The1953 college football season was marked by the NCAA Rules Committee's revocation of thetwo-platoon system and unlimited substitution rules in favor of the historicone-platoon system with its highly restrictive substitution rules. This radical rules shift made the 1953 season "The Year of the Great Adjustment," in the words of sportswriter Tommy Devine of theDetroit Free Press, in which teams scrambled to tighten their rosters and alter their strategies in accord with the more traditional "iron man" game.^[2]

The season finished with four teams selected as national champions:

• Maryland finished the regular season undefeated (10–0) and was ranked No. 1 in the finalAssociated Press (AP),United Press (UP) coaches, andInternational News Service polls (all released before the bowl games were played). The Terrapins then lost to No. 4Oklahoma in theOrange Bowl.
• Notre Dame compiled a 9–0–1 record (including victories over Oklahoma and Georgia Tech) and was ranked No. 2 in the final AP and UP polls. The Irish have been recognized as the national champion by 11 official selectors.^[3] Notre Dame'sJohnny Lattner won theHeisman Trophy and theMaxwell Award as the best player in college football. Notre Dame does not recognize this title due to its policy of only recognizingAP orCoaches Poll titles during the polling era (1936–present).^{[citation needed]}
• Oklahoma compiled a 9–1–1, including a victory over No. 1 Maryland in the Orange Bowl. The Sooners were ranked No. 4 in the final AP poll but have but have been recognized as national champion byBerryman (QPRS) andCollege Football Researchers Association.
• Prairie View compiled a perfect 12–0 record, outscored opponents by a total of 387 to 88, and was recognized as the black college national champion.

TheCincinnati Bearcats, under head coachSid Gilman, compiled a 9–1 record and led the country in both total offense (409.5 yards per game) and total defense (184.3 yards per game).

Small college teams compiling perfect records includedJuniata (three consecutive undefeated seasons),Peru State (part of 26-game winning streak), andShippensburg (consecutive perfect seasons).

Individual statistical leaders in major college football includedPaul Larson of California with 1,572 yards of total offense;Bobby Garrett of Stanford with 1,637 passing yards;J. C. Caroline of Illinois with 1,256 rushing yards;Johnny Carson of Georgia with 663 receiving yards; and Earl Lindley of Utah State with 81 points scored.

• Three conferences began play in 1953:
  • Atlantic Coast Conference – an active NCAA Division I FBS conference; formed by seven former members of theSouthern Conference with an eighth member,Virginia added in December 1953
  • Eastern Intercollegiate Conference – active through the 1959 season
  • Prairie College Conference – active through the 1967 season
• One conference changed its name in 1953:
  • With the addition of independentMichigan State, theIntercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives (commonly theBig Nine Conference) once again became theBig Ten Conference (the league had 10 members before Chicago's departure in 1946). The Big Ten name was not officially adopted until 1987.

In the preseason poll released onSeptember 14, 1953,Notre Dame was rated first, followed by the defending champion,Michigan State,Georgia Tech,UCLA, andAlabama. As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.

In a Friday night game at Los Angeles,No. 4 UCLA beat Oregon State 41–0. Meanwhile, at Montgomery, AL,No. 5 Alabama was shocked by Southern Mississippi, 25–19. The next day,September 19No. 3 Georgia Tech beat Davidson, 53–0. Notre Dame and Michigan State began their seasons the following week.

OnSeptember 26No. 1 Notre Dame won 28–21 at No. 6 Oklahoma.No. 2 Michigan State won at Iowa, 21–7.No. 3 Georgia Tech went to No. 15 Florida and was held to a 0–0 tie.No. 4 UCLA beat Kansas 19–7. Still atNo. 5, Alabama, trying to salvage some respect against a second unranked opponent, went to 0–1–1 after a 7–7 tie against LSU in Mobile; in the poll that followed, the Crimson Tide fell completely out of the Top 20. No. 9 Maryland, which had won 52–0 at Washington and Lee, rose to third, and previously unranked Michigan (a 50–0 victor over Washington), entered the poll at fourth. The top five were No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 Michigan, and No. 5 UCLA.

October 3 With the exception ofNo. 4 Michigan, which beat Tulane 26–7 at home, the other top teams won on the road:No. 1 Notre Dame at Purdue, 37–7,No. 2 Michigan State at Minnesota 21–0,No. 3 Maryland at Clemson, 20–0, andNo. 5 UCLA defeated Oregon 12–0 in an away game. No. 6 Ohio State, which won 33–19 at California, rose to third in the next poll, knocking UCLA down to sixth. TheBig Ten had three of the spots in the top five: No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Maryland, and No. 5 Michigan.

