1959 college football season
Heisman Trophy winnerBilly Cannon
Preseason AP No. 1	LSU[1]
Regular season	September 19 – December 5, 1959
Number of bowls	8
Bowl games	December 19, 1959 – January 2, 1960
Champion(s)	Syracuse (AP, Coaches,FWAA,NFF)
Heisman	Billy Cannon (halfback,LSU)
← 1958 · football seasons · 1960 →

The1959 college football season was the 91st season ofintercollegiate football in the United States. It concluded with two teams having claim to the major college national championship:

• Syracuse compiled a perfect 11–0 record, including a victory over No. 4Texas in theCotton Bowl, and led the country in total offense (451.5 yards per game), scoring offense (39.0 points per game), total defense (96.2 yards per game), and rushing defense (19.3 yards per game). The Orangemen were ranked No. 1 in the finalAssociated Press (AP) writers poll andUnited Press International (UPI) coaches poll and were also selected as the national champion by, among others, theBillingsley Report,Football Writers Association of America,College Football Researchers Association,Football News,Helms Athletic Foundation,Litkenhous,National Championship Foundation, andNational Football Foundation.^[2][3][4][5] GuardRoger Davis was a unanimous All-American.
• Ole Miss compiled a 10–1 record, including a victory over No. 3LSU in theSugar Bowl, led the country in scoring defense (2.1 points per game), and was ranked No. 2 in the final AP and UP polls. The Rebels have been rated as the 1959 national champion byBerryman QPRS,Billingsley Report,Dunkel System, andSagarin Ratings. FullbackCharlie Flowers was a unanimous All-American selection.

Three small college teams also claimed national championships:

• Bowling Green compiled a 9–0 record and was named theUPI small college national champion.Jack Harbaugh, who later gained fame as a coach (and the father ofJohn anJim Harbaugh), set a school record with three interceptions in the November 14 game against No. 1Delaware.^[6]
• Florida A&M, led byHall of Fame coachJake Gaither, compiled a 10–0 record, defeatedPrairie View A&M in theOrange Blossom Classic, and was selected as theblack college national champion.
• Texas A&I compiled a 12–1 record and defeatedLenoir Rhyne in theHoliday Bowl to win theNAIA football national championship. It was the first of seven national championships for Texas A&I.

LSU halfbackBilly Cannon won theHeisman Trophy, andPenn State quarterbackRichie Lucas received theMaxwell Award. Individual statistical leaders in major college football included New Mexico State running backPervis Atkins with 971 rushing yards and 107 points scored and Stanford quarterbackDick Norman with 1,963 passing yards and 2,018 yards oftotal offense.

A rule change in 1959 widened the goal posts from 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m) to 23 ft 4 in (7.11 m). This width remained in effect for 32 seasons, until the1991 season, when it was returned to 18½ feet.

• One conference began play in 1959:
  • Athletic Association of Western Universities – predecessor to the modernPac-12 Conference; founded by five members (California, Stanford, USC, UCLA, and Washington) of thePacific Coast Conference, which had disbanded in June. The remaining four (Idaho, Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington State) became independents;^[7] Washington State joined in1962, followed by Oregon and Oregon State in1964.
• Two conferences played their final seasons in 1959:
  • Alabama Intercollegiate Conference – active since the 1938 season; replaced by theAlabama Collegiate Conference in 1960
  • Eastern Intercollegiate Conference – active since the 1953 season

In the preseason poll released on September 14, thedefending championLSU Tigers were ranked first, followed byOklahoma,Auburn,SMU, andArmy. With more than 100 sportswriters weighing in, eighteen different schools received first place votes. Syracuse was ranked No. 20 overall.^[8] As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.

OnSeptember 19, No. 1 LSU beatRice at home, 26–3. Oklahoma, Auburn, SMU, and Army had not yet opened their seasons; SMU and Army fell to 6th and 7th. No. 8Mississippi, which won 16–0 atHouston, rose to 4th in the next poll. No. 18Clemson moved up to 5th after its 20–18 win at No. 12 North Carolina. Three of the Top Five schools were from the SEC: No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Mississippi, and No. 5 Clemson

September 26 No. 1 LSU beat No. 9TCU at home, 10–0. No. 2 Oklahoma lost its opener, falling 45–13 at No. 10Northwestern, and dropped out of the Top 20 entirely, while Northwestern took its place. No. 3 Auburn lost atTennessee 3–0 and fell to 17th place in the next poll. No. 4 Mississippi recorded another 16–0 win, this time atKentucky, and rose to third. No. 5Clemson won at 47–0 atVirginia, but fell to 6th. No. 7 Army returned to the Top 5 after its 44–8 win over Boston College. No. 13Iowa, which had won atCalifornia 42–12, rose to fifth. The next poll was No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Northwestern, No. 3 Mississippi, No. 4 Army, and No. 5 Iowa.

October 3 No. 1 LSU and Baylor met at a game in Shreveport, with LSU winning 22–0. No. 2 Northwestern won atNo. 5 Iowa, 14–10. No. 3 Mississippi registered a third shutout, beatingMemphis State 43–0, but fell to fifth. No. 4 Army lost at Illinois, 20–14, and fell out of the Top 20 completely.No. 7 Georgia Tech which went to 3–0 after a 16–6 win over No. 6 Clemson, rose to 3rd in the poll. No. 10Texas rose to fourth after its third shutout in a row, a 33–0 walloping of California. The poll was: No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Northwestern, No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 4 Texas, and No. 5 Mississippi.

