1960 college football season The 1960 college football season marked the last time that the University of Minnesota was a national champion on the gridiron . Murray Warmath ' s Minnesota Gophers were not in the Top 20 in preseason polling , but received the AP Trophy at the end of the regular season . During the 20th century , the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as " Division I - A . " The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of " wire service " ( AP and UPI ) polls . The extent of that recognition came in the form of acknowledgment in the annual NCAA Football Guide of the " unofficial " national champions . The AP poll in 1960 consisted of the votes of 48 sportswriters ; the year before , more than 200 voters had split first place votes between Syracuse , Mississippi , LSU , Texas , Georgia , Wisconsin and Alabama . The Associated Press relied thereafter on a " special panel representing all sections of the country " . Though not all the panelists voted in every poll , each would give their opinion of the twenty best teams . Under a point system of 20 points for first place , 19 for second , etc . , the " overall " ranking was determined . Although the rankings were based on the collective opinion of the representative sportswriters , the teams that remained " unbeaten and untied " were generally ranked higher than those that had not . A defeat , even against a strong opponent , tended to cause a team to drop in the rankings , and a team with two or more defeats was unlikely to remain in the Top 20 . The top teams played on New Year ' s Day in the four major postseason bowl games : the Rose Bowl ( near Los Angeles at Pasadena ) , the Sugar Bowl ( New Orleans , Louisiana ) , the Orange Bowl ( Miami , Florida ) , and the Cotton Bowl Classic ( Dallas , Texas ) . September . In the preseason poll released on September 12 , 1960 , the defending champion Syracuse Orangemen and 1959 ' s second place finisher , the Mississippi Rebels were # 1 and # 2 , with 26 and 21 first place votes respectively . They were followed by the # 3 Washington Huskies from Seattle , the # 4 Texas Longhorns and the # 5 Illinois Fighting Illini . As the regular season progressed , a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend ' s games . The Big Ten schools would not kick off until September 24 . On September 17 , # 2 Mississippi beat the Houston Cougars in Houston , 42 – 0 . # 3 Washington crushed the visiting College of the Pacific , 55 – 6 ( the school became the University of the Pacific in 1961 ) . # 4 Texas opened its season with a loss at home to Nebraska , falling 14 – 13 . Ole Miss was voted # 1 , followed by Syracuse , Washington , Illinois , and previously unranked Alabama , which had beaten # 13 Georgia 21 – 6 in Birmingham . September 24 # 1 Mississippi beat Kentucky in Memphis , 21 – 6 . # 2 Syracuse opened its season with a 55 – 7 win over Boston University . # 3 Washington won at home again , beating the University of Idaho Vandals 41 – 12 . # 4 Illinois beat Indiana 17 – 6 . In Lincoln , Minnesota beat # 12 Nebraska 26 – 14 . # 5 Alabama was tied 6 – 6 by Tulane in New Orleans . The poll remained 1 . Mississippi 2 . Syracuse 3 . Washington 4 . Illinois , but 5 . Kansas , which had crushed Kansas State 41 – 0 on the road , rose from 7th to 5th . Minnesota entered the poll at the # 18 spot . October . October 1 # 1 Mississippi played its second straight game in Memphis , Tennessee , beating Memphis State 31 - 20 . # 2 Syracuse defeated # 5 Kansas in Lawrence , Kansas , 14 - 7 , to reclaim the top spot . # 3 Washington narrowly