The1958 college football season was the 90th season ofintercollegiate football in the United States. LSU was the consensus national champion in college football.
Two more college football teams also claimed national championships:
Auburn compiled an 9-0-1 record, undefeated in SEC and regular season play and was selected as the national champion by Montgomery Full Season Championship.
Army halfbackPete Dawkins won the Heisman Trophy and theMaxwell Award as the best player in college football.Pacific fullbackDick Bass led all major college football players with 1,448 yards oftotal offense, 1,361 rushing yards, and 116 points scored.
On January 13, 1958, the eleven-man NCAA Rules Committee unanimously approved a resolution to allow teams to choose between kicking an extra point after a touchdown, or running or passing from the three-yard line for atwo-point conversion.[4][5]University of Michigan athletic directorFritz Crisler said at the meeting in Fort Lauderdale, "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."[6][7]
In the preseason poll released on September 15, 1958, theBuckeyes ofOhio State University were the first place choice for 46 of 99 writers casting votes, followed byOklahoma,Notre Dame,Michigan State and 1957's champion,Auburn.[8] As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.
Most teams did not begin play until September 27. On September 13,Kentucky beatHawaii 51–0 in a game in Louisville, and attempted the 2-point conversion, but without success.[9] One of the first successful 2-point conversions in an NCAA game happened whenIowa State Teachers College hostedBradley University atCedar Falls, Iowa on September 13. Max Huffman carried the ball over twice on conversion attempts to give the Panthers of Iowa Teachers a 29–12 win over the Braves.[10] On September 20, No. 6 Mississippi and No. 8 Texas Christian were among the winners, beating Memphis State (17–0) and Kansas (42–0) respectively, but the Top Five schools had not yet started play. The poll for the five 0–0 teams was No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2. Oklahoma, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Michigan State, and No. 5 Notre Dame.
September 27No. 1 Ohio State narrowly beat No. 20 SMU at home, 23–20, and fell to third in the next poll.No. 2 Oklahoma, on the other hand, rolled over visiting No. 13 West Virginia 47–14, and rose to first place.No. 3 Auburn beat Tennessee in Birmingham, 13–0, andNo. 4 Michigan State beat California 32–12.No. 5 Notre Dame beat Indiana 18–0, but fell to 7th, whileNo. 8 Army, which beat South Carolina 45–8, took the place of the Irish. The next poll: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Michigan State, and No. 5 Army.
October 4No. 1 Oklahoma got past visiting Oregon, 6–0, and dropped to second.No. 2 Auburn, which beat UT-Chattanooga 30–8 at home, moved up to the top spot.No. 3 Ohio State beat Washington at home, 12–7.No. 4 Michigan State played No. 16 Michigan to a 12–12 tie, and fell to 9th.No. 5 Army beat Penn State 26–0.No. 7 Notre Dame, which beat No. 17 SMU in Dallas, 14–6, returned to the Top Five. The next poll: No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Army, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Ohio State.
October 11No. 1 Auburn won at Kentucky, 8–0.No. 2 Oklahoma sustained a 15–14 loss at Dallas in their annual meeting with the No. 16 Texas Longhorns. In South Bend, Indiana, the visitingNo. 3 Army Cadets beatNo. 4 Notre Dame, 14–2, and were voted No. 1 in the next poll.No. 5 Ohio State won at Illinois, 19–13.No. 6 Wisconsin, which beat Purdue 31–6, andNo. 9 Michigan State, which beat No. 10 Pittsburgh 22–8, rose in the polls, to put three Big Ten schools in the top five. The next poll: No. 1 Army, No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Wisconsin, and No. 5 Michigan State.
OnOctober 18 at West Point, New York,No. 1 Army beat Virginia 35–6.No. 2 Auburn tied with Georgia Tech 7–7 in Atlanta and fell in the polls.No. 3 Ohio State beat Indiana 49–8.No. 4 Wisconsin lost to No. 13 Iowa at home, 20–9, andNo. 5 Michigan State began a five-game losing streak with a 14–6 defeat at Purdue. The Spartans would finish the season with a 3–5–1 record after starting 2–0–1.No. 7 Texas (24–6 over Arkansas) andNo. 9 LSU (32–7 over Kentucky) rose in the polls. The next poll: No. 1 Army, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Texas, and No. 5 Auburn.
