Bowls & Polls: The 1958 Season

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“There is no official standard because there is no official national champion. It all depends on the standard the school wishes to utilize. The national champion is in the eye of the beholder.”

— Kent Stephens, historian

1958

This is the ninth post in a series covering the 1950-1973 seasons. Each year I will cover the big games the shaped the race for #1 and how they performed in the bowls. Season by season you’ll see the gradual evolution of how college football went from a regular season only sport into a game into a sport where bowls would become national championship events. This is my amateur attempt at understanding college football’s bizarre journey in declaring who is #1.

Master Post (check out prior seasons here)

A Brief History of the bowls and Polls

News & Notes

My dad was born. Woo hoo!

Bowl Tie-Ins
Rose: PCC and Big 10 champs
- Oregon and Ohio St ineligible due to each conference’s no-repeat rules.
Orange: Big 7 and ACC
- The Big 7 rescinded it’s no-repeat rule this season.
Sugar: SEC (unofficially)
Cotton: SWC champ
Notre Dame had a self imposed bowl ban, which wouldn’t be rescinded until 1968.
The two-point conversion is born! To quote Michigan’s AD:
- “It’s a progressive step which will make football more interesting for the spectators,” adding that the rule "will add drama to what has been the dullest, most stupid play in the game."
Preseason AP #1: Ohio State

Big Games

Oct 4th
- Air Force despite having no seniors on it’s roster, managed a 13-13 tie with #8 Iowa. In a magical season, this would be their only blemish.
Oct 11th
- #16 Texas upset #2 Oklahoma 15-14
- #3 Army knocked off #4 Notre Dame, 14-2. The Irish would finish 6-4.
Oct 18th
- #2 Auburn’s title defense took a hit with a 7-7 draw with Georgia Tech. Their SEC and repeat title hopes were still alive, but they’d need losses elsewhere.
Oct 25th
- #2 Ohio St tied #13 Wisconsin 7-7. They only dropped to #5 in the ensuing AP poll.
- #1 Army (4-0) tied Pittsburgh 14-14. They would only fall to #3 in the following polls, but they no longer controlled the national title race.
Nov 1st
- #5 Ohio St was blanked 21-0 by #11 Northwestern, ending their hopes of another national title. They would tie #8 Purdue the following week, taking them out of the Big 10 title race as well.
- #1 LSU met #6 Ole Miss in a battle of 6-0 teams, which had both SEC and National title implications. The Tigers shutout the Rebels 14-0, establishing themselves as front runners for both titles.
Nov 15th
- #2 Iowa (6-0-1) fell to #16 Ohio St, 28-38. Combined with an earlier season tie to Air Force, their national title hopes were likely over, but the Big 10 title was still very much on the table.
- #1 LSU narrowly avoided an upset to MSU with a 7-6 win. Now, as the only unbeaten and untied team all they needed to do was to take care of lightly regarded Tulane to secure a national title.
Nov 22nd
- #3 Oklahoma would need help to claim a national title, which would require losses by both Auburn and LSU. They couldn’t control the results of thos games, but they did control whipping Nebraska by a score of 40-7 to secure their 15th straight Big 7 title.
- #1 LSU gave some teams ranked below it hope in the first half, only leading lowly Tulane 6-0. The 2nd half they left no doubt, tattooing the Green Wave for 56 points on the way to a 62-0 romp, securing a SEC title in the process. As the last unbeaten and untied team in major college football, a consensus national title was there’s for the taking.
Nov 29th
- #2 Auburn escaped Alabama 14-8 to finish 9-0-1 on the year. Back to back titles was out of the question, but unbeaten for back to back seasons was a mighty fine accomplishment. A shame overtime wouldn’t be a thing for another 35+ years, maybe they would’ve had the chance to be perfect.

Final Polls

Team	Record	AP	Coaches	Bowls
LSU	10-0	1 (130)	1 (29)	Sugar
Iowa	7-1-1	2 (17)	2 (4)	Rose
Army	8-0-1	3 (13)	3 (1)	none
Auburn	9-0-1	4 (9)	4	none
Oklahoma	9-1	5 (10)	5	Orange
Air Force	9-0-1	6 (2)	8 (1)	Cotton

Other notable conference champs:

SWC: #10 TCU (8-2-1)

ACC: #12 Clemson (8-2)

PCC: #16 Cal (7-3)

GEAUX TIGERS! LSU claimed its first ever national title and first undefeated and untied season in half a century. As the only perfect team, both of the polls emphatically picked them #1. They had a couple of close calls vs Florida and MSU, but handled all of their remaining opponents by double digits. Interestingly, their rival Auburn (who they didn’t play in the regular season) got shorted by the polls again, falling behind an Iowa team with a loss and tie on it’s resume. Despite the unbeaten record, they were not invited to a bowl. The ACC, PCC, and SWC champs all finished outside of the top 10, making it a less than stellar New Years bowl season.

The Bowls

COTTON: #6/#8 Air Force (9-0-1) vs #10/#9 TCU (8-2)

In just their 3rd season ever, Air Force found itself unbeaten and in one of the 4 major bowl games vs SWC champ TCU. The game was an ugly affair. The two teams combined for 16 punts, 13 fumbles (6 lost), and 5 missed field goals. A missed AF kick from the TCU 12 being the most egregious miss. The game ended in a 0-0 tie.

ORANGE: #5 Oklahoma (9-1) vs #9/#10 Syracuse (8-1)

The Sooners put this one to bed early. They struck quickly with an opening drive TD and added a score after a Syruacuse fumble later in the first to go up 14-0. A punt return in the 3rd made it 21-0. Syracuse would score a 4th quarter TD to avoid the shutout, making the final 21-6.

Rose: #2 Iowa (7-1-1) vs #16 Cal (7-3)

Fun fact: did you know Iowa used to play offense? I had no idea. The Hawks lit up Cal, starting off with two short rushing and one passing TD to take a 20-0 lead at the half. Cal managed to cut the lead to 20-6 later that quarter, but the Hawks responded with two more long TD runs to make it 32-6, before rolling to a 38-12 win. Funnily, there were 5 two-point conversion attempts in this game, and all 5 (plus an XP earlier) failed.

Sugar: #1 LSU vs #12/#13 Clemson

The polls had assured LSU was the best team in the land, but losing the Sugar Bowl would be an ugly way to end an otherwise magical season. ACC champ Clemson tried their best to hand them that loss. Neither offense was able to get much going, leading to a scoreless first half. Late in the 3rd, LSU’s special teams recovered a poor snap on a Clemson punt to set them up deep in Tiger . . . well Clemson Tiger territory. LSU’s Heisman winning halfback Billy Cannon, tossed a 9 yard TD pass to make it 7-0. LSU’s defense continued to pitch as shutout as they held on for a 7-0 victory and perfect 11-0 season. This would be their last national title until 2003 and last perfect season until 2019.

Final Review

Four teams finished undefeated, but only one was perfect. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Army, Auburn, or Air Force to make the argument for a share of the natty. Neither academy played quite as tough a schedule as LSU. As for Auburn, it’s truly a shame SEC conference scheduling that year didn’t have them playing each other. Both schools have mutual wins over Kentucky, Florida, and Mississippi St. LSU outscored those opponents by 29 to Auburn’s 27, so take that for what it is. An argument has been made for Iowa as the 1958 champ as they beat 2 and tied another top 10 team. I’d listen to their argument if they had one less blemish on their schedule, even if it was tougher. For me it’s LSU.

Other minor selectors