1955 college football season

1955 college football season
Heisman Trophy winner Howard Cassady
Preseason AP No. 1	UCLA[1]
Number of bowls	7
Champion(s)	Oklahoma (AP, Coaches, FWAA)
Heisman	Howard Cassady (halfback, Ohio State)
← 1954 · football seasons · 1956 →

The 1955 college football season was the 87th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. It concluded with two teams recognized as a national champion:

• Oklahoma compiled an 11–0 record in its 11th season under Bud Wilkinson. The Sooners were ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press (AP) and United Press (UP) coaches polls. Securing their claim as national champion, Oklahoma defeated No.2 Maryland, 20–6, in the Orange Bowl. The 1955 season was part of a 47-game winning streak that ran from October 10, 1953, to November 9, 1957.
• Grambling compiled a 10–0 record in their 13th season under Eddie Robinson, defeated Florida A&M in the Orange Blossom Classic, and was selected as the black college national champion.

Other teams compiling perfect seasons in 1955 included Miami (OH) (9–0, AP No. 15 under Ara Parseghian); Hillsdale (declined Tangerine Bowl bid after being told national scoring champion and African-American Nate Clark must stay home); Trinity (CT) (consecutive perfect seasons); and Whitworth (part of 21-game winning streak).

Ohio State halfback Howard Cassady won the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award. Individual statistical leaders in major college football in 1955 included Navy quarterback George Welsh with 1,348 yards of total offense and 1,319 passing yards; Arizona tailback Art Luppino with 1,313 rushing yards; Missouri end Hank Burnine with 594 receiving yards; and TCU halfback Jim Swink with 125 points scored.

• One conference began play in 1955:
  • Presidents' Athletic Conference – an active NCAA Division III conference
• One conference played its final season in 1955:
  • Texas Collegiate Athletic Conference – active since the 1926 season
• One conference changed its name prior to the 1955 season:
  • The New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference became the Frontier Conference, the name it retained until its demise after the 1962 season

In the preseason poll released on September 12, 1955, the UCLA Bruins, 1954's co-champions, received 33 first place votes, while Oklahoma had 32. Michigan had 34 votes, but the third most points overall. Other teams nominated for the top spot were defending AP champ Ohio State, Maryland, Notre Dame, Navy, Miami, Georgia Tech, Iowa, USC, Duke, West Virginia, and Purdue.^[2] As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games. The preseason Top Five were No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 5 Maryland.

On Friday, September 16, No. 1 UCLA opened in Los Angeles with a 21–0 win over visiting Texas A&M. September 17, Oklahoma, Michigan and Ohio State were idle, but No. 5 Maryland edged Missouri on the road, 13–12. No. 10 Georgia Tech, which had beaten No. 9 Miami 14–6 in Atlanta, rose to 2nd place in the next poll: No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Georgia Tech, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Michigan, and No. 5 Maryland.

On September 24, No. 1 UCLA and No. 5 Maryland met at College Park, before a record crowd. UCLA's Doug Peters plunged into the end zone in the first half, but fumbled the ball before crossing the goal line. In the second half, the home team Terrapins had the ball 17 yards from goal, on fourth down. Rather than kicking a field goal, Ed Vereb ran for the winning touchdown, giving Maryland a 7–0 win.^[3] No. 2 Georgia Tech won at No. 19 Florida, 14–7. No. 3 Oklahoma won at North Carolina 13–6. No. 4 Michigan beat Missouri 42–7. Maryland took over the top spot, while UCLA fell to 7th. No. 11 Notre Dame, which had beaten SMU 17–0, moved into the Top 5: No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Oklahoma.

October 1, No. 1 Maryland won 20–6 at No. 20 Baylor in Texas. No. 2 Michigan beat Michigan State 14–7 before a crowd of 97,239 at home in Ann Arbor. MSU had tied the score 7–7 after an errant punt by Michigan gave them the ball 39 yards from goal. Minutes later, Earl Morrall's punt was blocked to give Michigan the ball on the MSU 21, from which the winning score was made. No. 3 Georgia Tech beat SMU 20–7 in Atlanta. No. 4 Notre Dame defeated Indiana 19–0. No. 5 Oklahoma beat No. 12 Pittsburgh 26–14, marking its 21st consecutive win. The next poll: No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Georgia Tech, and No. 5 Notre Dame.

October 8 No. 1 Maryland beat Wake Forest 28–7, and No. 2 Michigan defeated visiting No. 6 Army, 26–2. Both stayed unbeaten, but Michigan took the top spot in the next poll. No. 3 Oklahoma defeated Texas 20–0 in Dallas. No. 4 Georgia Tech won 7–0 at LSU. No. 5 Notre Dame won 14–0 at No. 15 Miami, with both touchdowns coming on fourth down passes from Paul Hornung, before an Orange Bowl record crowd of 75,685.^[4] In a game that would eventually decide the Pacific Coast Conference title, No. 7 UCLA beat Oregon State 38–0. The next poll: No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Georgia Tech.

