1954 college football season The 1954 college football season saw three teams finish unbeaten and untied , with Ohio State Buckeyes and the UCLA Bruins sharing the national championship as the # 1 picks of the AP Poll and the UPI Poll , respectively . Although the winners of the Big Ten and the Pacific conferences normally met in the Rose Bowl , a " no repeat " prevented the two champions from meeting . UCLA , which had been in the Rose Bowl earlier in the year , was replaced by conference runner - up USC . During the 20th century , the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as " Division I - A " . The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of " wire service " ( AP and UPI ) polls . The extent of that recognition came in the form of acknowledgment in the annual " NCAA Football Guide " of the " unofficial " national champions . The AP poll in 1954 consisted of the votes of as many as 419 sportswriters . Though not all writers voted in every poll , each would give their opinion of the twenty best teams . Under a point system of 20 points for first place , 19 for second , etc . , the " overall " ranking was determined . Although the rankings were based on the collective opinion of the representative sportswriters , the teams that remained " unbeaten and untied " were generally ranked higher than those that had not . A defeat , even against a strong opponent , tended to cause a team to drop in the rankings , and a team with two or more defeats was unlikely to remain in the Top 20 . Generally , the top teams played on New Year ' s Day in the four major postseason bowl games : the Rose Bowl ( near Los Angeles at Pasadena ) , the Sugar Bowl ( New Orleans ) , the Orange Bowl ( Miami ) , and the Cotton Bowl ( Dallas ) . September . In the preseason poll released on September 13 , 1954 , # 1 Notre Dame had the most points , although # 2 Oklahoma had more first place votes ( 74 vs . 52 ) . Rounding out the Top Five were defending champion # 3 Maryland , # 4 Texas and # 5 Illinois . As the regular season progressed , a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend ' s games . September 18 , # 2 Oklahoma won at # 12 California 27 - 13 , and # 3 Maryland won at Kentucky , 20 - 0 . Notre Dame and Texas , # 1 and # 4 , were preparing to meet at South Bend to open their seasons . Oklahoma replaced Notre Dame as # 1 in the first regular poll . # 7 Georgia Tech , which beat Tulane 28 - 0 in Atlanta , replaced Illinois in the Top Five . Defying high expectations , the Illini would lose their opener to Penn State , 14 - 12 , and finish the season with a 1 - 8 - 0 record . The poll : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Notre Dame 3 . Maryland 4 . Texas 5 . Georgia Tech . September 25 # 2 Notre Dame hosted # 4 Texas and won 21 - 0 . # 1 Oklahoma beat # 20 Texas Christian ( TCU ) 21 - 16 . # 3 Maryland was idle , and # 5 Georgia Tech lost to Florida , 13 - 12 . Notre Dame took back over the top spot from O . U . , and Texas , Maryland and Georgia Tech were replaced by # 8 UCLA ( 32 - 7 over Kansas ) , # 10 Wisconsin ( 52 - 14 over Marquette ) and # 11 Iowa ( 14 - 10 over # 7 Michigan State ) . The poll : 1 . Georgia Tech 2 . Oklahoma 3 . Iowa 4 . UCLA 5 . Wisconsin October . In a Friday game , # 4 UCLA beat # 6 Maryland 12 - 7 . The next day , October 2 , # 1 Notre Dame was upset by # 19 Purdue , 27 - 14 . # 2 Oklahoma which was idle , moved to the top as Notre Dame dropped out . # 3 Iowa defeated visiting Montana , 48 - 6 , and # 5 Wisconsin beat # 13 Michigan State 6 - 0 . In Columbia , the # 15 South Carolina Gamecocks fell 26 - 6 against unranked West Virginia . The poll : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . UCLA 3 . Wisconsin 4 . Iowa 5 . Purdue October 9 # 1 Oklahoma won its annual game in Dallas against # 15 Texas , 14 - 7 . # 2 UCLA edged Washington 21 - 20 . # 3 Wisconsin beat # 11 Rice 13 - 7 . # 4 Iowa lost to unranked Michigan , 14 - 13 , and # 5 Purdue was tied by # 6 Duke , 13 - 13 ( in the next poll , they stayed at # 5 and # 6 ) . # 10 Ohio State , which had won at Illinois 40 - 7 , entered the Top Five : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Wisconsin 3 . UCLA 4 . Ohio State 5 . Purdue . October 16 # 2 Wisconsin hosted # 5 Purdue and won 20 - 6 . # 1 Oklahoma visited Kansas and annihilated it , 65 - 0 , while # 3 UCLA went one better in beating Stanford 72 - 0 . # 4 Ohio State beat # 13 Iowa 20 - 14 . # 14 West Virginia Mountaineers knocked off the # 9 Penn State Nittany Lions 19 - 14 at Beaver Stadium . # 7 Ole Miss , which had beaten Tulane 34 - 7 , entered the Top Five : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Wisconsin 3 . UCLA 4 . Ohio State 5 . Mississippi . October 23 # 2 Wisconsin faced its second top - ranked opponent in a week , visiting Big Ten rival and # 4 Ohio State . OSU won , 31 - 14 , to take the # 1 spot . # 1 Oklahoma beat Kansas State 21 - 0 , and # 3 UCLA beat Oregon State 61 - 0 . # 5 Mississippi lost to # 7 Arkansas at Little Rock , 6 - 0 . # 9 Army , which had won 67 - 12 at Columbia , moved up . The poll : 1 . Ohio State 2 . Oklahoma 3 . UCLA 4 . Arkansas 5 . Army October 30 # 1 Ohio State won at Northwestern , 14 - 7 . # 2 Oklahoma won 13 - 6 at Colorado . # 3 UCLA won at California 27 - 6 and was given top billing in the next poll . # 4 Arkansas won 14 - 7 at Texas A & M . # 5 Army , which got to stay home , edged Virginia 21 - 20 . # 6 Notre Dame , which beat # 15 Navy 6 - 0 in Baltimore , moved up . The poll : 1 . UCLA 2 . Ohio State 3 . Oklahoma 4 . Arkansas 5 . Notre Dame . November . November 6 # 1 UCLA won at Oregon 41 - 0 . # 2 Ohio State beat visiting # 20 Pittsburgh , 26 - 0 . # 3 Oklahoma won at # 12 Iowa 40 - 0 . # 4 Arkansas , playing at Little Rock , beat # 15 Rice 28 - 15 , and # 5 Notre Dame won at Penn , 42 - 7 . November 13 # 1 UCLA had the week off , while # 2 Ohio State won at Purdue 28 - 6 and got back the top rung . # 3 Oklahoma beat Missouri 34 - 13 . # 4 Arkansas lost to # 19 SMU , 21 - 14 . # 5 Notre Dame beat North Carolina , 42 - 13 . # 6 Army , which at won at Penn 35 - 0 , came back to the Top Five : 1 . Ohio State 2 . UCLA 3 . Oklahoma 4 . Notre Dame 5 . Army . November 20 # 1 Ohio State beat # 12 Michigan 21 - 7 . In Los Angeles , # 2 UCLA beat its crosstown rival , # 8 USC , 34 - 0 . # 3 Oklahoma beat Nebraska 55 - 7 . # 4 Notre Dame won at Iowa 34 - 18 . # 5 Army had the day , preparing for the Army - Navy game . November 27 # 1 Ohio State and # 2 UCLA had finished their seasons . # 3 Oklahoma won its annual season - closer at Oklahoma State , 14 - 0 . # 4 Notre Dame beat # 17 USC 23 - 17 . In Philadelphia , # 5 Army was beaten by # 6 Navy , 27 - 20 , with the Midshipmen taking Army ' s spot in the poll . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Final AP and Coaches Poll . AP ranked Ohio State as # 1 , while the UPI coaches ' poll gave the top spot to UCLA . Both wire services ' rankings were made at the end of the regular season , and were unaffected by the postseason bowl games . The AP rankings : The United Press International poll , taken from a panel of 35 coaches , had UCLA as the number one team beginning with the poll released on October 26 . A rival to the AP poll , the UPI prefaced its release with the statement , " The men who know the game the best , the coaches themselves , voted UCLA to the top spot by the slender margin of seven points over Ohio State , the perfect record champions of the Big 10 Conference , " The UPI poll was a Top Ten , with a first place vote by a coach being worth 10 points , second worth 9 points , etc . With 350 being the maximum number of points , and 315 being the total for 35 second place votes , the panel was split on whether UCLA or Ohio State was the best team in the nation . The UPI Top Ten UCLA averaged higher points per game during the season but Ohio State was judged to have a more difficult schedule , hence , averaging fewer points . UCLA defeated the defending national champs , Maryland , when the Terrapins were ranked # 2 . They played two common opponents , California and USC . Ohio State beat Cal 21 - 13 in Columbus while UCLA beat Cal 27 - 6 in Berkeley . Ohio State beat USC 20 - 7 in the Rose Bowl while UCLA shutout USC 34 - 0 .