Two human polls comprised the 1952 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 1, at the end of the 1952 regular season, weeks before the major bowls.
The AP would not release a post-bowl season final poll regularly until 1968.
The final UP Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games, on December 2.
[12][13] Michigan State received 32 of the 35 first-place votes; one each went to Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma.
[12][13] [12][13] The Litkenhous Ratings released in mid-December 1952 provided numerical rankings to over 600 college football programs.
The top 150 ranked teams were:[14] 1.
San Jose State (6–3) 69.
Wake Forest (5–4–1) 70.
William & Mary (4–5) 78.
Bowling Green 90.
Lenoir Rhyne 96.
Boston University (5–4–1) 101.
John Carroll 102.
West Chester (7–0) 103.
Cornell (2–7) 104. Colgate (6–3) 105.
Boston College (4–4–1) 108.
Western Kentucky (9–1) 110.
Del Mar 118.
Trinity (TX) 120.
Gustavus Adolphus 126.
American International 133.
Colorado College 138.
Western Reserve (5–4) 139.
Rhode Island (7–1) 140.
East Los Angeles 141.
Western Michigan (4–4) The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African American newspaper, ranked the top 1952 teams from historically black colleges and universities in an era when college football was largely segregated.
The rankings were published on December 20:[15] The Associated Negro Press also published rankings on December 20:[16]