In the preseason poll released on September 12, 1955, the
Ohio State, Maryland, Notre Dame, Navy, Miami, Georgia Tech, Iowa, USC, Duke, West Virginia, and Purdue.[3]
As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games. The preseason Top Five were No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 5 Maryland.
On Friday, September 16, No. 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 No. 5 Maryland edged Missouri on the road, 13–12. No. 10 Georgia Tech, which had beaten No. 9 Miami 14–6 in Atlanta, rose to 2nd place in the next poll: No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Georgia Tech, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Michigan, and No. 5 Maryland.
beat Missouri 42–7. Maryland took over the top spot, while UCLA fell to 7th. No. 11 Notre Dame, which had beaten SMU 17–0, moved into the Top 5: No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Oklahoma.
October
October 1,
No. 1 Maryland won 20–6 at No. 20 Baylor in Texas.
No. 3 Georgia Tech
beat SMU 20–7 in Atlanta.
No. 4 Notre Dame
defeated Indiana 19–0.
No. 5 Oklahoma beat No. 12 Pittsburgh 26–14, marking its 21st consecutive win. The next poll: No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Georgia Tech, and No. 5 Notre Dame.
October 8No. 1 Maryland beat Wake Forest 28–7, and No. 2 Michigan defeated visiting No. 6 Army, 26–2. Both stayed unbeaten, but Michigan took the top spot in the next poll. No. 3 Oklahoma defeated Texas 20–0 in Dallas.
No. 4 Georgia Tech
won 7–0 at LSU.
No. 5 Notre Dame won 14–0 at No. 15 Miami, with both touchdowns coming on fourth down passes from Paul Hornung, before an Orange Bowl record crowd of 75,685.[5]
In a game that would eventually decide the Pacific Coast Conference title, No. 7 UCLA beat Oregon State 38–0. The next poll: No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Georgia Tech.
October 15
No. 4 Notre Dame
lost 21–7 when it hosted No. 13 Michigan State. They dropped from the top five and were replaced by No. 8 Navy (which had won 34–14 at Penn State) and No. 11 Duke (which had won at No. 14 Ohio State, 20–14). The poll: No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Navy, and No. 5 Duke.
October 22 In Minneapolis,
No. 5 Duke
lost to Pitt, 26–7, and was replaced in the top five by No. 6 Michigan State, which beat Illinois 21–7. The next poll: No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Navy, and No. 5 Michigan State.
October 29 Back at the top,
No. 5 Michigan State
won at Wisconsin, 27–0. UCLA returned to the Top Five from No. 6 after a 47–0 win over California. The next poll: No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Michigan State, and No. 5 UCLA.
No. 4 Michigan State won at Purdue, 27–0. No. 5 UCLA
won at Pacific, 34–0. No. 6 Notre Dame, which had won at Penn 46–14, returned to the top five. The next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 5.Notre Dame.
November 12 Back at
No. 5 Notre Dame
won at North Carolina, 27–7. The next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 UCLA. All scores from this day were correctly reported by the radio announcer in the BTTF movie (over the radio in Biff's car when Marty was trying to the recover the Sports Almanac).
November 19 Although
No. 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 next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 5 Notre Dame.
On November 26,
No. 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 at No. 5 by Ohio State. The top four teams (Oklahoma, Michigan State, Maryland, and UCLA) had finished their seasons and were ranked in the same order in the final poll.
Conference standings
Major conference standings
For this article, major conferences defined as those including at least one state flagship public university and the Ivy League.
The final rankings were made on November 28, after the regular season and without consideration of the postseason bowl games:
1. Oklahoma
(10–0–0)
Big 7
2. Michigan State
(8–1–0)
Big 10
3. Maryland
(10–0–0)
ACC
4. UCLA
(9–1–0)
PCC
5. Ohio State
(7–2–0)
Big 10
6. TCU
(9–1–0)
SWC
7. Georgia Tech
(8–1–1)
SEC
8. Auburn
(8–1–1)
SEC
9. Notre Dame
(8–2–0)
Indep.
10. Mississippi
(9–1–0)
SEC
11. Pittsburgh
(7–3–0)
Indep.
12. Michigan
(7–2–0)
Big 10
13. USC
(6–4–0)
PCC
14. Miami (Florida)
(6–3–0)
Indep.
15. Miami (Ohio)
(9–0–0)
MAC
16. Stanford
(6–3–1)
PCC
17. Texas A&M
(7–2–1)
SWC
18. Navy
(6–2–1)
Indep.
19. West Virginia
(8–2–0)
Southern
20. Army
(6–3–0)
Indep.
Final Coaches Poll
Ranking
Team
1
Oklahoma
2
Michigan State
3
Maryland
4
UCLA
5
Ohio State
6
Texas Christian
7
Georgia Tech
8
Auburn
9
Mississippi
10
Notre Dame
11
Pittsburgh
12
USC
13
Michigan
14
Texas A&M
15
Army
16
Duke
17
West Virginia
18
Miami (Fla.)
19
Iowa
20 (t)
Navy
20 (t)
Stanford
20 (t)
Miami (Ohio)
Other champions
Orange Blossom Classic
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 (9–0) and Florida A&M (8–0–1) met to determine the best Negro college football team in the nation, with Grambling winning, 28–21.