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The 1952 season

Michigan State finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 9–⁠0 under Biggie Munn. Georgia Tech also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Michigan State 21, No. 6 Notre Dame 3 (Nov 15, 1952). 32 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Bill Vessels, RB, Oklahoma.

The Heisman vote: Bill Vessels 525 points, Jack Scarbath 367
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Bill Vessels RB, Oklahoma525989149
Jack Scarbath QB, Maryland367705743
Paul Giel RB, Minnesota329763825
Donn Moomaw C/LB, UCLA257543231
Johnny Lattner RB, Notre Dame253354558
Paul Cameron RB, UCLA218403528
Jim Sears RB, USC173382117
Don McAuliffe RB, Michigan State164262928
Don Heinrich QB, Washington153192840
Tom Catlin C, Oklahoma150252623

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

The 1952 Minnesota team
The 1952 Minnesota teamPhoto: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The 1952 Minnesota season →

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1Michigan StateIndependent
2Georgia TechSoutheastern Conference
3Notre DameIndependent
4OklahomaBig Seven
5USCPacific Coast Conference
6UCLAPacific Coast Conference
7Ole MissSoutheastern Conference
8TennesseeSoutheastern Conference
9AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
10TexasSouthwest Conference
11WisconsinWestern Conference
12TulsaMissouri Valley Conference
13MarylandIndependent
14SyracuseIndependent
15FloridaSoutheastern Conference
16DukeSouthern Conference
17Ohio StateWestern Conference
18PurdueWestern Conference
19PrincetonIndependent
20KentuckySoutheastern Conference

Biggest upsets

Oct 11, 1952Ohio State 23, 1Wisconsin 14
Nov 8, 1952Nebraska 14, 7Kansas 13
Oct 11, 1952Pittsburgh 22, 8Notre Dame 19
Oct 18, 1952Notre Dame 26, 9Purdue 14
Oct 11, 1952Pennsylvania 13, 10Princeton 7
Nov 8, 1952Tulsa 42, 11Villanova 6
Oct 4, 195219Notre Dame 14, 5Texas 3
Nov 8, 1952Navy 16, 12Duke 6
Nov 22, 1952Ohio State 27, 12Michigan 7
Oct 25, 1952Iowa 8, 14Ohio State 0
Oct 4, 1952Purdue 21, 15Ohio State 14
Nov 1, 1952Illinois 22, 15Michigan 13

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 1952, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10FinalTexas: Wk 1 No. 11, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 20, Wk 6 No. 14, Wk 7 No. 13, Wk 8 No. 9, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 10, Final No. 1010 TexasAlabama: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 18, Wk 4 No. 18, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 19, Wk 7 No. 16, Wk 8 No. 12, Wk 9 No. 14, Wk 10 No. 8, Final No. 99 AlabamaTennessee: Wk 1 No. 6, Wk 2 No. 11, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 13, Wk 6 No. 12, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 7, Wk 10 No. 9, Final No. 88 TennesseeOle Miss: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 18, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 No. 14, Wk 8 No. 11, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 6, Final No. 77 Ole MissUCLA: Wk 1 No. 18, Wk 2 No. 14, Wk 3 No. 11, Wk 4 No. 10, Wk 5 No. 8, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 5, Final No. 66 UCLAUSC: Wk 1 No. 16, Wk 2 No. 7, Wk 3 No. 7, Wk 4 No. 7, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 2, Final No. 55 USCOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 20, Wk 3 No. 12, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 8, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 4, Final No. 44 OklahomaNotre Dame: Wk 1 No. 10, Wk 2 No. 19, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 16, Wk 6 No. 13, Wk 7 No. 10, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 7, Final No. 33 Notre DameGeorgia Tech: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 6, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 5, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 3, Final No. 22 Georgia TechMichigan State: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Final No. 11 Michigan State
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. Ole Missunranked → No. 7
  2. Alabamaunranked → No. 9
  3. Tulsaunranked → No. 12
  4. UCLANo. 18 → No. 6
  5. Syracuseunranked → No. 14

