1959 college football season The 1959 college football season saw Syracuse University crowned as the national champion by both the AP and the UPI wire services . Mississippi ( Ole Miss ) , which had outscored its opponents 350 - 21 , finished # 2 in both polls , and its only loss during the regular season had been to LSU , which ultimately finished # 3 . Ole Miss would defeat LSU 21 - 0 four weeks later in the Sugar Bowl . As such , Ole Miss was ranked # 1 by Berryman , Billingsley , Dunkel and Sagarin , although the AP and UPI were the accepted polls at the time . 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 1959 consisted of the votes of as many as 201 sportswriters . Though not all writers 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 ) , the Orange Bowl ( Miami ) , and the Cotton Bowl ( Dallas ) . September . In the preseason poll released on September 14 , 1959 , the defending champion LSU ( Louisiana State University ) Tigers were ranked # 1 , followed by Oklahoma , Auburn , SMU ( Southern Methodist University in Dallas , Texas ) , and Army ( the United States Military Academy in West Point , New York ) . With more than 100 sportswriters weighing in , eighteen different schools received first place votes . Syracuse was ranked # 20 overall . As the regular season progressed , a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend ' s games . On September 19 , # 1 LSU beat Rice at home , 26 - 3 . Oklahoma , Auburn , SMU and Army had not yet opened their seasons ; SMU and Army fell to # 6 and # 7 . # 8 Mississippi , which won at Houston , 16 - 0 , rose to 4th in the poll . # 18 Clemson moved up 5th after its 20 - 18 win at North Carolina . Three of the Top Five schools were from the SEC : 1 . LSU 2 . Oklahoma 3 . Auburn 4 . Mississippi 5 . Clemson September 26 # 1 LSU beat TCU ( Texas Christian University ) at home , 10 - 0 . # 2 Oklahoma lost its opener , falling 45 - 13 at # 10 Northwestern , and dropped out of the Top 20 entirely , while Northwestern took its place . # 3 Auburn lost at Tennessee , 3 - 0 and fell to 17th place in the next poll . # 4 Mississippi recorded another 16 - 0 win , this time at Kentucky , and rose to third . # 5 Clemson won at Virginia , 47 - 0 , but fell to 6th . # 7 Army returned to the Top 5 after its 44 - 8 win over Boston College . # 13 Iowa , which had won at California 42 - 12 , rose to fifth . The poll was 1 . LSU 2 . Northwestern 3 . Mississippi 4 . Army 5 . Iowa October . October 3 # 1 LSU and Baylor met at a game in Shreveport , with LSU winning 22 - 0 . # 2 Northwestern won at # 5 Iowa , 14 - 10 . # 3 Mississippi registered a third shutout , beating Memphis State 43 - 0 , but fell to fifth . # 4 Army lost at Illinois , 20 - 14 , and fell out of the Top 20 completely . # 7 Georgia Tech which went to 3 - 0 after a 16 - 6 win over # 6 Clemson , rose to 3rd in the poll . # 10 Texas rose to 4th after its third shutout in a row , a 33 - 0 walloping of California . The poll was : 1 . LSU 2 . Northwestern 3 . Georgia Tech 4 . Texas 5 . Mississippi October 10 # 1 LSU beat the visiting Miami Hurricanes 27 - 3 . # 2 Northwestern beat Minnesota 6 - 0 . # 3 Georgia Tech won at Tennessee , 14 - 7 . In Dallas , # 4 Texas defeated Oklahoma 19 - 12 . # 5 Mississippi won at Vanderbilt , 33 - 0 . In four games , Ole Miss was 4 - 0 - 0 and had outscored its opponents 108 - 0 . The next poll was : 1 . LSU 2 . Northwestern 3 . Texas 4 . Georgia Tech 5 . Mississippi On October 17 , # 1 LSU won at Kentucky , 9 - 0 . # 2 Northwestern won at Michigan 20 - 7 . # 3 Texas narrowly beat Arkansas 13 - 12 in Little Rock . # 4 Georgia Tech lost to Auburn , 7 - 6 . # 5 Mississippi yielded some points for the first time in the season , but beat Tulane 53 - 7 . The # 7 USC Trojans rose to 5th after beating Washington in Seattle , 22 - 15 . The poll was : 1 . LSU 2 . Northwestern 3 . Texas 4 . Mississippi 5 . USC October 24 # 1 LSU recorded its fourth shutout , winning 9 - 0 in Florida . # 2 Northwestern killed another giant on the road , beating Notre Dame 30 - 24 . # 3 Texas defeated Rice 28 - 6 . # 4 Mississippi shut out Arkansas 28 - 0 at Memphis . # 5 USC Trojans got past Stanford 30 - 28 and fell to 6th . Taking USC ' s place was # 6 Syracuse , which had beaten West Virginia 44 - 0 to reach the 5 - 0 - 0 mark . The next poll was : 1 . LSU 2 . Northwestern 3 . Mississippi 4 . Texas 5 . Syracuse October 31 LSU and # 3 Mississippi , both 6 - 0 - 0 , met in Baton Rouge . 