Two human polls and several math systems comprised the 1950 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 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.
This was the first season that the AP released a preseason poll before any games were played in August.
[1] The final AP Poll was released on November 27, near the end of the 1950 regular season, weeks before the major bowls.
The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.
This was the first year for the UP Coaches Poll, and its final edition was released prior to the bowl games, on December 5.
[12][13] Oklahoma received 32 of the 35 first-place votes, with one vote each to Princeton, Michigan State, and Wyoming.
[12][13] [12][13] The Litkenhous Ratings released in mid-December 1950 provided numerical rankings to over 600 college football programs.
The top 100 ranked teams were:[14] 1.
Michigan State 16.
Miami (FL)
Georgia Tech 55.
Washington & Lee 56.
North Carolina 58.
Texas Tech 60.
South Carolina
San Jose State 77.
George Washington 94.
Baldwin Wallace 96.
Abilene Christian 100.
Bucknell The Williamson System rankings for 1950 were as follows:[14] 1.
Miami (FL) 11.
Georgia Tech
Washington & Lee
North Carolina 43.
George Washington 68.
Emory & Henry
NC State The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African American newspaper, ranked the top 1950 teams from historically black colleges and universities using the Dickinson System in an era when college football was largely segregated.
The rankings were published on December 2:[15] The Associated Negro Press also published rankings on December 16:[16]