October 6 No. 1 Michigan State won at No. 7 Ohio State, 24–20. No. 2 California beat Minnesota, 55–14. No. 3 Tennessee beat No. 16 Duke 26–0. No. 4 Oklahoma lost at No. 10 Texas A&M, 14–7 and fell out of the top five. No. 5 Notre Dame had beaten Mercy College of Detroit, 40–6, the night before. The next poll: No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 California, No. 3 Tennessee, No. 4 Texas A&M, and No. 5 Notre Dame.
October 13 No. 1 Michigan State had trouble in defeating Marquette 20–14. No. 2 California beat Washington State 42–35 and took over the top spot from the Spartans in the next poll. No. 3 Tennessee beat the University of Chattanooga 42–13. No. 4 Texas A&M beat Trinity College 53–14 and fell from the top five. No. 5 Notre Dame lost to visiting SMU, 27–20. Taking the places of the Aggies and the Irish were No. 6 Texas (which had beaten No. 11 Oklahoma in Dallas, 9–7) and No. 8 Georgia Tech (which had beaten LSU 25–7). The next poll: No. 1 California, No. 2 Tennessee, No. 3 Michigan State, No. 4 Texas, and No. 5 Georgia Tech.
October 20 In Los Angeles, No. 1 California and No. 11 USC, both unbeaten at 4–0–0, faced off, and the Golden Bears lost the game, along with the top spot in the poll, 21–14. Earlier, in Birmingham, No. 2 Tennessee defeated Alabama 27–13. No. 3 Michigan State won at Penn State, 32–21. No. 4 Texas lost at Arkansas, 16–14. No. 5 Georgia Tech defeated Auburn 27–7. Appearing in the top five were No. 8 Illinois (which had a 27–20 win over No. 20 Washington) and No. 7 Maryland (which had beaten North Carolina 14–7). The next poll: No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 4 Illinois, and No. 5 Maryland.
Another significant game on this date, though for a far different reason, was the Drake–Oklahoma A&M matchup. Then-unbeaten Drake was led by quarterback Johnny Bright, who was leading the nation in total offense at the time and had been touted as a Heisman Trophy candidate. Two years earlier, he had been the first black player to appear in a game at A&M's home field, without incident. The same could not be said about this game. Bright was forced to leave the game in the first quarter after suffering three concussions and a broken jaw as the result of a racially motivated attack by white A&M player Wilbanks Smith, and A&M ultimately won 27–14. The attack was immortalized in a photo sequence in the Des Moines Register that won the photographers a Pulitzer Prize. It also had an enduring legacy on the sport:
- By the end of the school year, Drake and Bradley withdrew from the Missouri Valley Conference in protest over both the attack and the failure of either the conference or Oklahoma A&M to discipline Smith. Bradley would return to the MVC for non-football sports in 1955, with Drake doing the same a year later, but Bradley never returned for football (dropping the sport in 1970) and Drake did not return to MVC football until 1971.
- The attack led to new NCAA rules regarding illegal blocking and mandating the use of helmets with face guards.
October 27 No. 1 Tennessee beat Tennessee Tech 68–0. No. 2 Michigan State beat visiting Pitt, 53–26. No. 3 Georgia Tech won narrowly at Vanderbilt, 8–7. No. 4 Illinois won at Indiana, 21–0. Unbeaten (4–0–0) and No. 5 Maryland visited once-beaten (4–1–0) LSU, and won convincingly, 27–0. With the top five teams staying unbeaten, the poll changed only slightly: No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Illinois, No 4 Maryland, and No. 5 Georgia Tech.
November 3 No. 1 Tennessee won at North Carolina, 27–0 for its fourth shutout. In six games, the Vols had outscored their opponents, 207–14. No. 2 Michigan State was idle and dropped to fifth in the next poll. No. 3 Illinois beat No. 15 Michigan 7–0. No. 4 Maryland shut out Missouri 35–0. No. 5 Georgia Tech was tied by Duke, 14–14. No. 6 Princeton, which rose to 5–0–0 after a 12–0 win over Brown and had not lost a game in more than two years, gave an Ivy League addition to the Top Five. The next poll: No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Illinois, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 Princeton, and No. 5 Michigan State.
