1955 NCAA football rankings
Two human polls comprised the 1955 National Collegiate Athletic Association 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
AP Poll
The final AP Poll was released on November 28, at the end of the 1955 regular season, weeks before the major bowls. The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.Final Coaches' Poll
The final UP Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games, on November 28.
Oklahoma received 24 of the 35 first-place votes; Michigan State received seven, and two each to Maryland and UCLA.
| Ranking | Team | Conference | Bowl |
| 1 | Oklahoma | Big Seven | Won Orange, 20–6 |
| 2 | Michigan State | Big Ten | Won Rose, 17–14 |
| 3 | Maryland | ACC | Lost Orange, 6–20 |
| 4 | UCLA | Pacific Coast | Lost Rose, 14–17 |
| 5 | Ohio State | Big Ten | none |
| 6 | TCU | Southwest | Lost Cotton, 13–14 |
| 7 | Georgia Tech | SEC | Won Sugar, 7–0 |
| 8 | Auburn | SEC | Lost Gator, 13–25 |
| 9 | Ole Miss | SEC | Won Cotton, 14–13 |
| 10 | Notre Dame | Independent | none |
| 11 | Pittsburgh | Independent | Lost Sugar, 0–7 |
| 12 | USC | Pacific Coast | none |
| 13 | Michigan | Big Ten | none |
| 14 | Texas A&M | Southwest | none |
| 15 | Army | Independent | none |
| 16 | Duke | ACC | none |
| 17 | West Virginia | Southern | none |
| 18 | Miami | Independent | none |
| 19 | Iowa | Big Ten | none |
| 20 | Miami | Mid-American | none |
| 20 | Navy | Independent | none |
| 20 | Stanford | Pacific Coast | none |
| 23 | Kentucky | SEC | none |
| 23 | Tennessee | SEC | none |
| 23 | - | - | - |
