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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/stayclassypeople on 2024-07-07 12:23:36+00:00.

“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

1960

This is the eleventh 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

  • Oklahoma St competed in it’s first season as a Big 8 member
  • Texas Tech joined the SWC
  • Preseason #1: Syracuse
  • Bowl Tie-Ins
    • Rose: AAWU champ
      • The AAWU, which contained remnants of the old PCC made a new agreement to send it’s champ to the Rose Bowl. The Big 10 agreed to allow it’s team’s be accept an at-large invite, but was not officially tied to the game.
    • Orange: Big 8 and ACC champs
    • Sugar: an SEC team
    • Cotton: SWC champ

Big Games

  • Oct 1st
    • #3 Washington was upended by #17 Navy 14-15. The loss knocked them out of the top 10. The win propelled Navy into the top 10, where they would spend the rest of the season.
  • Oct 29th
    • #3 Syracuse (5-0) saw it’s repeat title hopes dashed with a 10-0 shutout loss to Pitt on a neutral field. They would lose again the following week to Army, knocking them out of the top 10 entirely.
    • #2 Ole Miss (6-0) met LSU for the 3rd time in less than a year. LSU once again spoiled their perfect season, forcing them to settle for a 6-6 tie. They would drop to #6 in the following poll.
  • Nov 5th
    • #1 Iowa met #3 Minnesota (both 6-0) for an epic Big 10 showdown. The winner would become the front runner for both the Big 10 title and national title. The Gophers were Golden, downing Iowa 27-10.
    • #4 Navy (7-0) fell to #19 Duke, hurting their national title hopes
  • Nov 12th
    • #4 Ole Miss survived it’s last big test of the year, taking down #14 Tennessee 24-3. They would just need to beat struggling MSU in two weeks to secure an unbeaten season
    • #3 Ohio St (6-1) fell to #5 Iowa (6-1) 12-35. The result eliminated the Buckeyes from both Big 10 and national title contention and kept Iowa alive in both categories.
    • #1 Minnesota, just a week after moving to #1 in the polls, suffered a 14-23 loss to unranked Purdue
  • Nov 14th
    • AP top 5: 1. Mizzou, 2. Iowa, 3. Ole Miss, 4. Minnesota, 5. Washington
  • Nov 19th
    • #5 Washington (8-1) survived Wazzu 8-7 thanks to scoring a late TD and converting the 2-point conversion. The win officially locked up a Rose Bowl berth.
    • #4 Minnesota took care of 4-4 Wisconsin 26-7 to finish the year 8-1. To claim a national title , they would need Missouri to lose and some help from the voters to move them past Iowa and Ole Miss.
    • #1 Missouri (9-0) entered their final game of the season vs rival Kansas (5-3-1). As the last remaining unbeaten and untied team (excluding Yale), they were just a win away from securing their first national title. The win would make for a nice and easy controversy free #1 team. Instead their Border War rival stunned them by a score of 23-7. With only two weeks to go before the final Polls were released, the door was now open for Iowa, Minnesota, Ole Miss, or even Washington to to more in for the top spot.
    • #2 Iowa waxed Notre Dame 28-0 to finish the year 8-1. With Missouri’s loss, all directions pointed to them moving to #1 in next weeks polls . . . or so it seemed.
  • Nov 21
    • AP top 5: 1. Minnesota, 2. Iowa, 3. Ole Miss, 4. Washington, 5. Missouri. The voters elevated Minnesota from 4th to 1st. Understandably it made sense they moved ahead of an Iowa team they defeated in the regular season, but unbeaten Ole Miss had to be displeased.
  • Nov 26th
    • #3 Ole Miss secured a unbeaten season with a 35-9 waxing of MSU. Keeping 1 loss Iowa head of them the past 3 weeks and moving 1 loss Minnesota above them the prior week meant that they probably weren’t too confident about finishing #1. Still, they were SEC champs again.
    • #7 Navy edged rival Army 17-12. Unfortunately for them, their earlier loss to Duke had all but sunk their title hopes
  • Dec 8th
    • After it was discovered that Kansas had used ineligible players in it’s last two games the Big 8 forced them to forfeit them. This retroactively changed Missouri’s record from 9-1 to 10-0. The final Polls had already been released, making it too little too late for them to claim #1.

