The AP team was limited to players form the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) and was based on votes of football writers of AP member newspapers on the west coast.
[1] The UP team included players from non-PCC schools.
[2] The 1956 Oregon State Beavers football team won the PCC championship and placed two players on the first team: halfback Earnel Durden and tackle John Witte.
[1][2] Witte was a consensus first-team player on the 1956 All-America college football team.
[1][2] Stanford quarterback John Brodie was also a consensus first-team All-American.