# 1959 small college football rankings

The 1959 small college football rankings are rankings of college football teams representing smaller college and university teams during the 1959 college football season and the 1959 NAIA football season. The rankings were prepared and published by United Press International (UPI). The Associated Press (AP) did not begin publishing small-college rankings until 1960.
The UPI's small-college rankings for 1959 were based on voting by the UPI's board of coaches. The undefeated 1959 Bowling Green Falcons football team outscored opponents 274 to 83 and was ranked first by wide margin with 24 first-place votes and 407 total points.
The 1959 Mississippi Southern Southerners football team (6–4), with losses to University Division Texas A&M and Auburn, were ranked second. Mississippi Southern had been named the small-college national champion in 1958. The UPI ranked 1959 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team at No. 3. The Blue Raiders also compiled an undefeated record (10–0–1) and went on to win the 1960 Tangerine Bowl. The 1959 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team (8–1), led by College Football Hall of Fame coach David M. Nelson, lost to Bowling Green and was ranked at No. 4. A third undefeated team, the 1959 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team (9–0), was ranked sixth.

## Legend

| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (#–#) | Win–loss record |
| (Italics) | Number of first place votes |
| т | Tied with team above or below also with this symbol |

## UPI coaches poll

| | Week 1 Sept 24 | Week 2 Oct 1 | Week 3 Oct 8 | Week 4 Oct 15 | Week 5 Oct 22 | Week 6 Oct 29 | Week 7 Nov 5 | Week 8 Nov 12 | Week 9 Nov 19 | Week 10 Nov 26 | |
| 1. | Mississippi Southern (11) | Mississippi Southern (1–0) (27) | Mississippi Southern (1–1) (22) | Mississippi Southern (2–1) (32) | Mississippi Southern (3–1) (32) | Mississippi Southern (4–1) (32) | Delaware (6–0) (18) | Delaware (7–0) (23) | Bowling Green (8–0) (20) | Bowling Green (9–0) (23) | 1. |
| 2. | West Chester (7) | Miami (OH) (1–0) (4) | Miami (OH) (2–0) (9) | West Chester (3–0) (2) | Delaware (4–0) (1) | Delaware (5–0) (2) | Mississippi Southern (4–2) (13) | Mississippi Southern (5–2) (7) | Mississippi Southern (6–2) (5) | Mississippi Southern (6–3) (5) | 2. |
| 3. | Chattanooga (2) т | West Chester (2–0) (5) | East Texas State (3–0) (3) | Delaware (3–0) (2) | West Chester (4–0) (2) | Miami (OH) (4–1) (1) | West Chester (6–0) (2) | Bowling Green (7–0) (4) | Middle Tennessee (9–0) (3) | Middle Tennessee (9–0) (2) | 3. |
| 4. | East Texas State (2) т | East Texas State (2–0) (1) | West Chester (2–0) (2) | Montana State (3–1) (1) | Miami (OH) (3–1) | West Chester (5–0) | Bowling Green (6–0) (4) | Middle Tennessee (8–0) (2) | Delaware (7–1) (4) | Delaware (8–1) (1) | 4. |
| 5. | Connecticut (1) | Xavier (3–0) | Buffalo (2–0) (1) | Miami (OH) (2–1) | Middle Tennessee (5–0) (2) | Middle Tennessee (6–0) (1) | Middle Tennessee (7–0) (3) | East Texas State (7–1) | East Texas State (8–1) | East Texas State (9–1) | 5. |
| 6. | Miami (OH) (1) | Montana State (2–0) (1) | Chattanooga (2–1) | Middle Tennessee (4–0) | Ohio (4–0) | Bowling Green (5–0) (3) | East Texas State (6–1) | West Chester (6–1) | Western Illinois (9–0) (1) | Western Illinois (9–0) | 6. |
| 7. | Xavier (3) | Chattanooga (1–1) | Montana State (2–1) (1) | East Texas State (3–1) (1) | East Texas State (4–1) | East Texas State (5–1) | Miami (OH) (4–2) (1) | Memphis State (5–2) (1) | West Chester (7–1) | Memphis State (5–4) | 7. |
| 8. | Arizona State–Flagstaff (2) | Buffalo (1–0) | Middle Tennessee (3–0) (1) | Ohio (3–0) (3) | Bowling Green (4–0) | Buffalo (4–1) | Memphis State (5–2) (2) | Miami (OH) (5–2) | Memphis State (5–3) | Louisiana Tech (8–1) (2) | 8. |
