Factoid 251 - College Football in 1955

In 1955 there were 110 teams playing in Division 1, seven bowl games were played, UCLA was the AP pre-season number one, Howard Cassady (halfback for The Ohio State Buckeyes) won the Heisman, and Oklahoma won the Consensus National Championship. (Michigan State was selected the National Champion by the Boand System selector.)

Oklahoma went 11-0 in 1955 under Bud Wilkinson, capping the season with a 20-6 Orange Bowl Victory over the third ranked Maryland Terrapins. This championship came in the middle of the Sooner’s heyday from 1949 to 1957, when they won a claim to the National Championship six times. (A second heyday would come in the Barry Switzer era.)

National Champions

• Michigan State 9–1 Duffy Daugherty (BS) *
• Oklahoma 11–0 Bud Wilkinson AP, B(QPRS), BR, CFRA, DeS, DuS, FWAA, HAF, INS, L, NCF, PS, SR, UPI, WS) *

• The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announced the end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941.
• A young Jim Henson built the first version of Kermit the Frog.
• Disneyland opened to the public in Anaheim, California.