1953 college football season The 1953 college football season finished with the Maryland Terrapins capturing the AP , INS , and UPI national championship after Notre Dame held the top spot for the first nine weeks . The # 4 Oklahoma Sooners defeated Maryland in the Orange Bowl , but there was no further polling after the November 30 results were released . However , Notre Dame was selected as the National Champions by 10 other polls and the Oklahoma Sooners received first in 2 polls . However , despite the team receiving National Championship rings , the University of Notre Dame does not recognize this title due to their policy of only recognizing AP titles . Maryland was also the first champion of the Atlantic Coast Conference , which had been formed earlier in 1953 by seven colleges formerly with the Southern Conference . The year 1953 also saw the Michigan State Spartans , previously an independent , join the Big Nine Conference , which then became the Big Ten ; MSU won the conference title in that first year and was the conference representative to the Rose Bowl , which it won 28 - 20 over UCLA . 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 378 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 14 , 1953 , Notre Dame was rated first , followed by the defending champion , Michigan State , Georgia Tech , UCLA , and Alabama . As the regular season progressed , a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend ' s games . In a Friday night game at Los Angeles , # 4 UCLA beat Oregon State 41 - 0 . Meanwhile , at Montgomery , AL , # 5 Alabama was shocked by Southern Mississippi , 25 - 19 . The next day , September 19 # 3 Georgia Tech beat Davidson , 53 - 0 . Notre Dame and Michigan State began their seasons the following week . On September 26 # 1 Notre Dame won 28 - 21 at # 6 Oklahoma . # 2 Michigan State won at Iowa , 21 - 7 . # 3 Georgia Tech went to # 15 Florida and was held to a 0 - 0 tie . # 4 UCLA beat Kansas 19 - 7 . Still at # 5 , Alabama , trying to salvage some respect against a second unranked opponent , went to 0 - 1 - 1 after a 7 - 7 tie against LSU in Mobile ; in the poll that followed , the Crimson Tide fell completely out of the Top 20 . # 9 Maryland , which had won 52 - 0 at Washington and Lee , rose to third , and previously unranked Michigan ( a 50 - 0 victor over Wisconsin , entered the poll at fourth . The poll : 1 . Notre Dame 2 . Michigan State 3 . Maryland 4 . Michigan 5 . UCLA October . October 3 With the exception of # 4 Michigan , which beat Tulane 26 - 7 at home , the other top teams won on the road , with # 1 Notre Dame at Purdue , 37 - 7 , # 2 Michigan State at Minnesota 21 - 0 , # 3 Maryland at Clemson , 20 - 0 , and # 5 UCLA defeated Oregon 12 - 0 in an away game . # 6 Ohio State , which won 33 - 19 at California , rose to third in the next poll , knocking UCLA out . The Big Ten had three of the spots in the top five : 1 . Notre Dame 2 . Michigan State 3 . Ohio State 4 . Maryland 5 . Michigan October 10 # 1 Notre Dame was idle , but stayed at # 1 after # 2 Michigan State ' s 26 - 19 win over TCU . # 4 Maryland won 40 - 13 over Georgia and # 5 Michigan edged Iowa 14 - 13 . The night before , # 3 Ohio State had lost 40 - 21 to Illinois , while # 6 UCLA returned to the top bracket with a 13 - 0 win over visiting Wisconsin . The poll : 1 . Notre Dame 2 . Michigan State 3 . Maryland 4 . UCLA 5 . Michigan October 17 # 1 Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh 23 - 14 . # 2 Michigan State defeated Indiana 47 - 18 . # 3 Maryland won 26 - 0 at North Carolina . # 4 UCLA lost at Stanford , 21 - 20 . # 5 Michigan beat Northwestern 20 - 12 . # 6 Georgia Tech , which beat Auburn 36 - 