| 9. | Northeastern State (1) | Northeastern State (2–1) | Delaware (2–0) | Chattanooga (2–2) | Buffalo (3–1) | Lamar Tech (7–0) (1) | Buffalo (4–1) | Western Illinois (8–0) | Ohio (7–1) | Ohio (7–2) | 9. |
| 10. | Middle Tennessee | Arizona State–Flagstaff (1–2) | Xavier (3–1) | Buffalo (2–1) | Montana State (3–2) | Ohio (4–1) | Western Illinois (7–0) | Buffalo (5–1) | Louisiana Tech (6–1) | West Chester (7–1) | 10. |
| 11. | Hillsdale | Memphis State | Ohio | Bowling Green (1) | Lamar Tech т | Western Illinois | Ohio | Hillsdale | Buffalo т | Lenoir–Rhyne (1) | 11. |
| 12. | Cal Poly | Middle Tennessee | Arizona State–Flagstaff | Lamar Tech | Bucknell т | Montana State | Lamar Tech | Ohio | Lenoir–Rhyne т | Buffalo | 12. |
| 13. | Montana State (1) | Connecticut | Northeastern State | Arizona State–Flagstaff | Hillsdale | Louisiana Tech | Hillsdale | Lenoir–Rhyne | Butler | Butler | 13. |
| 14. | Memphis State (1) | Bowling Green (1) | Lamar Tech | Memphis State т | Memphis State | Hillsdale | Lenoir–Rhyne | Louisiana Tech т | Hillsdale | Florida A&M | 14. |
| 15. | Gustavus Adolphus | Hillsdale | McMurry | Hillsdale т | Chattanooga т | Memphis State | Montana State | Montana State т | Miami (OH) | Hillsdale | 15. |
| 16. | Northern Illinois | Delaware т | Hillsdale | Northeastern State | Kent State т | Lenoir–Rhyne | Arizona State–Flagstaff | Lamar Tech | Presbyterian | Idaho State | 16. |
| 17. | Lamar Tech | Butler т | Bowling Green | Butler | Western Illinois | Presbyterian т | Butler | Butler | Northern Illinois т | San Francisco State | 17. |
| 18. | Butler | Lamar Tech | Western Illinois т | Kent State | Lenoir–Rhyne т | Arizona State–Flagstaff т | Chattanooga | Idaho State т | Tennessee State т | Presbyterian | 18. |
| 19. | Toledo | McMurry | Louisiana Tech т | Texas A&I т | Arizona State–Flagstaff т | Chattanooga | Presbyterian | William Jewell т | Idaho State | Miami (OH) | 19. |
| 20. | Pittsburg State т | Fresno State | Butler | Xavier т | Louisiana Tech | Tennessee State A&I | Louisiana Tech | Florida A&M | Montana State | McMurry т | 20. |
| 21. | Buffalo т | | | Louisiana Tech т | | | | | | Hofstra т | 21. |
| 22. | Central Michigan т | | | | | | | | | | 22. |
| 23. | UMass т | | | | | | | | | | 23. |
| | Week 1 Sept 24 | Week 2 Oct 1 | Week 3 Oct 8 | Week 4 Oct 15 | Week 5 Oct 22 | Week 6 Oct 29 | Week 7 Nov 5 | Week 8 Nov 12 | Week 9 Nov 19 | Week 10 Nov 26 | |
| | | Dropped: 12 Cal Poly15 Gustavus Adolphus16 Northern Illinois19 Toledo20 Pittsburg State20 Central Michigan20 UMass | Dropped: 11 Memphis State13 Connecticut20 Fresno State | Dropped: 15 McMurry18 Western Illinois | Dropped: 16 Northeastern State17 Butler19 Texas A&I20 Xavier | Dropped: 12 Bucknell16 Kent State | Dropped: 20 Tennessee State A&I | Dropped: 16 Arizona State–Flagstaff18 Chattanooga19 Presbyterian | Dropped: 16 Lamar Tech19 William Jewell20 Florida A&M | Dropped: 17 Northern Illinois18 Tennessee State20 Montana State | |

## Associated Negro Press rankings

The Associated Negro Press ranked the top 1959 teams from historically black colleges and universities in an era when college football was often racially segregated.
The rankings were published on December 18:
* 1. Florida A&M (10–0)
* 2. Tennessee A&I (9–1)
* 3. Southern (8–2)
* 4. Prairie View A&M (9–2)
* 5. North Carolina A&T (6–2)
* 6. Morris Brown (6–3)
* 7. Texas Southern (7–3)
* 8. Jackson State (6–4)
* 9. Winston-Salem State (6–2)
* 10. Virginia Union (7–0–2)
* 11. Lincoln (MO) (6–2–1)
* 12. Maryland State (6–1–1)
* 13. Clark (6–1–2)
* 14. Bethune-Cookman (5–2)
* 15. Virginia State (7–2)
* 16. North Carolina College (4–4–1)
* 17. St. Augustine's (7–2)
* 18. Norfolk State (7–1–1)
* 19. Grambling (5–5)
* 20. Fort Valley State (5–3–1)
* 21. Kentucky State (3–5–1)
* 22. Central State (4–3–1)
* 23. Morehouse (5–2–1)
* 24. Knoxville (4–2)
* 25. Tuskegee (4–4–1)