Two human polls comprised the 1951 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.
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.
[1] The final UP Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games, on December 3.
[2][3] Tennessee received 23 of the 35 first-place votes; Michigan State received seven, Maryland two, and one each to Illinois, Georgia Tech, and Princeton.
[3] [3] The Litkenhous Ratings released in mid-December 1951 provided numerical rankings to over 600 college football programs.
The top 100 ranked teams were:[4] 1.
Michigan State 4.
Georgia Tech 7.
Notre Dame 15.
Ole Miss
Holy Cross 22.
Hardin Simmons 79.
Boston College 86.
Del Mar 89.
Nebraska 94. Colgate 95.
Loyola Los Angeles 97.
Toledo 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:[5] The Associated Negro Press also published rankings on December 14:[6]