1958 college football season

Conference and program changes

Conference changes

• Two conferences began play in 1958:
  • Middle Atlantic Conference – an active NCAA Division III conference
  • Western Pennsylvania Conference – active through the 1967 season
• One conference played their final season in 1958:
  • Virginia Little Eight Conference – active since the 1949 season; previously known the Virginia Little Six (1949–1953) and Virginia Little Seven (1954–1955)

Membership changes

Season chronology

September

In the preseason poll released on September 15, 1958, the Buckeyes of Ohio State University were the first place choice for 46 of 99 writers casting votes, followed by Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Michigan State and 1957's champion, Auburn. 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 beat Hawaii 51–0 in a game in Louisville, and attempted the 2-point conversion, but without success. One of the first successful 2-point conversions in an NCAA game happened when Iowa State Teachers College hosted Bradley University at Cedar 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. 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 27 No. 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, and No. 4 Michigan State beat California 32–12. No. 5 Notre Dame beat Indiana 18–0, but fell to 7th, while No. 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

October 4 No. 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 11 No. 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 visiting No. 3 Army Cadets beat No. 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, and No. 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.

On October 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, and No. 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) and No. 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, and No. 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

November 1 No. 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 visiting No. 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 8 No. 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 to No. 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 15 No. 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 in Columbus, 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, the No. 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 the Sugar Bowl. Behind them were the No. 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.

On November 29 No. 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. 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 the Orange 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 the No. 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, including No. 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), and No. 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. 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 the Cotton 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.

Conference standings

Major conference standings

Major independents

Minor conference standings

Non-major independents

Bowl games

Main article: 1958–59 NCAA football bowl games

Major bowls

Thursday, January 1, 1959

Other bowls

Notably, the Tangerine Bowl initially extended a bid to Buffalo. However, when the bowl organizers told the school that its two black players would not be allowed to play, the team unanimously voted to turn down the bid. The Bulls did not appear in a bowl game until a half century later, in 2008.

NAIA postseason

December 8, 1958 December 20, 1958 Holiday Bowl

| seed-width = | team-width = | score-width =

| RD1-seed1 = | RD1-team1 = | RD1-score1 = 14 | RD1-seed2 = | RD1-team2 = Northeastern State | RD1-score2 = 19

| RD1-seed3 = | RD1-team3 = | RD1-score3 = 12 | RD1-seed4 = | RD1-team4 = Arizona State–Flagstaff | RD1-score4 = 41

| RD2-seed1 = | RD2-team1 = Northeastern State | RD2-score1 = 19 | RD2-seed2 = | RD2-team2 = Arizona State–Flagstaff | RD2-score2 = 13

Rankings

Major college

Main article: 1958 major college football rankings

Final polls were released in the first week of December.

Small college

Main article: 1958 small college football rankings

In 1958, United Press International (UPI) conducted a "small college" coaches' poll for the first time. Mississippi Southern, which had beaten NC State and VPI en route to a 9–0 record, was ranked first from start to finish.

United Press International (coaches) final poll

Published on December 4

NAIA rankings

The top teams in the NAIA football rankings were as follows:

1. Northeastern State, 11-0, 180 points
2. Arizona State–Flagstaff, 11-1, 162 points
3. , 8-1, 116 points
4. , 10-1, 112 points
5. , 8-1, 104 points
6. , 8-1, 100 points
7. , 7-1, 98 points
8. Kearney, 9-0, 85 points
9. Middle Tennessee, 8-2, 42 points
10. , 9-1, 41 points
11. Cal Poly, 9-1
12. Tampa, 6-4
13. Lamar Tech, 6-2
14. , 6-1-1
15. California (PA), 8-0
16. , 8-0
17. , 7-2
18. , 7-0-1
19. Southern Illinois, 7-2
20. , 5-2

Award season

Heisman Trophy voting

The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player

Source:

All-Americans

Main article: 1958 College Football All-America Team

Main article: 1958 Little All-America college football team

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.

Other awards

• Maxwell Award - Pete Dawkins, Army
• Outland Trophy (best lineman) - Zeke Smith, Auburn
• AFCA Coach of the Year Award - Paul Dietzel, LSU
• FWAA Coach of the Year Award - Paul Dietzel, LSU

Statistical leaders

Individual

Total offense

The following players were the individual leaders in total offense during the 1958 season:

Major college

Minor college

Passing

The following players were the individual leaders in pass completions during the 1958 season:

Major college

Minor college

Rushing

The following players were the individual leaders in rushing yards during the 1958 season:

Major college

Minor college

Scoring

The following players were the individual leaders in scoring during the 1958 season:

Major college

Minor college

Team

Total offense

The following teams were the leaders in total offense during the 1958 season:

Major college

Rushing offense

The following teams were the leaders in rushing offense during the 1958 season:

Major college

Passing offense

The following teams were the leaders in passing offense during the 1958 season:

Major college

Total defense

The following teams were the leaders in total defense during the 1958 season:

Major college

Rushing defense

The following teams were the leaders in rushing defense during the 1958 season:

Major college

Passing defense

The following teams were the leaders in passing defense during the 1958 season:

Major college

References

References

1. "Archived copy".
2. 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
3. (January 13, 1958). "NCAA announces new point-after scoring". Eugene Register-Guard.
4. (January 13, 1958). "Colleges get PAT bonus for run or pass". Deseret News.
5. Down, Fred. (January 13, 1958). "New two-point rule to kill kick attempts". Bend Bulletin.
6. "Pass or Run Conversion Worth Two Points Now," ''San Antonio Express'', January 13, 1958, p9-A
7. "Archived copy".
8. "Kentucky Rips Hawaii 51–0," ''The Lima News'', September 14, 1958, p37.
9. "Damron Directs T Teachers to 29–12 Win Before 6,800," ''Waterloo Sunday Courier'', September 14, 1958, p37
10. (23 May 1958). "AUBURN ON PROBATION; Southeastern Conference Bars College from Bowl Games". The New York Times.
11. "Orange Bowl - Syracuse vs Oklahoma Box Score, January 1, 1959".
12. "OTL: All or Nothing".
13. "1958 NAIA Football Playoffs". JonFMorse.com.
14. "Welcome cfbdatawarehouse.com - BlueHost.com".
15. "Southern Small College Champ; Axers Third," ''Yuma Daily Sun'', Dec. 4, 1958, p9
16. [[United Press International. (December 4, 1958). "Miss. Southern Tops Final Poll Of Grid Powers". [[Brownwood Bulletin]].
17. (November 12, 1958). "Kearney, Chadron Listed: Antelopes 8th, Eagles 16th". The Lincoln Star.
18. (December 3, 1958). "Dawkins completes double; named to Heisman award". Eugene Register-Guard.
19. (1958). "Pete Dawkins". Heisman Trophy.
20. Points-for-which-responsible is player's total of points scored and points passes for
21. (1959). "Official Collegiate Record Book". National Collegiate Athletic Association.
22. (1959). "Official Collegiate Record Book". National Collegiate Athletic Association.
23. (1959). "Official Collegiate Record Book". National Collegiate Athletic Association.