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 a Jake 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 . # 2 Northwestern beat visiting Indiana 30 - 13 . # 4 Texas beat SMU in Dallas , 21 - 0 . # 5 Syracuse won at Pittsburgh , 35 - 0 , and rose to fourth . The next poll was : 1 . LSU 2 . Northwestern 3 . Texas 4 . Syracuse 5 . Mississippi November . November 7 # 1 LSU traveled to Knoxville to face the University of 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 # 2 Northwestern , which fell to the visiting Wisconsin , 24 - 19 , and dropped to 6th . # 3 Texas won a close one over Baylor , 13 - 12 , and rose to 2nd . # 4 Syracuse , which had won at Penn State 20 - 18 , was catapulted to the # 1 spot . # 5 Mississippi crushed UT - Chattanooga 58 - 0 . # 6 USC returned to the Top Five after a 36 - 0 win over West Virginia . The next poll was 1 . Syracuse 2 . Texas 3 . LSU 4 . USC 5 . Mississippi November 14 # 1 Syracuse exercised its top status , brushing off Colgate 71 - 0 . # 2 Texas lost to Texas Christian , 14 - 9 . # 3 LSU returned to its winning ways , beating Mississippi State at home , 27 - 0 . # 4 USC beat Baylor 17 - 8 . # 5 Mississippi beat Tennessee in Memphis , 37 - 7 . The poll changed slightly : 1 . Syracuse 2 . Mississippi 3 . LSU 4 . USC 5 . Texas November 21 # 1 Syracuse won at Boston University , 46 - 0 , for its fifth shutout as it reached the 9 - 0 - 0 mark . # 3 LSU beat Tulane 14 - 6 , then accepted an invitation to play in the Sugar Bowl . # 4 USC lost to UCLA , 10 - 3 and fell to 7th . # 9 Wisconsin , which closed its season with an 11 - 7 win at Minnesota , rose to 5th . # 2 Mississippi and # 5 Texas were idle , but stayed at the same place in the polls : 1 . Syracuse 2 . Mississippi 3 . LSU 4 . Texas 5 . Wisconsin On Thanksgiving Day , # 4 Texas won at Texas A & M , 20 - 17 . # 1 Syracuse was idle as it prepared for its December 5 trip to Los Angeles to play UCLA . On November 28 , # 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 the Sugar Bowl . A third SEC team , the # 6 Georgia Bulldogs , beat Georgia Tech 21 - 14 in Atlanta and accepted a spot in the Orange 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 - 0 Missouri . The Rose Bowl matched # 6 Wisconsin against # 8 Washington . The penultimate poll was 1 . Syracuse 2 . Mississippi 3 . LSU 4 . Texas 5 . Georgia . On December 5 , # 1 Syracuse closed its season with trip to the Los Angeles Coliseum to face the upset - minded ( but 5 - 3 - 1 ) UCLA Bruins 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 - 0 record . As the only unbeaten team among universities , the Syracuse Orangemen were voted # 1 in the AP poll ( with 134 of 201 first place votes ) and in the UPI poll , and 31 of the 35 first place votes on the UPI ' s " Board of Coaches " Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : Bowl games . Behind future Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis , the Orangemen proved the voters ' decision to name them national champions in the final polls was a wise one . It was the first Cotton Bowl for the Longhorns under coach Darrell Royal , who guided Texas to national championships in 1963 , 1969 and 1970 and compiled a career record of 167 - 47 - 5 in Austin from 1957 through 1976 . Ole Miss systematically demolished LSU in the Sugar Bowl . The Rebels outgained the Bayou Bengals and Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon 373 - 74 in front of a largely pro - LSU crowd of over 83 , 000 at Tulane Stadium . Immediately following the game , Cannon signed a contract with the Houston Oilers of the fledgling American Football League , spurning the Los Angeles Rams and general manager Pete Rozelle . Other bowls : Other Champions . The NCAA did not divide its " university division " teams into Division I - A and I - AA until 1978 . In the final UPI poll of " small colleges " , the Bowling Green Falcons ( 9 - 0 - 0 ) were voted # 1 , followed by Mississippi Southern , Middle Tennessee State , Delaware and East Texas State . Middle Tennessee was the only team to play postseason , winning 21 - 12 over Presbyterian University in the Tangerine Bowl . The NAIA championship game ( the Camellia Bowl saw the Texas A & I Javelinas beat the Lenoir - Rhyne Bears , 20 - 7 .