November 10 No. 1 Tennessee beat Washington & Lee, 60–14. No. 2 Illinois beat Iowa 40–13. In Baltimore, No. 3 Maryland beat Navy, 40–21. No. 4 Princeton won at Harvard, 54–13 but left the top five. No. 5 Michigan State (6–0–0) hosted No. 11 Notre Dame (5–1–0), shut out the Irish 35–0, and returned to the No. 1 spot in the poll. In Los Angeles, two unbeaten and untied (7–0–0) powers faced off, as No. 6 USC and No. 7 Stanford met. The Stanford Indians beat the Trojans 27–20. The next poll: No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 Tennessee, No. 3 Illinois, No. 4 Stanford, and No. 5 Maryland.
November 17 No. 1 Michigan State won at Indiana, 30–26. No. 2 Tennessee won at Mississippi, 46–21. No. 3 Illinois got a blemish on its record with a 0–0 tie at Ohio State. No. 4 Stanford beat Oregon State 35–14. No. 5 Maryland overwhelmed N.C. State 53–0. No. 6 Princeton, which had shut out Yale 27–0, came back to the top five. The next poll: No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Maryland, and No. 5 Princeton.
November 24
No. 1 Tennessee beat No. 9 Kentucky 28–0. No. 2 Michigan State beat Colorado 45–7 to finish its season at 9–0–0. No. 3 Stanford suffered its first defeat, falling to No. 19 California 20–7. No. 4 Maryland stayed unbeaten, defeating West Virginia 54–7. No. 5 Princeton closed its season with a 13–0 win over Dartmouth. No. 6 Illinois, which won at Northwestern 3–0, returned to the top five. The penultimate poll: No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 Illinois, and No. 5 Princeton.
On December 1 No. 1 Tennessee closed its season unbeaten with a 35–27 win over Vanderbilt. No. 6 Georgia Tech, the only other highly-ranked team which had not finished its season, defeated Georgia 48–6. This result moved the Yellow Jackets up a spot in the final poll: No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 Illinois, No. 5 Georgia Tech, and No. 6 Princeton, with all six teams being undefeated (although Illinois and Georgia Tech both had ties on their record).
The nation's seventh undefeated team was the No. 14 University of San Francisco Dons, who closed their season—and their football program—with a perfect record of 9 wins, 0 losses and 0 ties. After their November 24 game against in-state Jesuit rival Loyola University, a 20–2 win, USF stopped playing football.
Individual
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Total offense
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The following players were the individual leaders in total offense among major college football players during the 1951 season:
1. Dick Kazmaier, Princeton, 1,827 yards
2. Don Klosterman, Loyola (CA), 1,803 yards
3. Bill Wade, Vanderbilt, 1,646 yards
4. Zeke Bratkowski, Georgia, 1,634 yards
5. Tom Dublinski, Utah, 1,633 yards
6. Hair, Clemson, 1,579 yards
7. Morris, Tulsa, 1,572 yards
8. Ollie Matson, San Francisco, 1,566 yards
9. Larry Isbell, Baylor, 1,556 yards
10. Johnny Bright, Drake, 1,553 yards
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The following players were the individual leaders in pass completions among major college football players during the 1951 season:
1. Don Klosterman, Loyola (CA), 159 of 315 (50.5%), 1,843 yards, 21 interceptions, 9 touchdowns
2. Babe Parilli, Kentucky, 136 of 239 (56.9%), 1,643 yards, 12 interceptions, 19 touchdowns
3. Don Leahy, Marquette, 127 of 232 (54.7%), 1,543 yards, 15 interceptions, 12 touchdowns
4. Tom Dublinski, Utah, 124 of 239 (51.9%), 1,418 yards, 11 interceptions, 14 touchdowns
5. Don Babers, Oklahoma A&M, 121 of 247 (49.0%), 1,352 yards, 13 interceptions, 10 touchdowns
6. Hart, Hardin-Simmons, 117 of 229 (51.1%), 1,380 yards, 14 interceptions, 8 touchdowns
7. Zeke Bratkowski, Georgia, 116 of 248 (46.8%), 1,578 yards, 29 interceptions, 6 touchdowns
8. Bill Wade, Vanderbilt, 111 of 223 (49.8%), 1,609 yards, 10 interceptions, 13 touchdowns
