Individual statistical leaders in major college football included Arizona tailback Art Luppino with 1,359 rushing yards and 166 points scored, Oregon quarterback George Shaw with 1,536 yards of total offense, California quarterback Paul Larson with 1,537 passing yards, and California end Jim Hanifan with 44 receptions.
As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.
7 Georgia Tech, which beat Tulane 28–0 in Atlanta, replaced Illinois in the Top Five.
Defying high expectations, the Illini would lose their opener to Penn State, 14–12, and finish the season with a 1–8–0 record.
Notre Dame took back over the top spot from O.U., and Texas, Maryland and Georgia Tech were replaced by No.
2 Oklahoma which was idle, moved to the top as Notre Dame dropped to eighth.
10 Ohio State, which had won at Illinois 40–7, entered the Top Five: No.
2 Wisconsin faced its second high-ranked opponent in a week, visiting Big Ten rival and No.
2 Ohio State won at Purdue 28–6 and got back the top rung.
5 Navy, although the Coaches Poll selected UCLA as its top team.
Under normal circumstances the Buckeyes and Bruins would have met in the Rose Bowl for a national championship showdown, but the Pacific Coast Conference's short-lived "no-repeat" rule forced UCLA to stay home because they had played in the previous year's Rose Bowl.
1, while the UPI coaches' poll gave the top spot to UCLA.
Both wire services' rankings were made at the end of the regular season, and were unaffected by the postseason bowl games.
Ohio State and UCLA had two common opponents in 1954; Cal and USC.
A rival to the AP poll, the UPI prefaced its release with the statement, "The men who know the game the best, the coaches themselves, voted UCLA to the top spot by the slender margin of seven points over Ohio State, the perfect record champions of the Big 10 Conference," [7] The UPI poll was a Top Ten, with a first place vote by a coach being worth 10 points, second worth 9 points, etc.
With 350 being the maximum number of points, and 315 being the total for 35 second place votes, the panel was split on whether UCLA or Ohio State was the best team in the nation.
The UPI Top Ten [8] Ohio State and UCLA had two common opponents in 1954; Cal and USC.
Other undefeated teams: Ashland, Carleton, Carnegie Tech, Hastings (NE), Hobart, Luther, Pennsylvania Military, Pomona, Southeastern Louisiana, Trinity (CT), Western Colorado, Worcester Tech The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player Source: [9][10] The following players were the individual leaders in total offense among major college football players during the 1954 season: 1.
Eagle Day, Ole Miss, 1,051 yards [11] The following players were the individual leaders in pass completions among major college football players during the 1954 season: 1.
Jack Stephans, Holy Cross, 73 of 149 (49.0%), 800 yards, 11 interceptions, 8 touchdowns 9.
Mackie Prickett, South Carolina, 68 of 116 (58.6%), 682 yards, 9 interceptions, 1 touchdown 9.
Ralph Guglielmi, Notre Dame, 68 of 127 (53.4%), 1,162 yards, 7 interceptions, 6 touchdowns [12] The following players were the individual leaders in rushing yards among major college football players during the 1954 season: 1.
Sam Pino, Boston University, 933 yards on 154 carries (6.06 average) 5.
Tom Tracy, Tennessee, 794 yards on 116 carries (6.84 average) [13] The following players were the individual leaders in receptions among major college football players during the 1954 season: 1.
Carl Brazell, South Carolina, 29 receptions, 241 yards, 1 touchdown 5.
Robert H. Dee, Holy Cross, 25 receptions, 236 yards, 2 touchdowns [14] The following players were the individual leaders in scoring among major college football players during the 1954 season: 1.
Lenny Moore,Penn State, 78 points (13 TD) 5.
Harold "Rusty" Fairly, Denver, 70 points (9 TD, 16 PAT) 8.
Earl Smith Jr., Iowa, 66 points (11 TD) [15] The following teams were the leaders in total offense in major college football during the 1954 season: 1.
UCLA, 366.6 yards per game [16] The following teams were the leaders in total defense in major college football during the 1954 season: 1.