Two human polls comprised the 1959 major college football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship, instead that title is bestowed by one or more different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.
Legend Increase in ranking Decrease in ranking Not ranked previous week National champion Win–loss record Number of first place votes Tied with team above or below also with this symbol
AP poll
The final AP poll was released on December 7, at the end of the 1959 regular season, weeks before the major bowls.
UPI Coaches Poll The final United Press International (UPI) Coaches Poll was released prior to the bowl games, on December 8. Syracuse received 31 of the 35 first-place votes; Mississippi received three and Washington one. Ranking Team Conference Bowl 1 Syracuse Independent Won Cotton, 23–14 2 Ole Miss SEC Won Sugar, 21–0 3 LSU SEC Lost Sugar, 0–21 4 Texas Southwest Lost Cotton, 14–23 5 Georgia SEC Won Orange, 14–0 6 Wisconsin Big Ten Lost Rose, 8–44 7 Washington AAWU Won Rose, 44–8 8 TCU Southwest Lost Bluebonnet, 7–23 9 Arkansas Southwest Won Gator, 14–7 10 Penn State Independent Won Liberty, 7–0 11 Clemson ACC Won Bluebonnet, 23–7 12 Illinois Big Ten none13 Alabama SEC Lost Liberty, 0–7 USC AAWUnone 15 Auburn SEC 16 Michigan State Big Ten 17 Oklahoma Big Eight 18 Notre Dame Independent19 Florida SEC Pittsburgh Independent Missouri Big Eight Lost Orange, 0–14
Prior to the 1975 season, the Big Ten and AAWU (later Pac-8) conferences allowed only one postseason participant each, for the Rose Bowl. The Ivy League has prohibited its members from participating in postseason football since the league was officially formed in 1954.
Litkenhous Ratings The final Litkenhous Ratings were released in December 1959. The top 25 teams according to Litkenhous were:
1. Syracuse (11-0) - 111.0 2. Ole Miss (10-1) - 110.5 3. LSU (9-2) - 105.1 4. TCU (8-3) - 102.4 5. Texas (9-2) - 102.0 6. Auburn (7-3) - 100.8 7. Georgia (10-1) - 100.2 8. Northwestern (6-3) - 98.1 9. Iowa (5-4) - 97.9 10. Purdue (5-2-2) - 96.7 11. Michigan State (5-4) - 96.5 12. USC (8-2) -96.6 13. Arkansas (9-2) - 96.3 14. Washington (10-1) - 96.2 15. Wisconsin (7-3) - 95.8 16. Penn State (9-2) - 95.2 17. Georgia Tech - 94.9 18. Illinois - 94.7 19. Oklahoma - 04.7 20. Clemson - 94.3 21. Indiana - 93.7 22. Kentucky - 93.6 23. SMU - 93.0 24. Florida - 92.9 25. UCLA - 91.5
See also
1959 College Football All-America Team
References