Fell

  1. IllinoisNo. 5 → unranked
  2. CaliforniaNo. 8 → unranked
  3. TCUNo. 9 → unranked
  4. PennsylvaniaNo. 12 → unranked
  5. StanfordNo. 13 → unranked

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

National leaders

Passing yardsZeke Bratkowski (Georgia)1,824 yds
Passing touchdownsJohnny Borton (Ohio State)15 TD
Passer ratingRon Morris (Tulsa)177.4
Rushing yardsHoward Waugh (Tulsa)1,372 yds
Yards per carryHoward Waugh (Tulsa)8.53
ReceptionsEd Brown (Fordham)57 catches
Receiving yardsEd Brown (Fordham)774 yds
Yards per catchJimmy Byron (VMI)18.9
PointsJackie Parker (Mississippi State)120 pts
Total offenseTed Marchibroda (Detroit Mercy)1,813 yds
Punt return yardsHorton Nesrsta (Rice)536 yds
Punt return averageGil Reich (Kansas)17.2
Kickoff return yardsCurly Powell (VMI)517 yds
Kickoff return averageLarry Spencer (Wake Forest)42.2

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

Major college

Big Seven
Oklahoma
Border Conference
Arizona State
Mid-American Conference
Cincinnati
Missouri Valley Conference
Houston
Pacific Coast Conference
USC
Skyline Conference
Utah
Southeastern Conference
Georgia Tech
Southern Conference
Duke
Southwest Conference
Texas
Western Conference
Purdue and Wisconsin (shared)

Small college

California Collegiate Athletic Association
Cal Poly
Gulf Coast Conference
North Texas
Gulf States Conference
Louisiana, Louisiana Tech and SE Louisiana (shared)
Indiana Collegiate Conference
Butler
Indiana Intercollegiate Conference
Valparaiso
Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Central Michigan
Lone Star Conference
East Texas A&M
Midwest Athletic Association
Texas Southern
North Central Conference
Northern Iowa
Ohio Valley Conference
Tennessee Tech and Western Kentucky (shared)
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
Idaho State
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Bethune-Cookman
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Prairie View A&M
Texas Conference
Abilene Christian
Yankee Conference
Maine, Rhode Island and UConn (shared)

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

11 playersAll 10 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1952 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1952 All-America teams page.

The 1952 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

From the newspapers

The Evening star's story of the game
The bowl3Georgia Tech 24, 6Ole Miss 71952 Georgia Tech · 1952 Ole MissEvening star, January 3, 1953, page 10
Read the text

JACKSON, Miss, Jan. 81 Gov. Hugh White is indignant about the officiating of the Sugar Bowl football game New Years Day which, he said, increased Georgia Techs 24–⁠7 margin of victory over Mississippi. The 71-year-old Governor, who was a 235-pound center at Mississippi during 1898-1901, sent blistering kilograms yesterday to Southeastern Conference Commissioner Bernie Moore and George Gardner, head of conference Of f1cials. White said he was not criticizing “a magnificent Georgia Tech team” but said Mississippi should have had three touchdowns in stead of one. I’m my judgment, white said, 81 witnessed the worst officiating that I have ever seen at the Sugar Bowl game. “The fair catch decision was a disgrace. / express the sentiment of thousands of our citizens, I’m surprised the SEC tolerated such officiating” The controversial fair catch decision came in the second half when three Mississippi players into Tech Halfback Bob by Moorhead. who had signaled

Public domain, from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through American Stories (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Jan 1, 19538Alabama 61, 16Syracuse 6Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 195317Florida 14, 11Tulsa 13Gator Bowl
Jan 1, 19533Georgia Tech 24, 6Ole Miss 7Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 19532USC 7, 12Wisconsin 0Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 195310Texas 16, 9Tennessee 0Cotton Bowl