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 or more different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.

Legend

AP Poll
The final AP Poll was released on November 29, at the end of the 1954 regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.

Final Coaches Poll
The final UP Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games, on November 29.
UCLA received 21 of the 35 first-place votes; Ohio State received eleven, and one each to Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and Navy.

 The NCAA record book lists USC, Maryland, and Georgia Tech in a tie for 11th place, while contemporary sources list them in 11th, 12th, and 13th respectively.
 Prior to the 1975 season, the Big Ten and Pacific Coast (later AAWU / Pac-8) conferences allowed only one postseason participant each, for the Rose Bowl.

Litkenhous Ratings
The Litkenhous Ratings released in mid-December 1954 provided numerical rankings to over 600 college football programs. The top 50 ranked teams were:

1. UCLA
2. Ohio State
3. Oklahoma
4. Maryland
5. Notre Dame
6. Wisconsin
7. Iowa
8. Ole Miss
9. Purdue
10. Michigan
11. Miami (FL)
12. Navy
13. Arkansas
14. Baylor
15. Minnesota
16. Auburn
17. Army
18. Michigan State
19. Rice
20. USC
21. SMU
22. Colorado
23. Georgia Tech
24. Texas Tech
25. Texas
26. California
27. TCU
28. Indiana
29. Duke
30. Miami (OH)
31. Northwestern
32. Florida
33. Penn State
34. Pittsburgh
35. Nebraska
36. Kentucky
37. West Virginia
38. Southeastern Louisiana
39. Alabama
40. Arizona
41. Mississippi State
42. Wichita
43. Cincinnati
44. Missouri
45. LSU
46. Oregon
47. Illinois
48. Georgia
49. Texas A&M
50. Oklahoma A&M

References

College football rankings