The Engineers were a sporadic entry on the national small college rankings. Lehigh was rated No. 9, with one first-place vote, in the October 5 AP poll, but dropped out of the top 10 the next week. The team returned to the AP rankings on November 9, at No. 8, before rising the next week to No. 6, its eventual year-end ranking. The season's first UPI coaches poll did not place Lehigh in the top 20, though the Engineers made it to No. 19 for two weeks in October before returning for good in mid-November. Following the rivalry victory over Lafayette, Lehigh climbed to a final ranking of No. 11 in the coaches poll.
In both polls, Lehigh ended up the top-ranked team in the geographic area covered by the Lambert awards. Rutgers, which defeated Lehigh and won both conferences, was considered a "major" university and not eligible for the Lambert Cup. Of the eight members of the Lambert selection committee, seven listed Lehigh as their No. 1 choice, with the eighth listing it as No. 2. As the winners of the inaugural small-college Lambert Cup in 1957, Lehigh became the first college to receive the award twice.[3]