Two human polls comprised the 1951 college 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   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week   National champion   Win–loss record   Number of first place votes Tied with team above or below also with this symbol

AP poll

The final AP poll was released on December 3, at the end of the 1951 regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.

United Press poll The final UP Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games, on Tennessee received 23 of the 35 first-place votes; Michigan State received seven, Maryland two, and one each to Illinois, Georgia Tech,

Ranking Team Conference Bowl 1 Tennessee SEC Lost Sugar, 13–28 2 Michigan State Independentnone 3 Illinois Big Ten Won Rose, 40–7 4 Maryland Southern Won Sugar, 28–13 5 Georgia Tech SEC Won Orange, 17–14 6 Princeton Independent none 7 Stanford Pacific Coast Lost Rose, 7–40 8 Wisconsin Big Ten none 9 Baylor Southwest Lost Orange, 14–17 10 TCU Southwest Lost Cotton, 7–20 11 Oklahoma Big Sevennone 12 California Pacifie Coast 13 Notre Dame Independent14 Purdue Big Ten San Francisco Independent Washington State Pacific Coast17 Holy Cross Independent Kentucky SEC Won Cotton, 20–7 UCLA Pacific Coastnone 20 Kansas Big Seven

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. The Ivy League has prohibited its members from participating in postseason football since the league was officially formed in 1954.

Litkenhous Ratings The Litkenhous Ratings released in mid-December 1951 provided numerical rankings to over 650 college football programs. The top 100 ranked teams were:

1. Tennessee (10–1) 2. Maryland (10–0) 3. Michigan State (9–0) 4. Oklahoma (8–2) 5. California (8–2) 6. Georgia Tech (11–0–1) 7. Baylor (8–2–1) 8. Illinois (9–0–1) 9. Wisconsin (7–1–1) 10. Kentucky (8–4) 11. Stanford (9–2) 12. UCLA (5–3–1) 13. Texas (7–3) 14. Notre Dame (7–2–1) 15. Ole Miss (6–3–1) 16. USC (7–3) 17. TCU (6–5) 18. SMU (3–6–1) 19. Princeton (9–0) 20. Texas A&M (5–3–2) 21. Holy Cross (8–2) 22. Washington State (7–3) 23. Washington (3–6–1) 24. Xavier (9–0–1) 25. Oregon State (4–6) 26. Arkansas (5–5) 27. San Francisco (9–0) 28. Rice (5–5) 29. Michigan (4–5) 30. Virginia (8–1) 31. Ohio State (4–3–2) 32. Tulsa (9–2) 33. LSU (7–3–1) 34. Cincinnati (10–1) 35. Florida (5–5) 36. Alabama (5–6) 37. Purdue (5–4) 38. Kansas (8–2) 39. Penn (5–4) 40. Texas Tech (7–4) 41. Miami (FL) (8–3) 42. Vanderbilt (6–5) 43. Northwestern (5–4) 44. Cornell (6–3) 45. Clemson (7–3) 46. Pacific (6–5) 47. Colorado (7–3) 48. Georgia (5–5) 49. Navy (2–6–1) 50. Mississippi State (4–5) 51. Duke (5–4–1) 52. Tulane (4–6) 53. Marquette (4–6–1) 54. Boston University (6–4) 55. Indiana (3–6_ 56. Villanova (5–3) 57. Wake Forest 58. Pittsburgh (3–7) 59. Columbia (5–3) 60. Penn State (5–4) 61. Santa Clara (3–5–1) 62. Wyoming (7–2–1) 63. Houston (6–5) 64. Bucknell (9–0) 65. Syracuse (5–4) 66. Washington & Lee (6–4) 67. North Carolina (2–8) 68. South Carolina (5–4) 69. Iowa (2–5–2) 70. North Texas (8–4) 71. Dayton (7–3) 72. Fordham (5–4) 73. Auburn (5–5) 74. Iowa State (4–4–1) 75. Minnesota (2–6–1) 76. Arizona State (6–3–1) 77. Denver (6–4) 78. Hardin–Simmons (6–6) 79. Dartmouth (4–5) 80. Drake (7–2) 81. Chattanooga (6–5) 82. Memphis State (5–3) 83. Miami (OH) (7–3) 84. Oklahoma A&M (3–7) 85. Boston College (3–6) 86. Missouri (3–7) 87. Arkansas State (10–2) 88. Del Mar (9–1) 89. Army (2–7) 90. Rutgers (4–4) 91. William & Mary (5–4–1) 92. VMI (7–3) 93. Nebraska (2–8) 94. Colgate (4–5) 95. Yale (2–5–2) 96. Loyola (Los Angeles) (3–6) 97. (10–1) 98. Temple (6–4) 99. Oregon (2–8) 100. Toledo (6–4) 101. Louisville (5–4) 102. Colorado A&M (5–4–1) 103. George Washington (2–6–1) 104. West Virginia (5–5) 105. Mississippi Southern (6–5) 106. Kansas State (0–9) 107. Utah (7–4) 108. (10–1) 109. (12–0) 110. Detroit (4–7) 111. NC State (3–7) 112. Idaho (2–7) 113. East Texas (9–2) 114. Furman (3–6–1) 115. (8–1–1) 116. South Dakota State (8–1–1) 117. Kent State (4–3–2) 118. Ohio (5–4–1) 119. Utah State (3–5–1) 120. St. Bonaventure (5–4) 121. San Jose State (2–7–1) 122. Harvard (3–5–1) 123. Valparaiso (9–0) 124. South Dakota (7–1) 125. Abilene Christian (6–4) 126. Brown (2–7) 132. Arizona (6–5) 133. Murray State (8–1) 137. Lehigh (7–2) 138. San Diego State (10–0–1) 139. Middle Tennessee (7–2–2) 140. Citadel (4–6) 146. Marshall (5–4–1) 204. Western Kentucky (4–5)

HBCU rankings The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African American newspaper, ranked the top 1951 teams from historically black colleges and universities in an era when college football was largely segregated. The rankings were published on December 8:

Morris Brown (10–1) Florida A&M (7–1–1) Tennessee A&I (8–2) Prairie View A&M (9–1) Central State (7–2) North Carolina A&T (7–1–1) North Carolina College (6–2–1) West Virginia State (6–2–1) Xavier (LA) (8–1) Lincoln (MO) (7–2) Maryland State (7–1) Bethune-Cookman (6–2)

The Associated Negro Press also published rankings on December 14:

North Carolina A&T (7–1–1) Morris Brown (10–1) Florida A&M (7–1–1) Prairie View A&M (9–1) Central State (7–2) North Carolina College (6–2–1) Tennessee A&I (8–2) West Virginia State (6–2–1) Lincoln (MO) (7–2) Xavier (LA) (8–1) Alcorn (8–3) Bethune-Cookman (6–2) Maryland State (7–1) Texas Southern (7–2–1) Benedict (7–3) Virginia State (5–3) Texas College (5–3–2) Hampton (5–4) Lincoln (PA) (5–4) Arkansas A&M (5–4–1) Southern (5–4–2) Fisk (6–2) South Carolina State (5–2) Tuskegee (6–3) Grambling (4–5–1) Jackson State Virginia Union (5–5) Langston (4–5) Mississippi Industrial Howard (5–4) Allen (3–7)

See also

1951 College Football All-America Team

References