1955 college football season The 1955 college football season saw the Oklahoma Sooners win the national championship after going 10 - 0 - 0 . Although the final poll was taken before the postseason bowl games , Oklahoma played against the nation ' s other unbeaten and untied ( 10 - 0 - 0 ) team , the Maryland Terrapins , at the Orange Bowl in Miami , and won 20 - 6 . 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 1955 consisted of the votes of as many as 391 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 12 , 1955 , the UCLA Bruins , runners - up in the final 1954 poll , 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 champ Ohio State , Maryland , Notre Dame , Navy , Miami , Georgia Tech , Iowa , USC , Duke , West Virginia , and Purdue . As the regular season progressed , a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend ' s games . The preseason Top Five was 1 . UCLA 2 . Oklahoma 3 . Michigan 4 . Ohio State 5 . Maryland . On Friday , September 16 , # 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 # 5 Maryland edged Missouri on the road , 13 - 12 . # 10 Georgia Tech , which had beaten # 9 Miami 14 - 6 in Atlanta , rose to 2nd place in the next poll : 1 . UCLA 2 . Georgia Tech 3 . Oklahoma 4 . Michigan 5 . Maryland . On September 24 , # 1 UCLA and # 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 . # 2 Georgia Tech won at # 15 Florida , 14 - 7 . # 3 Oklahoma won at North Carolina 13 - 6 . # 4 Michigan beat Missouri 42 - 7 . Maryland took over the top spot , while UCLA fell to 7th . # 11 Notre Dame , which had beaten SMU 17 - 0 , moved into the Top 5 : 1 . Maryland 2 . Michigan 3 . Georgia Tech 4 . Notre Dame 5 . Oklahoma . October . October 1 , # 1 Maryland won 20 - 6 at # 20 Baylor in Texas . # 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 . # 3 Georgia Tech beat SMU 20 - 7 in Atlanta . # 4 Notre Dame defeated Indiana 19 - 0 . # 5 Oklahoma beat # 12 Pittsburgh 26 - 14 , marking its 21st consecutive win , and new record . The poll : 1 . Maryland 2 . Michigan 3 . Oklahoma 4 . Georgia Tech 5 . Notre Dame October 8 # 1 Maryland beat Wake Forest 28 - 7 , and # 2 Michigan defeated visiting # 6 Army , 26 - 2 . Both stayed unbeaten , but Michigan took the top spot in the next poll . # 3 Oklahoma defeated Texas 20 - 0 in Dallas . # 4 Georgia Tech won 7 - 0 at LSU . # 5 Notre Dame won 14 - 0 at # 15 Miami , with both touchdowns coming on fourth down passes from Paul Hornung , before an Orange Bowl record crowd of 75 , 685 . In a game that would decide the Pac 8 title , UCLA beat Oregon State 38 - 0 . The poll : 1 . Michigan 2 . Maryland 3 . Oklahoma 4 . Notre Dame 5 . Georgia Tech October 15 # 1 Michigan defeated Northwestern , 14 - 2 . # 2 Maryland won at North Carolina , 25 - 7 . # 3 Oklahoma beat Kansas 44 - 6 . However , # 5 Georgia Tech lost to visiting # 17 Auburn 14 - 12 , and # 4 Notre Dame lost 21 - 7 when it hosted # 13 Michigan State . They dropped from the top five and were replaced by # 8 Navy ( which had won 34 - 14 at Penn State ) and # 11 Duke ( which had won at # 14 Ohio State , 20 - 14 ) . The poll : 1 . Michigan 2 . Maryland 3 . Oklahoma 4 . Navy 5 . Duke October 22 In Minneapolis # 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 # 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 . Minnesota would go on to a 3 - 6 - 0 finish . Meanwhile # 2 Maryland won more convincingly at Syracuse , 34 - 13 , to regain the top spot . # 3 Oklahoma beat # 14 Colorado , 56 - 21 . # 4 Navy won at Penn , 33 - 0 . # 5 Duke lost to Pitt , 26 - 7 , and was replaced in the top five by # 6 Michigan State , which beat Illinois 21 - 7 . The poll : 1 . Maryland 2 . Oklahoma 3 . Michigan 4 . Navy 5 . Michigan State October 29 Back at the top , # 1 Maryland beat South Carolina 27 - 0 , while # 2 Oklahoma won at Kansas State , 40 - 7 . # 3 Michigan beat Iowa 33 - 21 . # 4 Navy lost at # 9 Notre Dame , 21 - 7 . # 5 Michigan State won at Wisconsin , 27 - 0 . UCLA returned to the Top Five from # 6 after a 47 - 0 win over California . The poll : 1 . Maryland 2 . Oklahoma 3 . Michigan 4 . Michigan State 5 . UCLA November . November 5 As both stayed undefeated , # 1 Maryland beat LSU 13 - 0 and # 2 Oklahoma won at Missouri , 20 - 0 . # 3 Michigan lost at Illinois 25 - 6 , while # 4 Michigan State won at Purdue , 27 - 0 . # 1 UCLA won at Pacific , 34 - 0 . # 6 Notre Dame , which had won at Penn 46 - 14 , returned to the top 5 . The poll : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Maryland 3 . Michigan State 4 . UCLA 5 . Notre Dame November 12 Back at # 1 , Oklahoma beat Iowa State 52 - 0 . # 2 Maryland won at Clemson , 24 - 12 . # 3 Michigan State beat Minnesota 42 - 14 . # 4 UCLA was trailing Washington 17 - 16 in the closing seconds of a game , but Jim Decker kicked a field goal for a 19 - 17 victory . # 5 Notre Dame won at North Carolina , 27 - 7 . The poll : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Maryland 3 . Michigan State 4 . Notre Dame 5 . UCLA November 19 Although # 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 . # 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 # 1 vs . # 2 meeting changed when the Terrapins were rated third by the AP voters . # 3 Michigan State , which had a 5 - 1 record in Big Ten play , beat Marquette 33 - 0 in a non - conference game ; Michigan ' s 17 - 0 loss to Ohio State gave it a 5 - 2 mark . Ohio State had the better record in the Big Ten , 6 - 0 overall , but had gone to the Rose Bowl the year before , so MSU got the bid , where it would face # 5 UCLA , which beat USC 17 - 7 . # 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 poll : 1 . Oklahoma 2 . Michigan State 3 . Maryland 4 . UCLA 5 . Notre Dame . On November 26 , # 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 by Ohio State . The other Top Five teams had finished their seasons . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Final AP Poll . The final rankings were made on November 28 , after the regular season and without consideration of the postseason bowl games : Other champions . Prior to the integration of sports teams , Miami Orange Bowl stadium hosted the New Year ' s Day game of the same name , and a December game for historically black colleges , the Orange Blossom Classic . Grambling State ( 9 - 0 - 0 ) and Florida A & M University ( 8 - 0 - 1 ) met to determine the best Negro college football team in the nation , with Grambling winning 28 - 21 . Miami University ( Ohio ) finished 9 - 0 - 0 , as did Southeast Missouri State University . Heidelberg College , Hillsdale College , College of Emporia , Maryland State College and Whitworth College . Northern State Teachers College * of South Dakota went 9 - 0 - 0 , and then lost to Kearney Teachers College in the " Botony Bowl " , 34 - 13 , played in Shenandoah , Iowa , on Thanksgiving Day . Colleges that went 8 - 0 - 0 were Alfred University , Drexel University , Albany State College , Centre College , Coe College , Parsons College , Juniata College , Muskingum College , Shepherd College , and Stevens Point College . ( 7 ) . Trinity College ( Connecticut ) went 7 - 0 - 0 .