The AP poll is has been the most consistent ranking system over the long history of college football. Going by the final rankings, what programs come out best? Here are the top programs of the 1950s according to a CFN formula using all the AP’s final polls.
Top Teams Of The … 1930s | 1940s
1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s
Which college football programs ruled the 1950s? According to the AP rankings, this was a complete and total blowout.
Using a ranking system taking all the AP final college football polls and assigning 25 points to the national champion, 24 for the final No. 2 team, 23 for the No. 3 team on down, Oklahoma obliterated the field helped by three national titles and a historic winning streak.
1950 AP National Champions
1950 Oklahoma
1951 Tennessee
1952 Michigan State
1953 Maryland
1954 Ohio State
1955 Oklahoma
1956 Oklahoma
1957 Auburn
1958 LSU
1959 Syracuse
1950s AP Rankings Greatest Teams
These rankings are created according to the CFN scoring system – this isn’t the official AP ranking of its all-time greatest teams.
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1 | Oklahoma | 212 |
| 2 | Michigan State | 154 |
| 3 | Notre Dame | 120 |
| 4 | Ohio State | 120 |
| 5 | Wisconsin | 107 |
| 6 | Georgia Tech | 104 |
| T7 | Maryland | 102 |
| T7 | Tennessee | 102 |
| 9 | UCLA | 97 |
| 10 | Mississippi | 94 |
| 11 | Army | 92 |
| 12 | Texas | 91 |
| 13 | Auburn | 87 |
| 14 | TCU | 82 |
| 15 | Syracuse | 72 |
| 16 | Navy | 69 |
| T17 | Illinois | 67 |
| T17 | Michigan | 67 |
| 19 | Iowa | 64 |
| 20 | USC | 63 |
| T21 | Clemson | 58 |
| T21 | Miami | 58 |
| 23 | Alabama | 56 |
| 24 | LSU | 48 |
| T25 | Texas A&M | 47 |
| T25 | Princeton | 47 |
| others receiving votes | ||
| Kentucky | 46 | |
| California | 45 | |
| Baylor | 40 | |
| Duke | 40 | |
| Florida | 39 | |
| West Virginia | 37 | |
| Stanford | 36 | |
| Pittsburgh | 34 | |
| Arkansas | 33 | |
| Washington | 33 | |
| Rice | 27 | |
| Wyoming | 24 | |
| Georgia | 21 | |
| Purdue | 21 | |
| Tulsa | 21 | |
| Air Force | 20 | |
| Penn State | 20 | |
| Oregon State | 16 | |
| Arizona State | 14 | |
| Minnesota | 14 | |
| Texas Tech | 14 | |
| Virginia | 13 | |
| Mississippi St | 12 | |
| San Francisco | 12 | |
| NC State | 11 | |
| South Carolina | 11 | |
| Virginia Tech | 10 | |
| Boston Univ. | 10 | |
| George Washington | 9 | |
| Missouri | 8 | |
| SMU | 8 | |
| Washington St | 8 | |
| Washington & Lee | 8 | |
| Holy Cross | 7 | |
| Oklahoma St | 7 | |
| Colorado | 6 | |
| Rutgers | 6 | |
| Tulane | 6 | |
| VMI | 6 |
