Two human polls comprised the 1953 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 November 30, at the end of the 1953 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 November 30.
[12] Maryland received 20 of the 35 first-place votes; Notre Dame received thirteen, and one each went to Michigan State and UCLA.
[12] The Litkenhous Ratings released in mid-December 1953 provided numerical rankings to over 683 college football programs.
The top 50 ranked teams were:[13] 1.
Ole Miss 12.
Penn The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African American newspaper, ranked the top 1953 teams from historically black colleges and universities in an era when college football was largely segregated.
The rankings were published on December 19:[14] The Associated Negro Press also published rankings on December 25:[15]