1955 Mississippi State Maroons football team

The 1955 Mississippi State Maroons football team represented Mississippi State College during the 1955 college football season. The team was led by second-year head coach Darrell Royal and compiled a 6–4 record, sixth in the Southeastern Conference.

1955 Mississippi State Maroons football
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Record	6–4 (4–4 SEC)
Head coach	Darrell Royal (2nd season)
Home stadium	Scott Field
Seasons ← 1954 1956 →

1955 Southeastern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 10 Ole Miss $	5	–	1	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
No. 8 Auburn	5	–	2	–	1			8	–	2	–	1
No. 7 Georgia Tech	4	–	1	–	1			9	–	1	–	1
Tennessee	3	–	2	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
Vanderbilt	4	–	3	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Mississippi State	4	–	4	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Kentucky	3	–	3	–	1			6	–	3	–	1
Tulane	3	–	3	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
LSU	2	–	3	–	1			3	–	5	–	2
Florida	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Georgia	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Alabama	0	–	7	–	0			0	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Halfback Art Davis was named to the FWAA/Look Magazine All America Team and voted their College "Player of the Year". Guard Scott Suber was named to the first team NEA All America Team.

After the season, Royal left in late February to become the head football coach at the University of Washington.^[1][2][3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 17	at Florida		Florida Field Gainesville, FL	L 14–20	29,000	^[4]
September 24	at Tennessee		Shields–Watkins Field Knoxville, TN	W 13–7	16,500	^[5]
October 1	Memphis State*		Scott Field Starkville, MS	W 33–0		^[6]
October 8	Tulane		Scott Field Starkville, MS	W 14–0	20,000	^[7]
October 15	at No. 20 Kentucky		McLean Stadium Lexington, KY	W 20–14		^[8]
October 22	at Alabama		Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, AL (rivalry)	W 26–7	28,000	^[9]^[10]
October 29	North Texas State*		Scott Field Starkville, MS	W 20–7	13,000	^[11]
November 5	at No. 14 Auburn	No. 20	Cliff Hare Stadium Auburn, AL	L 26–27	34,000	^[12]
November 12	at LSU	No. 18	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	L 7–34		^[13]
November 26	No. 15 Ole Miss		Scott Field Starkville, MS (Egg Bowl)	L 0–26	36,000	^[14]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[15]

After the season

NFL Draft

The following Maroons were selected in the 1956 NFL Draft after the season.^[16]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Team
1	5	Art Davis	Halfback	Pittsburgh Steelers
21	247	Jim Harness	Back	Baltimore Colts

References

1. "Royal hired as UW coach". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. February 29, 1956. p. 21.
2. "Royal gets 4-year contract; $17,000". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. March 1, 1956. p. 3D.
3. "Washington hires Darrell Royal". news.google.com. Ludington Daily News. February 28, 1956.
4. "Simpson hero in Florida victory over Miss State". The Selma Times-Journal. September 18, 1955. Retrieved October 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Maroons stem Vol surge, spoil Wyatt debut, 13–7". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. September 25, 1955. Retrieved March 30, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Two bright sophs lead Maroons in, 33 to 0". The Birmingham News. October 2, 1955. Retrieved September 21, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Ole Miss and State gain conference prestige with wins". The Clarion-Ledger. October 9, 1955. Retrieved September 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Long, desperation pass beats Kentucky". The Paducah Sun. October 16, 1955. Retrieved October 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
9. Land, Charles (October 23, 1955). "State spoils Tide homecoming in 26–7 win". The Tuscaloosa News. Google News Archives. p. 13. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
10. "Maroons belt Alabama, jump into title race". St. Petersburg Times. Google News Archives. Associated Press. October 23, 1955. p. 3C. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
11. "North Texas beaten by Mississippi State". The Commercial Appeal. October 30, 1955. Retrieved January 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Auburn squeezes past State, 27–26". The Commercial Appeal. November 6, 1955. Retrieved October 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
13. "LSU rips Maroon '11' by 34 to 7". The Austin American-Statesman. November 13, 1955. Retrieved October 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
14. "Ole Miss rips Maroons, 26–0". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. November 27, 1955. Retrieved October 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
15. "1955 Mississippi State Bulldogs Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
16. "1956 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 20, 2023.