lost 15 - 14 at home to the # 17 Navy Midshipmen . # 4 Illinois beat West Virginia 33 - 0 . # 18 Minnesota beat Indiana 42 - 0 . In the following poll , Syracuse and Ole Miss were # 1 and # 2 , followed at 3 , 4 and 5 by Big Ten teams Iowa , Illinois and Ohio State . Purdue was 7th , Michigan State 13th , and Minnesota 14th . Iowa had beaten Northwestern 42 - 0 on the road , while Ohio State had shut out visiting USC . October 8 # 1 Syracuse struggled to beat Holy Cross 15 - 6 in Worcestor , Mass . # 14 Minnesota beat Northwestern 7 - 0 . # 2 Mississippi won in their third consecutive trip to Tennessee , beating Vanderbilt 26 - 0 in Nashville . # 3 Iowa beat # 13 Michigan State in East Lansing , 27 - 15 . # 4 Illinois lost in Champaign , Ill . , to # 5 Ohio State , 34 - 7 . # 6 Navy , which had beaten SMU 26 - 7 at a game in the naval port of Norfolk , Virginia , came in at fifth . The next poll was : 1 . Mississippi 2 . Iowa 3 . Ohio State 4 . Syracuse 5 . Navy . Minnesota reached the Top Ten at # 10 On October 15 , # 1 Mississippi beat Tulane in New Orleans 26 - 13 , and # 2 Iowa beat # 12 Wisconsin at home , 28 - 21 . # 4 Syracuse beat # 20 Penn State 21 - 15 , and # 5 Navy beat the Air Force Academy 35 - 3 in Baltimore . # 3 Ohio State lost a close one at Purdue 24 - 21 . # 10 Minnesota beat Illinois 21 - 10 . The Iowa Hawkeyes narrowly topped the next poll , with 23 first place votes to 22 for Ole Miss , and only two points to separate # 1 and # 2 ( 442 - 440 ) They were followed by 3 . Syracuse 4 . Navy and newcomer 5 . Missouri , which was 5 - 0 after a 45 - 0 win over Kansas State at Manhattan , KS . Minnesota rose from 10th to 6th . October 22 # 1 Iowa beat # 10 Purdue 21 - 14 and # 2 Mississippi edged # 14 Arkansas 10 - 7 in Little Rock . # 3 Syracuse won at West Virginia 45 - 0 , while # 4 Navy beat the Ivy League ' s Pennsylvania in Philadelphia , 27 - 0 . # 5 Missouri , which had held its opponents to single digits , continued winning with a 34 - 8 thrashing of Iowa State . In Ann Arbor , Michigan , # 6 Minnesota beat Michigan 10 - 0 . Iowa tightened its hold on # 1 in the next poll , with 34 of the 48 votes for first place . The next week ' s Top 20 had only nineteen teams , with Kansas at # 19 with 2 points . The top five remained the same with 1 . Iowa 2 . Mississippi 3 . Syracuse 4 . Navy and 5 . Missouri . October 29 # 1 Iowa beat # 19 Kansas 21 - 7 . # 2 Mississippi played its 7th game of the season , but its first at home in Oxford , and were tied 6 - 6 by the LSU Tigers . # 3 Syracuse lost to Pitt 10 - 0 . In Philadelphia , # 4 Navy beat Notre Dame 14 - 7 . # 6 Minnesota beat Kansas State 48 - 7 . # 5 Missouri crushed Nebraska in Lincoln , 28 - 0 , to go 7 - 0 - 0 . At this time , they had outscored their opponents 210 - 31 . Iowa stayed # 1 , Missouri rose to # 2 . # 6 Minnesota rose to # 3 after posting its sixth win , a 48 - 7 routing of Kansas State , and Ohio State returned to the top five at # 5 after beating Michigan State in East Lansing , 21 - 10 . With three Big Ten teams , the top five was 1 . Iowa 2 . Missouri 3 . Minnesota 4 . Navy and 5 . Ohio State . November . November 5 The battle between the Big Ten ' s two 6 - 0 - 0 teams , # 1 against # 3 , took place in Minneapolis , where # 1 Iowa lost to # 3 Minnesota , 27 - 10 . # 4 Navy lost in Durham , North Carolina , to # 13 Duke 19 - 10 # 2 Missouri beat # 18 Colorado at home 16 - 6 . # 5 Ohio State handled Indiana 36 - 7 . Having dethroned the # 1 team , the Minnesota Gophers took the top spot in the poll released on November 7 , 1960 , with 40 of the 47 voters voting