In their 26th season under head coach Lou Little, the Lions compiled a 1–8 record, and were outscored 251 to 74.
Manfredo Bucci was the team captain.
[1] This would be Columbia's final year as a football independent, as the Ivy League, which Columbia had helped co-found in 1954, began football competition in 1956.
Six of the nine opponents on Columbia's 1955 schedule were Ivy League members (with Penn the only Ivy not scheduled); for decades, (future) Ivy members had comprised a large portion of Columbia's opponents.
Columbia played its home games at Baker Field in Upper Manhattan, in New York City.