas (5–5)<br> 27. San Francisco (9–0)<br> 28. Rice (5–5)<br> 29. Michigan (4–5)<br> 30. Virginia (8–1)<br> 31. Ohio State (4–3–2)<br> 32. Tulsa (9–2)<br> 33. LSU (7–3–1)<br> 34. Cincinnati (10–1)<br> 35. Florida (5–5)<br> 36. Alabama (5–6)<br> 37. Purdue (5–4)<br> 38. Kansas (8–2)<br> 39. Penn (5–4)<br> 40. Texas Tech (7–4)<br> 41. Miami (FL) (8–3)<br> 42. Vanderbilt (6–5)<br> 43. Northwestern (5–4)<br> 44. Cornell (6–3)<br> 45. Clemson (7–3)<br> 46. Pacific (6–5)<br> 47. Colorado (7–3)<br> 48. Georgia (5–5)<br> 49. Navy (2–6–1)<br> 50. Mississippi State (4–5)<br> 51. Duke (5–4–1)<br> 52. Tulane (4–6)<br> 53. Marquette (4–6–1)<br> 54. Boston University (6–4)<br> 55. Indiana (3–6_<br> 56. Villanova (5–3)<br> 57. Wake Forest<br> 58. Pittsburgh (3–7)<br> 59. Columbia (5–3)<br> 60. Penn State (5–4)<br> 61. Santa Clara (3–5–1)<br> 62. Wyoming (7–2–1)<br> 63. Houston (6–5)<br> 64. Bucknell (9–0)<br> 65. Syracuse (5–4)<br> 66. Washington & Lee (6–4)<br> 67. North Carolina (2–8)<br> 68. South Carolina (5–4)<br> 69. Iowa (2–5–2)<br> 70. North Texas (8–4)<br> 71. Dayton (7–3)<br> 72. Fordham (5–4)<br> 73. Auburn (5–5)<br> 74. Iowa State (4–4–1)<br> 75. Minnesota (2–6–1)<br> 76. Arizona State (6–3–1)<br> 77. Denver (6–4)<br> 78. Hardin–Simmons (6–6)<br> 79. Dartmouth (4–5)<br> 80. Drake (7–2)<br> 81. Chattanooga (6–5)<br> 82. Memphis State (5–3)<br> 83. Miami (OH) (7–3)<br> 84. Oklahoma A&M (3–7)<br> 85. Boston College (3–6)<br> 86. Missouri (3–7)<br> 87. Arkansas State (10–2)<br> 88. Del Mar (9–1)<br> 89. Army (2–7)<br> 90. Rutgers (4–4)<br> 91. William & Mary (5–4–1)<br> 92. VMI (7–3)<br> 93. Nebraska (2–8)<br> 94. Colgate (4–5)<br> 95. Yale (2–5–2)<br> 96. Loyola (Los Angeles) (3–6)<br> 97. (10–1)<br> 98. Temple (6–4)<br> 99. Oregon (2–8)<br> 100. Toledo (6–4)<br> 101. Louisville (5–4)<br> 102. Colorado A&M (5–4–1)<br> 103. George Washington (2–6–1)<br> 104. West Virginia (5–5)<br> 105. Mississippi Southern (6–5)<br> 106. Kansas State (0–9)<br> 107. Utah (7–4)<br> 108. (10–1)<br> 109. (12–0)<br> 110. Detroit (4–7)<br> 111. NC State (3–7)<br> 112. Idaho (2–7)<br> 113. East Texas (9–2)<br> 114. Furman (3–6–1)<br> 115. (8–1–1)<br> 116. South Dakota State (8–1–1)<br> 117. Kent State (4–3–2)<br> 118. Ohio (5–4–1)<br> 119. Utah State (3–5–1)<br> 120. St. Bonaventure (5–4)<br> 121. San Jose State (2–7–1)<br> 122. Harvard (3–5–1)<br> 123. Valparaiso (9–0)<br> 124. South Dakota (7–1)<br> 125. Abilene Christian (6–4)<br> 126. Brown (2–7)<br> 132. Arizona (6–5)<br> 133. Murray State (8–1)<br> 137. Lehigh (7–2)<br> 138. San Diego State (10–0–1)<br> 139. Middle Tennessee (7–2–2)<br> 140. Citadel (4–6)<br> 146. Marshall (5–4–1)<br> 204. Western Kentucky (4–5)<br>

HBCU rankings

The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African American newspaper, ranked the top 1951 teams from historically black colleges and universities in an era when college football was largely segregated. The rankings were published on December 8:

The Associated Negro Press also published rankings on December 14:

See also

References