October 10 No. 1 LSU beat the visitingMiami Hurricanes 27–3. No. 2 Northwestern beat Minnesota 6–0. No. 3Georgia Tech won at No. 8 Tennessee, 14–7. In Dallas, No. 4 Texas defeated No. 13 Oklahoma 19–12. No. 5 Mississippi won at Vanderbilt, 33–0. In four games, Ole Miss was 4–0 and had outscored its opponents 108–0. The next poll was: No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Northwestern, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Georgia Tech, and No. 5 Mississippi.

OnOctober 17, No. 1 LSU won at Kentucky, 9–0. No. 2 Northwestern won atMichigan 20–7. No. 3 Texas narrowly beat No. 12 Arkansas 13–12 in Little Rock. No. 4 Georgia Tech lost to No. 11 Auburn, 7–6. No. 5 Mississippi yielded some points for the first time in the season, but beat Tulane 53–7. The No. 7USC Trojans rose to 5th after beating No. 18Washington inSeattle, 22–15. The next poll was: No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Northwestern, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Mississippi, and No. 5 USC.

October 24 No. 1 LSU recorded its fourth shutout, winning 9–0 in Florida. No. 2 Northwestern killed another giant on the road, beating Notre Dame 30–24. No. 3 Texas defeated Rice 28–6. No. 4 Mississippi shut out No. 10 Arkansas 28–0 at Memphis. The No. 5 USC Trojans got past Stanford 30–28 and fell to 6th. Taking USC's place was No. 6 Syracuse, which had beaten West Virginia 44–0 to reach the 5–0 mark. The next poll was: No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Northwestern, No. 3 Mississippi, No. 4 Texas, and No. 5 Syracuse.

October 31 No. 1 LSU and No. 3 Mississippi, both 6–0, met in Baton Rouge and both schools had great defenses. LSU had outscored its opposition 103–6, while Ole Miss had a 189–7 point differential over all comers. Someone had to lose, and Ole Miss fell to LSU 7–3.Billy Cannon returned aJake Gibbs punt 89 yards for the game's only touchdown, but the Rebels had a chance to win the game when it drove to the LSU 1–yard line in the closing seconds, only to see third-string quarterback Doug Elmore stopped cold on fourth and goal by Cannon. No. 2 Northwestern beat visiting Indiana 30–13. No. 4 Texas beat SMU in Dallas, 21–0. No. 5 Syracuse won at Pittsburgh, 35–0, and rose to fourth. The next poll was: No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Northwestern, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Syracuse, and No. 5 Mississippi.

November 7 No. 1 LSU traveled to Knoxville to face No. 13 Tennessee, and gave up a touchdown for the first time in the season. The Vols made it to the end zone twice, winning 14–13 over the Tigers. Losing also was No. 2 Northwestern, which fell to visiting No. 9Wisconsin, 24–19, and dropped to 6th. Northwestern would close the season on a three-game losing streak after a 6–0 start. No. 3 Texas won a close one over Baylor, 13–12, and rose to 2nd. No. 4 Syracuse, which had won at No. 7 Penn State 20–18, was catapulted to the No. 1 spot. No. 5 Mississippi crushed UT-Chattanooga 58–0. No. 6USC returned to the Top Five after a 36–0 win over West Virginia. The next poll was No. 1 Syracuse, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Mississippi.

November 14 No. 1 Syracuse exercised its top status, brushing off overmatched Colgate 71–0. No. 2 Texas lost to No. 18 TCU, 14–9, and No. 3 LSU returned to its winning ways, beating Mississippi State at home, 27–0. No. 4 USC beat Baylor 17–8. No. 5 Mississippi beat No. 9 Tennessee in Memphis, 37–7. The poll changed slightly: No. 1 Syracuse, No. 2 Mississippi, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Texas.

November 21 No. 1 Syracuse won atBoston University, 46–0, for its fifth shutout as it reached the 9–0 mark. No. 3 LSU beat Tulane 14–6, then accepted an invitation to play in theSugar Bowl. No. 4 USC lost to rivalUCLA, 10–3 and fell to 7th. No. 9 Wisconsin, which closed its season and clinched theBig Ten title with an 11–7 win at Minnesota, rose to 5th. No. 2 Mississippi and No. 5 Texas were idle. The next poll: No. 1 Syracuse, No. 2 Mississippi, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Texas, and No. 5 Wisconsin.

OnThanksgiving Day, No. 4 Texas won 20–17 atTexas A&M. No. 1 Syracuse was idle as it prepared for its December 5 trip to Los Angeles to play UCLA. On Saturday,November 28, No. 2 Mississippi played its season ender against Mississippi State, in Starkville, and won 42–0. Both LSU and Ole Miss were invited to a rematch in New Orleans at theSugar Bowl. A third SEC team, the No. 6Georgia Bulldogs, beat Georgia Tech 21–14 in Atlanta and accepted a spot in theOrange Bowl. Because Oklahoma had played in the Orange Bowl the year before, a "no repeat" rule gave the Big 7 (Oklahoma State would join later) berth to 6–4 Missouri. TheRose Bowl matched No. 6 Wisconsin against No. 8 Washington. The penultimate poll was No. 1 Syracuse, No. 2 Mississippi, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Texas, and No. 5 Georgia.

OnDecember 5, No. 1 Syracuse closed its season with trip to the Los Angeles Coliseum to face the upset-minded (but 5–3–1) No. 17 UCLA Bruins^[9] In a nationally televised game, the Orangemen took a 14–0 lead and went on to win 36–8 to finish the season with a perfect 10–0 record.^[10] As the only unbeaten team among universities, Syracuse was voted No. 1 in theAP Poll (with 134 of 201 first-place votes)^[2][3] and in the UPICoaches Poll, with 31 of the 35 first-place votes.^[4][5][11] The Orangemen prepared to play SWC champion Texas in theCotton Bowl.