October 25 For the top-ranked teams, a tie was only slightly better than a loss.No. 1 Army played to a 14–14 tie against the Panthers at Pittsburgh, andNo. 2 Ohio State tied with Wisconsin at home 7–7.No. 3 LSU beat Florida 10–7, and the win was enough to propel the Tigers to first place.No. 4 Texas lost to the Rice Owls in Houston, 34–7.No. 5 Auburn beat Maryland at home, 20–7.No. 7 Iowa, which beat Northwestern 26–20, rose to 2nd in the next poll: No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 Army, No. 4 Auburn, and No. 5 Ohio State.
November 1No. 1 LSU beat No. 6 Ole Miss 14–0.No. 2 Iowa won at Michigan, 37–14.No. 3 Army crushed Colgate, 68–6.No. 4 Auburn won 6–5 at Florida. In Columbus,No. 5 Ohio State was upset by visitingNo. 11 Northwestern, 21–0. The next poll was: No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 Army, No. 4 Northwestern, and No. 5 Auburn.
November 8No. 1 LSU beat Duke 50–18.No. 2 Iowa won at Minnesota 28–6.No. 3 Army beat the No. 13 Rice Owls in Houston, 14–7.No. 4 Northwestern lost at Madison toNo. 7 Wisconsin, 17–13.No. 5 Auburn beat Mississippi State 33–14 at home. The next poll was: No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 Army, No. 4 Auburn, and No. 5 Wisconsin.
November 15No. 1 LSU beat Mississippi State at Jackson 7–6.No. 2 Iowa lost at home to No. 16 Ohio State 38–28.No. 3 Army beat Villanova 26–0.No. 4 Auburn met the Georgia Bulldogs halfway inColumbus, Georgia, and won 21–6.No. 5 Wisconsin won 31–12 at Illinois.No. 6 Oklahoma, which beat Missouri 39–0, rose to 4th. The next poll was: No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 Army, No. 4 Oklahoma, and No. 5 Wisconsin.
November 22 In New Orleans, theNo. 1 LSU Tigers crushed Tulane 62–0, scoring 56 points in the second half, to close their season 10–0–0. They would face the Clemson Tigers in theSugar Bowl. Behind them were theNo. 2 Auburn Tigers, who beat Wake Forest at home 21–7.No. 3 Army was idle as it prepared for the annual Army-Navy game.No. 4 Oklahoma crushed Nebraska 40–7.No. 5 Wisconsin beat Minnesota to close its season at 7–1–1.No. 6 Iowa, which beat No. 15 Notre Dame 31–21, returned to the Top Five: No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Iowa, and No. 5 Army.
OnNovember 29No. 2 Auburn defeated Alabama 14–8 in Birmingham to finish its season at 9–0–1, but they were on probation for recruiting violations and ineligible for a bowl game.[11]No. 3 Oklahoma won at Oklahoma State 7–0. The Sooners (who had not lost a conference game since 1946) won the Big 7 title and headed to theOrange Bowl. In Philadelphia,No. 5 Army beat Navy, 22–6, to finish its season 8–0–1.
The final AP Poll was released on December 1, and theNo. 1 LSU Tigers, at 10–0–0, won the AP Trophy with 130 of the first place votes. The other 73 votes were spread among 12 schools, includingNo. 2 Iowa (17),No. 3 Army (13),No. 4 Auburn (9),No. 5 Oklahoma (10),No. 6 Air Force (2),No. 7 Wisconsin (13),No. 8 Ohio State (3), andNo. 9 Syracuse (1). LSU finished the 1958 season as the only undefeated and untied team in college football. Army, Air Force, and Auburn were also undefeated but they each had one game that ended in a tie.[12] The United States Air Force Academy football team, nicknamed the Falcons, had a 9–0–1 record in only their second year of playing college football, and accepted a bid to face No. 10 Texas Christian in theCotton Bowl. Oklahoma was the only team to beat a top 10 team in all of the bowl games when they defeated number 9 Syracuse in the Orange Bowl.[13]
Notably, the Tangerine Bowl initially extended a bid toBuffalo. However, when the bowl organizers told the school that its twoblack players would not be allowed to play, the team unanimously voted to turn down the bid.[16] The Bulls did not appear in abowl game until a half century later, in2008.
For the year 1958, the NCAA recognizes six published All-American teams as "official" designations for purposes of its consensus determinations. The following chart identifies the NCAA-recognized consensus All-Americans and displays which first-team designations they received.
^Houlgate, Deke (1954). The Football Thesaurus: 85 Years on the American Gridiron. Los Angeles, California: Houlgate House. In the Huddle with Deke Houlgate: College Football from 1869 through 1953; Annual Supplements for 1954–1958
