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The 1954 college football season saw three teams finish unbeaten and untied, with
Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...
and the
UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...
sharing the national championship as the No. 1 picks of the
AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and br ...
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 The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
had no playoff for the
college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...
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 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 (near Los Angeles at Pasadena), the Sugar Bowl (
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
), the Orange Bowl (
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
), and the Cotton Bowl (
Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...
). 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 Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...
as its eighth football-playing member in December 1953.


September

In the preseason poll released on September 13, 1954, No. 1 Notre Dame had the most points, although No. 2 Oklahoma had more first place votes (74 vs. 52). Rounding out the Top Five were defending champion No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Illinois. As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games. September 18, No. 2 Oklahoma won at No. 12 California 27–13, and No. 3 Maryland won at Kentucky, 20–0. Notre Dame and Texas, No. 1 and No. 4, were preparing to meet at South Bend to open their seasons. Oklahoma replaced Notre Dame as No. 1 in the first regular poll. No. 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 next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 Texas, and No. 5 Georgia Tech. September 25 No. 2 Notre Dame hosted No. 4 Texas and won 21–0. No. 1 Oklahoma beat No. 20 Texas Christian (TCU) 21–16. No. 3 Maryland was idle, and No. 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 No. 8 UCLA (32–7 over Kansas), No. 10 Wisconsin (52–14 over Marquette) and No. 11 Iowa (14–10 over No. 7 Michigan State). The poll: No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Iowa, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 5 Wisconsin.


October

In a Friday game, No. 4 UCLA beat No. 6 Maryland 12–7. The next day, October 2, No. 1 Notre Dame was upset by No. 19 Purdue, 27–14. No. 2 Oklahoma which was idle, moved to the top as Notre Dame dropped to eighth. No. 3 Iowa defeated visiting Montana, 48–6, and No. 5 Wisconsin beat No. 13 Michigan State 6–0. The next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 4 Iowa, and No. 5 Purdue. October 9 No. 1 Oklahoma won its annual game in Dallas against No. 15 Texas, 14–7. No. 2 UCLA edged Washington 21–20. No. 3 Wisconsin beat No. 11 Rice 13–7. No. 4 Iowa lost to unranked Michigan, 14–13, and No. 5 Purdue was tied by No. 6 Duke, 13–13. No. 10 Ohio State, which had won at Illinois 40–7, entered the Top Five: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 5 Purdue. October 16 No. 2 Wisconsin hosted No. 5 Purdue and won 20–6. No. 1 Oklahoma visited Kansas and annihilated it, 65–0, while No. 3 UCLA went one better in beating Stanford 72–0. No. 4 Ohio State beat No. 13 Iowa 20–14. No. 7 Ole Miss, which had beaten Tulane 34–7, entered the Top Five: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 5 Mississippi. October 23 No. 2 Wisconsin faced its second high-ranked opponent in a week, visiting Big Ten rival and No. 4 Ohio State. OSU won, 31–14, to take the No. 1 spot. No. 1 Oklahoma beat Kansas State 21–0, and No. 3 UCLA beat Oregon State 61–0. No. 5 Mississippi lost to No. 7 Arkansas at Little Rock, 6–0. No. 9 Army, which had won 67–12 at Columbia, moved up. The next poll: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Arkansas, and No. 5 Army. October 30 No. 1 Ohio State won at Northwestern, 14–7. No. 2 Oklahoma won 13–6 at Colorado. No. 3 UCLA won at California 27–6 and was given top billing in the next poll. No. 4 Arkansas won 14–7 at Texas A&M. No. 5 Army, which got to stay home, edged Virginia 21–20. No. 6 Notre Dame, which beat No. 15 Navy 6–0 in Baltimore, moved up. The next poll: No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Arkansas, and No. 5 Notre Dame.


November

November 6 No. 1 UCLA won at Oregon 41–0. No. 2 Ohio State beat visiting No. 20 Pittsburgh, 26–0. No. 3 Oklahoma won at Iowa State 40–0. No. 4 Arkansas, playing at Little Rock, beat No. 15 Rice 28–15, and No. 5 Notre Dame won at Penn, 42–7. The top five remained the same. November 13 No. 1 UCLA had the week off, while No. 2 Ohio State won at Purdue 28–6 and got back the top rung. No. 3 Oklahoma beat Missouri 34–13. No. 4 Arkansas lost to No. 19 SMU, 21–14. No. 5 Notre Dame beat North Carolina, 42–13. No. 6 Army, which at won at Penn 35–0, came back to the Top Five: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Army. November 20 No. 1 Ohio State beat No. 12 Michigan 21–7. In Los Angeles, No. 2 UCLA beat its crosstown rival, No. 7 USC, 34–0. No. 3 Oklahoma beat Nebraska 55–7. No. 4 Notre Dame won at No. 19 Iowa 34–18. No. 5 Army had the day off, preparing for the Army-Navy game. The top five remained the same. November 27 No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 UCLA had finished their seasons, both of them undefeated and untied. No. 3 Oklahoma also finished with a perfect record, winning its annual season-closer at Oklahoma A&M 14–0. No. 4 Notre Dame beat No. 17 USC 23–17. In Philadelphia, No. 5 Army was beaten by No. 6 Navy, 27–20. The AP's final top five were No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Navy, although the Coaches Poll selected UCLA as its top team. Under normal circumstances the Buckeyes and Bruins would have met in the Rose Bowl for a national championship showdown, but the Pacific Coast Conference's short-lived "no-repeat" rule forced UCLA to stay home because they had played in the previous year's Rose Bowl. Instead, Ohio State matched up with No. 17 USC, whom they defeated 20–7.


Conference standings


Major conference standings


Independents


Minor conferences


Minor conference standings


Rankings


Final AP Poll

AP ranked Ohio State as No. 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.


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 "UCLA Edges Buckeyes In Last UP Grid Poll," ''The Vidette-Messenger'' (Valparaison, IN), December 1, 1954, p6 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.


Bowl games


Major bowls

:No. 2
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
(9–0) and No. 3
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
(10–0) were idle in bowl season due to conference "no-repeat" rules.


Other bowls


Heisman Trophy

# Alan Ameche, RB -
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, 1068 points # Kurt Burris, C -
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
, 838 #
Howard Cassady Howard Albert "Hopalong" Cassady (March 2, 1934 – September 20, 2019) was an American professional football player who was a halfback and split end. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1955, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame ...
, RB -
Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
, 810 #
Ralph Guglielmi Ralph Vincent Guglielmi (June 26, 1933 – January 23, 2017) was an American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Washington Redskins, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. He playe ...
, QB - Notre Dame, 691 # Paul Larson, QB -
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, 271 #
Dicky Moegle Richard Lee Maegle (born Moegle; September 14, 1934 – July 4, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a halfback in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Dallas Cowboys. ...
, RB -
Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...
, 258 # Jack Ellena, L -
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
, 193 # George Shaw, QB -
Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
, 182 # Pete Vann, QB -
Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
, 134 # Bob McNamara, RB -
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...
, 104 #
Bud Brooks William "Bud" Brooks was an American football player for the Arkansas Razorbacks and the winner of the 1954 Outland Trophy as the year's best interior lineman. Brooks played guard and defensive tackle for the Razorbacks and was selected first-te ...
, L -
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
, 93 # Calvin Jones, L -
Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...
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See also

*
1954 College Football All-America Team The 1954 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1954. The eight selectors recognized by the ...
*
1954 NCAA football rankings Two human polls comprised the 1954 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 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 ...


References

{{NCAA football season navbox