9. Fred Benners, SMU, 108 of 204 (52.9%), 1,306 yards, 12 interceptions, 9 touchdowns
10. Larry Isbell, Baylor, 105 of 214 (49.1%), 1,430 yards, 18 interceptions, 10 touchdowns
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The following players were the individual leaders in rushing yards among major college football players during the 1951 season:
1. Ollie Matson, San Francisco, 1,566 yards on 245 carries (6.39 average)
2. Dunny Goode, Hardin-Simmons, 1,399 yards on 270 carries (5.18 average)
3. Howard Waugh, Tulsa, 1,118 yards on 165 carries (6.78 average)
4. Shannon, Houston, 1,059 yards on 144 carries (7.35 average)
5. Thomas McCormick, Pacific, 1,001 yards on 191 carries (5.24 average)
6. Hugh McElhenny, Washington, 936 yards on 169 carries (5.54 average)
7. Johnny Bright, Drake, 927 yards on 160 carries (5.79 average)
8. John Kastan, Boston University, 886 yards on 133 carries (6.66 average)
9. Hank Lauricella, Tennessee, 881 yards on 111 carries (7.94 average)
10. Buck McPhail, Oklahoma, 865 yards on 101 carries (8.56 average)
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Receiving
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The following players were the individual leaders in receptions among major college football players during the 1951 season:
1. Dewey McConnell, Wyoming, 47 receptions for 725 yards and 8 touchdowns
2. Ed Barker, Washington State, 46 receptions, 864 yards, 9 touchdowns
3. Jim David, Colorado A&M, 46 receptions, 551 yards, 5 touchdowns
4. Karl Kluckhohn, Colgate, 45 receptions, 616 yards, 5 touchdowns
5. Fred Snyder, Loyola (CA), 45 receptions, 539 yards, 2 touchdowns
6. Bill McColl, Stanford, 42 receptions, 607 yards, 7 touchdowns
7. Harry Babcock, Georgia, 41 receptions, 666 yards, 2 touchdowns
8. Ben Roderick, Vanderbilt, 40 receptions, 627 yards, 5 touchdowns
8. George Wooden, Oklahoma A&M, 40 receptions, 502 yards, 2 touchdowns
8. Wesley Bomm, Columbia, 40 receptions, 444 yards, 1 touchdown
8. Jim Walker, Texas Western, 40 receptions, 440 yards, 3 touchdowns
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The following players were the individual leaders in scoring among major college football players during the 1951 season:
1. Ollie Matson, San Francisco, 126 points (21 TD)
2. Hugh McElhenny, Washington, 125 points (17 TD, 23 PAT)
3. Bill Parsons, Tulsa, 96 points (16 TD)
4. Ray Oliverson, BYU, 90 points (15 TD)
4. John "Babe" Kastan, Boston University, 90 points (15 TD)
6. Johnny Bright, Drake, 84 points (14 TD)
6. Frank Goode, Hardin-Simmons, 84 points (14 TD)
6. Eddie Macon, Pacific, 84 points (14 TD)
6. Harold "Herky" Payne, Tennessee, 84 points (14 TD)
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Total offense
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The following teams were the leaders in total offense in major college football during the 1951 season:
1. Tulsa, 480.1 yards per game
2. Maryland, 423.3 yards per game
3. Princeton, 417.0 yards per game
4. Arizona State, 416.2 yards per game
5. Cincinnati, 408.3 yards per game
6. Oklahoma, 406.2 yards per game
7. Holy Cross, 405.5 yards per game
8. Michigan State, 403.0 yards per game
9. Pacific, 401.6 yards per game
10. California, 398.0 yards per game
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Total defense
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The following teams were the leaders in total defense in major college football during the 1951 season:
1. Wisconsin, 154.8 yards per game
2. Princeton, 176.9 yards per game
3. Georgia Tech, 199.1 yards per game
4. Kentucky, 205.9 yards per game
5. San Francisco, 209.4 yards per game
6. Illinois, 217.1 yards per game
7. Holy Cross, 221.2 yards per game
8. Oklahoma, 221.5 yards per game
9. Virginia, 221.7 yards per game
10. Denver, 223.0 yards per game
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