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The 1955 season

Oklahoma finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–⁠0 under Bud Wilkinson, after it beat Maryland 20–⁠6 in the Orange Bowl. Michigan State also claims the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Oklahoma 20, No. 3 Maryland 6 (Jan 2, 1956). Five ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Hopalong Cassady, RB, Ohio State, who also won the Maxwell.

The Heisman vote: Hopalong Cassady 2,219 points, Jim Swink 742
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Hopalong Cassady RB, Ohio State2,21959417979
Jim Swink RB, TCU742128120118
George Welsh QB, Navy383567075
Earl Morrall QB, Michigan State323239760
Paul Hornung QB, Notre Dame321337278
Bob Pellegrini C, Maryland294386452
Ron Beagle E, Navy212214461
Ron Kramer E, Michigan192125056
Bo Bolinger OG, Oklahoma148143242
Cal Jones OG, Iowa138144016

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

The 1955 Michigan team
The 1955 Michigan teamPhoto: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The 1955 Michigan season →

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1OklahomaBig Seven
2Michigan StateBig Ten
3MarylandAtlantic Coast Conference
4UCLAPacific Coast Conference
5Ohio StateBig Ten
6TCUSouthwest Conference
7Georgia TechSoutheastern Conference
8AuburnSoutheastern Conference
9Notre DameIndependent
10Ole MissSoutheastern Conference
11PittsburghIndependent
12MichiganBig Ten
13USCPacific Coast Conference
14MiamiIndependent
15Miami (OH)Mid-American Conference
16StanfordPacific Coast Conference
17Texas A&MSouthwest Conference
18NavyIndependent
19West VirginiaSouthern Conference
20ArmyIndependent

Biggest upsets

Nov 26, 1955Baylor 15, 11Rice 7
Nov 26, 1955TCU 20, 16SMU 13
Dec 31, 195519Vanderbilt 25, 10Auburn 13
Jan 2, 195615Ole Miss 14, 7TCU 13
Nov 26, 195513USC 42, 6Notre Dame 20

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 1955, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11FinalOle Miss: Wk 1 No. 15, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 No. 20, Wk 8 No. 15, Wk 9 No. 14, Wk 10 No. 14, Wk 11 No. 15, Final No. 1010 Ole MissNotre Dame: Wk 1 No. 6, Wk 2 No. 11, Wk 3 No. 4, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 11, Wk 7 No. 9, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 5, Final No. 99 Notre DameAuburn: Wk 1 No. 17, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 No. 14, Wk 5 No. 17, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 14, Wk 9 No. 12, Wk 10 No. 12, Wk 11 No. 10, Final No. 88 AuburnGeorgia Tech: Wk 1 No. 10, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 4, Wk 5 No. 5, Wk 6 No. 13, Wk 7 No. 12, Wk 8 No. 8, Wk 9 No. 11, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 9, Final No. 77 Georgia TechTCU: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 10, Wk 4 No. 8, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 18, Wk 7 No. 14, Wk 8 No. 10, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 7, Final No. 66 TCUOhio State: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 6, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 14, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 No. 15, Wk 8 No. 11, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 6, Final No. 55 Ohio StateUCLA: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 7, Wk 4 No. 7, Wk 5 No. 9, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 4, Final No. 44 UCLAMaryland: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 3, Final No. 33 MarylandMichigan State: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 13, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 2, Final No. 22 Michigan StateOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 1, Final No. 11 Oklahoma
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. Michigan Stateunranked → No. 2
  2. TCUunranked → No. 6
  3. Pittsburghunranked → No. 11
  4. Miami (OH)unranked → No. 15
  5. Stanfordunranked → No. 16

Fell

  1. RiceNo. 11 → unranked
  2. IowaNo. 12 → unranked
  3. ArmyNo. 7 → No. 20
  4. WisconsinNo. 14 → unranked
  5. NavyNo. 8 → No. 18

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

National leaders

Passing yardsGeorge Welsh (Navy)1,319 yds
Passer ratingGeorge Welsh (Navy)146.1
Rushing yardsArt Luppino (Arizona)1,313 yds
Yards per carryArt Luppino (Arizona)6.28
ReceptionsHank Burnine (Missouri)44 catches
Receiving yardsHank Burnine (Missouri)594 yds
Yards per catchJimmy Orr (Georgia)18.5
PointsJim Swink (TCU)125 pts
Total offenseGeorge Welsh (Navy)1,348 yds
Punt return yardsMike Sommer (Geo. Washington)330 yds
Punt return averageRon Lind (Drake)19.5
Kickoff return yardsSam Woolwine (VMI)471 yds
Kickoff return averageJim Brown (Syracuse)32.0

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 and Maryland (shared)
Big Seven
Oklahoma
Big Ten
Ohio State
Border Conference
Texas Tech
Mid-American Conference
Miami (OH)
Pacific Coast Conference
UCLA
Skyline Conference
Colorado State
Southeastern Conference
Ole Miss
Southern Conference
West Virginia
Southwest Conference
TCU

Small college

California Collegiate Athletic Conference
Fresno State
Gulf Coast Conference
Abilene Christian and North Texas (shared)
Gulf States Conference
Louisiana Tech
Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Eastern Michigan
Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Central Michigan
Lone Star Conference
East Texas A&M, Sam Houston and Texas State (shared)
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
Southeast Missouri State
Midwest Athletic Association
Grambling
North Central Conference
South Dakota State
Ohio Valley Conference
Tennessee Tech
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
Idaho State
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Florida A&M
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Southern
Yankee Conference
Rhode Island

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

12 playersAll 12 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1955 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1955 All-America teams page.

The 1955 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

From the newspapers

The Evening star's story: |Streaking Sooners Leave MARYLAND With No Illusions Terps Trouneed By Devastating Power, Speed
The bowl1Oklahoma 20, 3Maryland 61955 Oklahoma · 1955 MarylandEvening star, Washington, D.C., January 3, 1956, page 16
Read the text

|Streaking Sooners Leave MARYLAND With No Illusions Terps Trouneed By Devastating Power, Speed MIAMI, Jan. 3-n you were among the 1851 Orange Bowl spectators, or If you were watch ing on television, you know what beat Maryland. There were no secrets, no hid den weapons, no excuses. Okla homa’s masterful 20–⁠6 triumph, its 30th consecutive victory. simply was a matter of a SUI perbly conditioned football team carrying out every assignment. The Sooners were stumped for a half, trailing 60, and might have been scored on twice had not Frank Tamburello FUN bled on the 5-yard line in the first quarter. Devastating Exhibition But in a devastating exhibiton of a combination Of power and speed, something like the high-test gasolines refer to in their ads, Oklahoma came back in the second half with Is minutes and As seconds Of perfection

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, 195519Vanderbilt 25, 10Auburn 13Gator Bowl
Jan 2, 19569Georgia Tech 7, 13Pittsburgh 0Sugar Bowl
Jan 2, 19562Michigan State 17, 4UCLA 14Rose Bowl
Jan 2, 195615Ole Miss 14, 7TCU 13Cotton Bowl
Jan 2, 19561Oklahoma 20, 3Maryland 6Orange Bowl
Jan 2, 1956Wyoming 21, Texas Tech 14Sun Bowl