October 15 No. 1 Michigan defeated Northwestern, 14–2. No. 2 Maryland won at North Carolina, 25–7. No. 3 Oklahoma beat Kansas 44–6. However, No. 5 Georgia Tech lost to visiting No. 17 Auburn 14–12, and No. 4 Notre Dame lost 21–7 when it hosted No. 13 Michigan State. They dropped from the top five and were replaced by No. 8 Navy (which had won 34–14 at Penn State) and No. 11 Duke (which had won at No. 14 Ohio State, 20–14). The poll: No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Navy, and No. 5 Duke.

October 22 In Minneapolis, No. 1 Michigan faced a 1–3–0 Minnesota team and was stunned when the Gophers racked up two touchdowns in the first quarter. Michigan's Terry Barr blocked the extra point attempt on the second touchdown, but the nation's No. 1 team was losing 13–0. Still down 13–7 at the half, the Wolverines fought back. Jim Van Pelt passed to Tom Maentz for a touchdown, and Van Pelt added the extra point to save Michigan, 14–13.^[5] Minnesota would go on to a 3–6–0 finish. Meanwhile, No. 2 Maryland won more convincingly at Syracuse, 34–13, to regain the top spot. No. 3 Oklahoma beat No. 14 Colorado, 56–21. No. 4 Navy won at Penn, 33–0. No. 5 Duke lost to Pitt, 26–7, and was replaced in the top five by No. 6 Michigan State, which beat Illinois 21–7. The next poll: No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Navy, and No. 5 Michigan State.

October 29 Back at the top, No. 1 Maryland beat South Carolina 27–0, while No. 2 Oklahoma won at Kansas State, 40–7. No. 3 Michigan beat Iowa 33–21. No. 4 Navy lost at No. 9 Notre Dame, 21–7. No. 5 Michigan State won at Wisconsin, 27–0. UCLA returned to the Top Five from No. 6 after a 47–0 win over California. The next poll: No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Michigan State, and No. 5 UCLA.

November 5 As both stayed undefeated, No. 1 Maryland beat LSU 13–0 and No. 2 Oklahoma won at Missouri, 20–0. No. 3 Michigan lost at Illinois 25–6, while No. 4 Michigan State won at Purdue, 27–0. No. 5 UCLA won at Pacific, 34–0. No. 6 Notre Dame, which had won at Penn 46–14, returned to the top five. The next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 5.Notre Dame.

November 12 Back at No. 1, Oklahoma beat Iowa State 52–0. No. 2 Maryland won at Clemson, 25–12. No. 3 Michigan State beat Minnesota 42–14. No. 4 UCLA was trailing Washington 17–16 in the closing seconds, but Jim Decker kicked a field goal for a 19–17 victory.^[6] The game is referenced in Back to the Future Part II. No. 5 Notre Dame won at North Carolina, 27–7. The next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 UCLA. The UCLA game and its unlikely winning field goal was used by an elderly Biff Tannen from 2015 to demonstrate the fact that his Gray's Sports Almanac can predict the winning outcome of any major sports game between 1950 and 2000 to his younger self from 1955. He listens in to a live radio commentary of the game when the score was 17-16. Old Biff bets on UCLA winning, with his younger self pointing out the fact that the game is essentially over. The winning field goal is then kicked, proving that the almanac is accurate. The other games of the day were later heard over the same radio, with young Biff further testing out the almanac's capabilities.

November 19 Although No. 1 Oklahoma was 8–0–0 and host Nebraska was 5–4–0, both had 5–0–0 records in Big 7 conference play when they met at Lincoln. The Sooners rolled, 41–0, to get the Orange Bowl bid. No. 2 Maryland closed its season with a 19–0 win over George Washington University and accepted the invitation to meet Oklahoma, but what would have been a No. 1 vs. No. 2 meeting changed when the Terrapins were dropped to third by the AP voters. No. 3 Michigan State, which had a 5–1 record in Big Ten play, beat Marquette 33–0 in a non-conference game. No. 6 Michigan's 17–0 loss to No. 9 Ohio State gave the Wolverines a 5–2 conference mark and knocked them out of contention for the Rose Bowl. Ohio State had the best record in the Big Ten, 6–0 overall, but had gone to the Rose Bowl the year before, so Michigan State got the bid. The Spartans' opponent would be No. 5 UCLA, which beat USC 17–7. No. 4 Notre Dame beat Iowa 17–14. Though Maryland, like Oklahoma, was unbeaten, the voters put once-beaten Michigan State in the second spot instead. The next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 5 Notre Dame.

On November 26, No. 5 Notre Dame lost in Los Angeles to USC, 42–20, and dropped to 6th in the final AP poll, where it would be replaced at No. 5 by Ohio State. The top four teams (Oklahoma, Michigan State, Maryland, and UCLA) had finished their seasons and were ranked in the same order in the final poll.

For this article, major conferences defined as those including at least one state flagship public university and the Ivy League.