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The 1954 season

Ohio State finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 10–⁠0 under Woody Hayes, after it beat USC 20–⁠7 in the Rose Bowl. UCLA also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 2 Notre Dame 21, No. 4 Texas 0 (Sep 25, 1954). 43 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Alan Ameche, FB, Wisconsin.

The Heisman vote: Alan Ameche 1,068 points, Kurt Burris 838
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Alan Ameche FB, Wisconsin1,068214157112
Kurt Burris C, Oklahoma83818011176
Hopalong Cassady RB, Ohio State810137139121
Ralph Guglielmi QB, Notre Dame69111212899
Paul Larson QB, California271504237
Dicky Moegle RB, Rice258365344
Jack Ellena OT, UCLA193234044
George Shaw QB, Oregon182323320
Pete Vann QB, Army134202230
Bob McNamara RB, Minnesota104161526

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

The 1954 Duke team
The 1954 Duke teamPhoto: Duke University, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The 1954 Duke season →

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1Ohio StateBig Ten
2UCLAPacific Coast Conference
3OklahomaBig Seven
4Notre DameIndependent
5NavyIndependent
6Ole MissSoutheastern Conference
7ArmyIndependent
8MarylandAtlantic Coast Conference
9WisconsinBig Ten
10ArkansasSouthwest Conference
11MiamiIndependent
12West VirginiaSouthern Conference
13AuburnSoutheastern Conference
14DukeAtlantic Coast Conference
15MichiganBig Ten
16Virginia TechSouthern Conference
17USCPacific Coast Conference
18BaylorSouthwest Conference
19RiceSouthwest Conference
20Penn StateIndependent

Biggest upsets

Oct 9, 1954Michigan 14, 4Iowa 13
Sep 25, 1954Florida 13, 5Georgia Tech 12
Sep 25, 1954Penn State 14, 6Illinois 12
Nov 6, 1954Auburn 14, 6Miami 13
Oct 30, 1954Pittsburgh 13, 7West Virginia 10
Oct 2, 195419Purdue 27, 1Notre Dame 14
Oct 23, 1954Michigan 34, 8Minnesota 0
Oct 30, 1954Iowa 13, 8Wisconsin 7
Oct 8, 1954TCU 20, 9USC 7
Oct 16, 1954Pittsburgh 21, 9Navy 19
Nov 20, 1954LSU 7, 9Arkansas 6
Nov 27, 1954Rice 20, 9Baylor 14

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 1954, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11FinalArkansas: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 12, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 13, Final No. 1010 ArkansasWisconsin: Wk 1 No. 9, Wk 2 No. 10, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 16, Wk 9 No. 14, Wk 10 No. 17, Wk 11 No. 8, Final No. 99 WisconsinMaryland: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 13, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 No. 17, Wk 10 No. 13, Wk 11 No. 10, Final No. 88 MarylandArmy: Wk 1 No. 13, Wk 2 No. 18, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 18, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 5, Final No. 77 ArmyOle Miss: Wk 1 No. 10, Wk 2 No. 9, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 7, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 12, Wk 8 No. 9, Wk 9 No. 7, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 7, Final No. 66 Ole MissNavy: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 No. 19, Wk 5 No. 9, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 No. 15, Wk 8 No. 19, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 6, Final No. 55 NavyNotre Dame: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 8, Wk 5 No. 8, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 4, Final No. 44 Notre DameOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 3, Final No. 33 OklahomaUCLA: Wk 1 No. 8, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 No. 4, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 2, Final No. 22 UCLAOhio State: Wk 1 No. 20, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 14, Wk 4 No. 10, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 1, Final No. 11 Ohio 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. Navyunranked → No. 5
  2. Ohio StateNo. 20 → No. 1
  3. Arkansasunranked → No. 10
  4. Miamiunranked → No. 11
  5. West Virginiaunranked → No. 12

Fell

  1. TexasNo. 4 → unranked
  2. IllinoisNo. 5 → unranked
  3. Michigan StateNo. 6 → unranked
  4. Georgia TechNo. 7 → unranked
  5. IowaNo. 11 → unranked

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

National leaders

Passing yardsPaul Larson (California)1,537 yds
Passing touchdownsLen Dawson (Purdue)15 TD
Passer ratingPete Vann (Army)166.5
Rushing yardsArt Luppino (Arizona)1,359 yds
Rushing touchdownsArt Luppino (Arizona)21 TD
Yards per carryWilliam Greenlaw (Nebraska)7.6
ReceptionsJim Hanifan (California)45 catches
Receiving yardsJohn Stewart (Stanford)577 yds
Yards per catchAndrew Nacrelli (Fordham)19.7
PointsArt Luppino (Arizona)166 pts
Points per gameArt Luppino (Arizona)16.60
Total offenseGeorge Shaw (Oregon)1,536 yds
Punt return yardsDicky Moegle (Rice)293 yds
Punt return averageDicky Moegle (Rice)19.5
Kickoff return yardsArt Luppino (Tulane)632 yds
Kickoff return averageGeorge Marinkov (NC State)35.8

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

Atlantic Coast Conference
Duke
Big Seven
Oklahoma
Big Ten
Ohio State
Border Conference
Texas Tech
Mid-American Conference
Miami (OH)
Pacific Coast Conference
UCLA
Southeastern Conference
Ole Miss
Southern Conference
West Virginia
Southwest Conference
Arkansas

Small college

California Collegiate Athletic Conference
Fresno State
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
North Carolina Central
Gulf States Conference
SE Louisiana
Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Eastern Michigan
Indiana Intercollegiate Conference
Valparaiso
Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Central Michigan
Lone Star Conference
East Texas A&M and Texas State (shared)
Midwestern Conference
Tennessee State
North Central Conference
South Dakota State
North State Conference
App State
Ohio Valley Conference
Eastern Kentucky
Rocky Mountain Conference
Montana State
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Florida A&M
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Prairie View A&M

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 1954 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1954 All-America teams page.

The 1954 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

From the newspapers

The Evening star's story: "A Stondouts in Bowl Victories To Attend Touchdown Banquet
The bowl6Navy 21, 7Ole Miss 01954 Navy · 1954 Ole MissEvening star, January 3, 1955, page 14
Read the text

“A Stondouts in Bowl Victories To Attend Touchdown Banquet -Four prominent figures In three major bowl victories will participate in ceremonies ct the goth annual Touchdown Club dinner Saturday night at the Hotel Statler. Woody Hayes. head coach Of Ohio State. which defeated Southern California In the Rose Bowl. viii be present to accept the Grantland Rice Memorial Trophy voted the Buckeyes rs the outstanding college football team Of 1854. Eddie Erdelatz. Navy coach. win present q trophy to Ron Beagle. All-American end who viii be cited as the top college player in the Washington area. Beagle played q fine game as the Midiies crushed Mississippi, 21–⁠0. In the Sugar Bowl. Ralph Guglielmi, Notre Danes brilliant quarterback. who led the East to q 1912 triumph over the West In. the Shrine Bowl at San Francisco. win be awarded the Walter Camp Memorial Trophy as the best college back Of the year. Terry Brennan.

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
Dec 31, 195415Auburn 33, 9Baylor 13Gator Bowl
Jan 1, 195520Duke 34, Nebraska 7Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 1955Georgia Tech 14, 13Arkansas 6Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 19556Navy 21, 7Ole Miss 0Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 19551Ohio State 20, 17USC 7Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 1955UTEP 47, Florida State 20Sun Bowl