October 10No. 1 Notre Dame was idle, but stayed at No. 1 afterNo. 2 Michigan State's 26–19 win over TCU.No. 4 Maryland won 40–13 over Georgia andNo. 5 Michigan edged Iowa 14–13. The night before,No. 3 Ohio State had lost 40–21 to Illinois, while No. 6 UCLA returned to the top bracket with a 13–0 win over visiting Wisconsin. The next poll: No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 5 Michigan.

October 17No. 1 Notre Dame beat No. 15 Pittsburgh 23–14.No. 2 Michigan State defeated Indiana 47–18.No. 3 Maryland won 26–0 at North Carolina.No. 4 UCLA lost at Stanford, 21–20.No. 5 Michigan beat Northwestern 20–12. No. 6 Georgia Tech, which beat Auburn 36–6, took UCLA's place in the next poll: No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 Georgia Tech, and No. 5 Michigan.

October 24No. 1 Notre Dame stayed unbeaten with a 27–14 win overNo. 4 Georgia Tech.No. 2 Michigan State lost 6–0 at Purdue andNo. 5 Michigan lost at Minnesota 22–0.No. 3 Maryland won a Friday game at Miami, 30–0. Coming into the Top Five were No. 6 Baylor (14–13 over No. 15 Texas A&M), No. 7 Illinois (20–13 over Syracuse), and No. 8 West Virginia (52–20 over VMI). The next poll: No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Baylor, No. 4 Illinois, and No. 5 West Virginia.

October 31No. 1 Notre Dame beat No. 20 Navy 38–7.No. 2 Maryland beat South Carolina 24–6.No. 3 Baylor beat TCU 25–7.No. 4 Illinois defeated Purdue 21–0.No. 5 West Virginia won at Penn State 20–19. No. 6 Michigan State, which beat Oregon State 34–6, rose to fifth. The next poll: No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3.Baylor, No. 4 Illinois, and No. 5 Michigan State.

November 7No. 1 Notre Dame won 28–20 at Penn.No. 2 Maryland beat George Washington University 27–6 at a game in Washington, DC.No. 3 Baylor lost at No. 19 Texas, 21–20.No. 4 Illinois beat No. 17 Michigan 9–3.No. 5 Michigan State won 28–13 at No. 16 Ohio State, and No. 6 Georgia Tech beat Clemson 20–7. The next poll featured No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Illinois, No. 4 Michigan State, and No. 5 Georgia Tech.

November 14No. 1 Notre Dame won at North Carolina, 34–14, andNo. 2 Maryland beat No. 11 Mississippi 38–0 as both stayed unbeaten and untied.No. 4 Michigan State beat Michigan 14–6. On the other hand,No. 3 Illinois lost to Wisconsin, 34–7 andNo. 5 Georgia Tech fell 13–6 to Alabama in a game at Birmingham. Returning to the Top Five to take their place were No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 UCLA, which had defeated Iowa State (47–0) and Washington (22–6), respectively. The next ranking was No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 UCLA.

November 21 Number one since the season began,No. 1 Notre Dame played to a 14–14 tie with No. 20 Iowa in a controversial game where Notre Dame's players were accused of faking injuries to stop the clock and gain time for a final touchdown.^[4]No. 2 Maryland closed its season with a 21–0 win over No. 11 Alabama to finish the season unbeaten and untied at 10–0–0.No. 3 Michigan State closed with a 21–15 win over Marquette.No. 4 Oklahoma beat Nebraska 30–7, andNo. 5 UCLA beat No. 9 USC, 13–0. The next poll featured No. 1 Maryland, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 UCLA.

November 28 The newNo. 1, Maryland had already finished its season.No. 2 Notre Dame, with a 48–14 win at No. 20 USC, andNo. 4 Oklahoma (42–7 over Oklahoma A&M) were the only Top Five members who hadn't closed their seasons.

November 30 The final AP Poll rankedMaryland, the only unbeaten and untied team, No. 1 with 187 first place votes. Unbeaten, once-tied, and one-game-left-to-playNo. 2 Notre Dame received 141 votes.

December 5 Notre Dame beat visiting SMU 40–14. No additional AP Poll was taken because there were few other games played this Saturday.^[5]

ACC member Maryland would accept a bid to the Orange Bowl to meet once-beaten (8–1–1), Big 7 champ, andNo. 4 Oklahoma, whileNo. 3 Michigan State andNo. 5 UCLA would meet in the Rose Bowl. Notre Dame declined to participate in a postseason game.

After the AP national championMaryland lost in the Orange Bowl, there was a lot of controversy since the AP Poll had been finalized beforehand and could not be changed to take this result into account. ThisMaryland loss resulted inNotre Dame being ranked No. 1 by 10 polls, including Billingsley[1], Boand, DeVold, Dunkel, National Championship Foundation, Williamson, and several others. As a reward for beating theTerrapins, theSooners received No. 1 from Berryman and Football Research.[2]Archived 2011-09-07 at theWayback Machine