them as # 1 . Mississippi , still unbeaten , returned to the Top Five after a 45 - 0 win over Tennessee - Chattanooga . The top five was 1 . Minnesota 2 . Missouri 3 . Ohio State 4 . Mississippi and 5 . Iowa . November 12 # 1 Minnesota lost to Purdue , 23 - 14 . # 2 Missouri gave up more than a touchdown for the first time , but still won 41 - 19 at Oklahoma . # 3 Ohio State lost at # 5 Iowa , 35 - 12 . # 4 Mississippi , following its win against UT - Chattanooga , beat the parent # 14 University of Tennessee in Knoxville , 24 - 3 . Washington , which had beaten California 27 - 7 , returned to the Top Five . The Missouri Tigers captured # 1 in the next poll , which was 1 . Missouri 2 . Iowa 3 . Mississippi 4 . Minnesota and 5 . Washington November 19 Unbeaten # 1 Missouri , with only a home game left between it and the national championship , lost to visiting Kansas , 23 - 7 , but the game was later forfeited to Missouri . # 2 Iowa defeated Notre Dame in South Bend , 28 - 0 . # 3 Mississippi finished its season unbeaten ( 9 - 0 - 1 ) with a 35 - 9 win at home over Mississippi State . # 4 Minnesota closed its season with a 26 - 7 win at Wisconsin . # 5 Washington played its season ender against 4 - 4 - 1 Washington State in Spokane , winning only by a 2 - point conversion , 8 - 7 . In the penultimate poll , released November 21 , Minnesota , Iowa and Mississippi had 13½ , 17½ and 13 first place votes respectively ( voters were allowed to split their choices for # 1 ) , and Minnesota was again # 1 . The following Saturday , November 26 , # 3 Mississippi finished its season unbeaten ( 9 - 0 - 1 ) with a 35 - 9 win at home over Mississippi State . With both the AP and UPI finishing their voting before the bowl games , the championship was determined in December . The AP writers divided among Minnesota ( 8 - 1 - 0 ) , Mississippi ( 9 - 0 - 1 ) and Iowa ( 8 - 1 - 0 ) , and some voters split their choices . As such , the Minnesota Gophers received 17½ votes for # 1 , Mississippi got 16 , and Iowa 12½ . Minnesota had 433½ poll points , ahead of 411 for Ole Miss and 407½ for Iowa . Minnesota was also the # 1 choice in the UPI coaches poll . Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Bowl games . Because the final polls came out in November , the outcome of the post - season bowl games had no effect on the championship , giving the bowls the status of exhibitions . As winner of the Big Ten title , # 1 Minnesota went to the Rose Bowl to face Washington , which had the best record of the five teams in the AAWU ( today ' s Pac 10 ) . # 2 Mississippi , as winner of the SEC , was invited to the Sugar Bowl to face unranked Rice University . The Big Ten did not allow its teams to play in a postseason game other than the Rose Bowl , so # 3 Iowa stayed home . Although Washington upset Minnesota 17 - 7 in Pasadena , the post - season loss did not affect the Gophers ' championship as determined by the AP and UPI . Other bowls : Other Champions . The Ohio Bobcats ( 10 – 0 ) , were named # 1 by both the UPI and the AP in their " small college " polls . Ohio had held its opponents to 8 points or less , including five shutouts . UPI ' s 47 member board of coaches ranked Bowling Green State University ( which Ohio had beaten 14 – 7 ) 2nd , followed by Lenoir - Rhyne , Muskingum and Florida A & M . AP ' s 8 - member regional board had the Top 5 as Ohio , Lenoir - Rhyne , Humboldt State , Whitworth and West Chester , all of which were unbeaten and untied . In the NAIA championship game , the Lenoir - Rhyne Bears beat the Humboldt State Lumberjacks 15 – 14 in the Camellia Bowl .