6 , took UCLA ' s place in the next poll : 1 . Notre Dame 2 . Michigan State 3 . Maryland 4 . Georgia Tech 5 . Michigan . October 24 # 1 Notre Dame stayed unbeaten with a 27 - 14 win over # 4 Georgia Tech . # 2 Michigan State lost 6 - 0 at Purdue and # 5 Michigan lost at Minnesota 22 - 0 . # 3 Maryland won a Friday game at Miami , 30 - 0 . Coming in to the Top Five were # 6 Baylor ( 14 - 13 over Texas A & M ) , 7 Illinois ( 20 - 13 over Syracuse ) , and # 8 West Virginia ( 52 - 20 over VMI ) . The poll : 1 . Notre Dame 2 . Maryland 3 . Baylor 4 . Illinois 5 . West Virginia October 31 # 1 Notre Dame beat Navy 38 - 7 . # 2 Maryland beat South Carolina 24 - 6 . # 3 Baylor beat TCU 25 - 7 . # 4 Illinois defeated Purdue 21 - 0 . beat Oregon State 34 - 6 . # 5 West Virginia won at Penn State 20 - 19 . # 6 Michigan State , which beat Oregon State 34 - 6 , rose to fifth . The poll : 1 . Notre Dame 2 . Maryland 3 . Baylor 4 . Illinois 5 . Michigan State November . November 7 # 1 Notre Dame won 28 - 20 at Penn . # 2 Maryland beat George Washington University 27 - 6 at a game in Washington , DC . # 3 Baylor lost at Texas , 21 - 20 . # 4 Illinois beat Michigan 9 - 3 . # 5 Michigan State won 28 - 13 at Ohio State , but still dropped in the poll . # 6 Georgia Tech , which beat Clemson 20 - 7 , rose to fifth . November 14 # 1 Notre Dame won at North Carolina , 34 - 14 , and # 2 Maryland beat Mississippi 38 - 0 as both stayed unbeaten and untied . # 4 Michigan State beat Michigan 14 - 6 . On the other hand , # 3 Illinois lost to Wisconsin , 34 - 7 and # 5 Georgia Tech fell 13 - 6 to Alabama in a game at Birmingham . Returning to the Top Five to take their place were # 6 Oklahoma and # 7 UCLA , which had defeated Iowa ( 47 - 0 ) and Washington ( 22 - 6 ) , respectively . November 21 Number one since the season began , # 1 Notre Dame played to a 14 - 14 tie with Iowa . # 2 Maryland closed its season with a 21 - 0 win over Alabama to finish the season unbeaten and untied , at 10 - 0 - 0 , to take the top rung on the AP poll . # 3 Michigan State closed with a 21 - 15 win over Michigan . # 4 Oklahoma beat Nebraska 30 - 7 , and # 5 UCLA beat USC , 13 - 0 . November 28 The new # 1 , Maryland , had already finished its season . # 2 Notre Dame , with a 48 - 14 win at USC , and # 4 Oklahoma ( 42 - 7 over Oklahoma State ) were the only Top Five members who hadn ' t closed their seasons . The following Saturday , December 5 , Notre Dame beat visiting SMU 40 - 14 . In the Final AP poll , released November 30 , # 1 Maryland , the only unbeaten and untied team , received 187 first place votes , and unbeaten , but once - tied # 2 Notre Dame had 141 votes . ACC member Maryland accepted a bid to the Orange Bowl to meet once - beaten ( 8 - 1 - 1 ) , Big 7 champ , and # 4 Oklahoma , while # 3 Michigan State and # 5 UCLA would meet in the Rose Bowl . Notre Dame declined to participate in a postseason game . Postseason . After the AP National Champion Maryland lost in the Orange Bowl , there was a lot of controversy since the AP Poll had been finalized beforehand and could not be changed to take this result into account . This Maryland loss resulted in Notre Dame being ranked # 1 by 10 polls , including Billingsley , Boand , DeVold , Dunkel , National Championship Foundation , Williamson , and several others . As a reward for beating the Terrapins , the Sooners received # 1 from Berryman and Football Research . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Final AP Poll . The final rankings were made on November 29 , after the regular season and without consideration of the postseason bowl games : References . College Football Billingsley National Championships Rivals