Final Polls

Teams in bold=conference champs

( )= 1st place votes

Team Record AP Coaches Bowl Game
Minnesota 8-1 1 (17 1/2) 1 (25) ROSE
Ole Miss 9-0-1 2 (16) 3 (9) SUGAR
Iowa 8-1 3 (12 1/2) 2 (5) NONE
Navy 8-1 4 6 ORANGE
Missouri 9-1 5 4 ORANGE
Washington 9-1 6 (2) 5 ROSE
Arkansas 8-2 7 7 COTTON

Yale finished 9-0 and #14/#18 in each poll. Ivy league schools were not (and still aren’t) able to compete in the postseason. The also played a significantly weaker schedule than the teams ranked above.

Stock up on some Dramamine because that poll inertia is making me sick!. Minnesota found themselves down and out of the national title race in mid November, but thanks to a win over a mediocre Wisconsin team and loss by unbeaten Missouri, they found themselves as a consensus #1 by month’s end. I completely understand them leapfrogging Iowa, who they beat on the gridiron, but #2/#3 Ole Miss had to be in disbelief. They lost out on the AP national title by the closest margins ever. Students made “AP” and “UPI” dummies, hung them from the Union Building, and burned them while chanting, “We’re No. 1, to hell with AP and UPI (coaches poll)." Whether it was voter Big 10 bias, or the fact that Minnesota (and Iowa) played a tougher schedule, the point was moot, they would not recognize Ole Miss once again. Their hate for LSU had to be at a boiling point, as they were the culprit for costing the Rebels back to back titles in 59 and 60. They were 18-0 against everyone else the past two regular seasons.

Missouri , as we mentioned, finished 10-0 after the Kansas forfeit. The results were too little too late to be accounted for, as the polls were already completed when the Big made the ruling. Like in all retroactive forfeits (or just forfeited wins as they do today) in college football, we all know the game occurred. We saw one team lose and another win. This is just my opinion, but had the forfeit occurred before the final polls, I still think they would have voted remembering the results of the Kansas game, meaning that Mizzou still falls short of #1 in each poll.

Two of the bowl match ups had some spice to them. #1 Minnesota would have to prove their ranking vs a solid 9-1 Washington team. Missouri would challenge a Navy team, who beat Washington in the regular season, in the Orange Bowl. If they won a long with Washington, that gave them a transitive win over the #1 Gophers. A Minnesota loss regardless would cast doubt on the voters decisions’ to elevate them to #1, especially since they already had a loss on their resume.

Sugar Bowl: #2/#3 Ole Miss (9-0-1) vs unranked Rice (7-3)

As has been the case with many unrecognized and unbeaten teams throughout college football history, there is nothing the Rebels could do to change the voters minds. They could control finishing undefeated, and that they did. They struck in the 1st on an 8 yard TD run and went into the half leading 7-0. Rice countered in the 3rd but missed the PAT to make it 7-6 heading to the 4th. The Rebels countered with another short TD run to win 14-6.

Cotton Bowl: #10/#11 Duke (7-3) vs #7 Arkansas (8-2)

Duke came into this game on a 2 game losing streak. Arkansas won it’s last 4 after losing to Ole Miss mid season. Defense reigned supreme as the two teams battled to a scoreless first half tie. In the 3rd, Lance Alworth of Arkansas returned a punt to the 2 yard line. The Hogs punched it in from their but missed the extra point, making it 6-0. Duke countered with a 4th quarter TD to take a 7-6 lead, which would prove to be the final score. The Blue Devils were Cotton Bowl champs in what would be their final bowl appearance until 1989.

Orange Bowl: #5 Missouri (10-0) vs #4 Navy (9-1)

If the bowls had mattered, this one may have had national title implications. It was still a big game regardless, with president elect JFK in attendance to cheer on his Midshipmen.

Navy used a big fumble return to make it 6-0 in the early goings, but Mizzou countered on the ensuing kickoff, returning it for a score to make it 7-6 in their favor. Missouri’s offense got to work in the 2nd, punching in a short rushing TD to make it 14-6 at the half. The iced the game in the 4th with a passing TD to make it 21-6. Navy was able to cut …

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