1956 College Football National Championship

Oklahoma 1956

Well, I'll start by simply copying and pasting much of what I wrote about Oklahoma in my 1955 national championship article: Oklahoma was doing pretty well for themselves in the postwar years. They had gone 11-0 in 1949, and I consider them to be an MNC for that season; they finished #1 in the AP poll in 1950, but then lost in the Sugar Bowl

Oklahoma's Season

It wasn't Oklahoma's fault that their schedule was so awful. Their conference was always bad, and it was a minor miracle that one of those teams, Colorado, ended up ranked this season. The Sooners couldn't go to a bowl game this year because their conference had a "no repeat" rule, and they had played in the Orange Bowl the previous season. Archrival Texas, usually very strong, was 1-9 this year. Oklahoma tried to schedule themselves an MNC-level opponent in Notre Dame, the last team to beat them (in 1953--and Dame would also end their 47 game winning streak in 1957), but the Irish were 2-8 this season.

Oklahoma blasted through this schedule for an aggregate score of 466-51, and those huge scores have people putting this team on all-time best lists despite the near-complete lack of opposition they faced. They led the nation in scoring, rushing (391 yards per game), and total offense (481.7).

The only close game was the road trip to 8-2-1 Colorado (#22), and it was the only team Oklahoma played that did not have a losing record

Iowa 1956

Iowa had mostly been a Big 10 also-ran in their football history. That changed for a while under Hall of Fame coach Howard Jones, who went 42-17-1 at Iowa 1916-1923, winning 2 Big 10 titles and the 1921 mythical national championship. But Jones moved on to Southern Cal, where he continued to win national championships, and Iowa eventually sank back into mediocrity, and worse. They still fielded top 25 teams 4 times in the first 6 years under Burt Ingwersen, who succeeded Jones as Iowa head coach, but then the bottom fell out, and 1930-1951, Iowa went 66-107-12, finishing ranked just 4 times in those 22 seasons.

Pulling them out of this funk was Hall of Fame coach Forest Evashevski (pictured at left), easily the greatest coach in Iowa football history. Greater than Howard Jones, you ask? As I said, "easily." Evashevski, known as "Evy," went 52-27-4 at Iowa 1952-1960, which is not as good a percentage as Jones' 42-17-1, but the schedules Evy faced at Iowa were absolutely nuts. He played 49 top 25 opponents, an average of 5.4 per year, while only playing 37 unranked teams. Jones, by contrast, played 19 top 25 teams and 41 unrated teams, a gigantic difference. Jones won 2 Big 10 titles, Evy 3, and Iowa claims 1 MNC under Jones, 3 under Evashevski

The Players

Iowa was led by nationally underrated quarterback Ken Ploen (pictured above at left), the Big 10 Player of the Year and the Rose Bowl MVP. He topped the team in rushing (487 yards), passing (386), and scoring (6 touchdowns, and passing for another 5). The Hall of Fame only considers first-team All Americans now, which is too bad in this case, because Ploen should probably be there. He went on to an 11 year career with Winnipeg in the CFL, winning 4 championships, and he is in the CFL Hall of Fame. He even has a street named after him in Winnipeg.

Tackle Alex Karras (pictured above at right) is in the CFB Hall of Fame. He was a nonconsensus All American this season, and he would be a consensus AA in 1957, winning the Outland and finishing 2nd for the Heisman. He played 12 years for the Detroit Lions and made 4 Pro Bowls.

End Jim Gibbons would be a nonconsensus AA in 1957, and he played with Karras for 11 years with the Lions, making 3 Pro Bowls. He was on the receiving end of most of Ploen's throws this year.

Backup quarterback Randy Duncan is a Hall of Famer, and he would have a terrific season in 1958: consensus AA, Walter Camp Award, 2nd for Heisman, Helms Player of the Year, Big 10 MVP. He led the nation in passing yards and completion percentage that season. He proved necessary this season as well, as Ken Ploen was knocked out of an early game against Oregon State, and Duncan came in and led Iowa to a pair of 4th quarter touchdowns to win 14-13.

Iowa's Season

Buckle your seatbelts, this is going to be a long one, because while Oklahoma's season was practically drama-free, Iowa's season was practically all drama. The opener was an exception, a 27-0 win at 3-6 Indiana, but things got hairy the next week hosting Oregon State.

The game ended up being a preview of this season's Rose Bowl, which was unthinkable at the time, because Oregon State had only once ever won their conference, in 1941, and they had already lost to Southern Cal the week before, and for Iowa's part, they hadn't won the Big 10 since 1922. Iowa fumbled away the opening kickoff, and OSU threw a 30 yard touchdown pass for a very quick 7-0 lead that held up until the half. Then the Beavers scored on a long run in the 3rd quarter to put the lead at 13-0. With starting quarterback Ken Ploen out due to an injury, things looked dim for Iowa, but the turnaround happened quickly in the 4th quarter. Fullback John Nocera threw a trick-play touchdown pass, OSU fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and substitute quarterback Randy Duncan tossed a 33 yard touchdown pass for a 14-13 win. Oregon State would fall to Iowa again in the Rose Bowl (covered below), finishing 7-3-1, and I have them ranked #17 for 1956.

Things didn't get much easier the next week hosting Wisconsin, who like OSU had lost to Southern Cal the week before playing Iowa. Late in a scoreless first half, Iowa marched 78 yards, capped by an 11 yard Ken Ploen touchdown pass with about 10 seconds left on the clock, to forge a 6-0 halftime lead. Wisconsin sent 2 kickoffs out of bounds to start the 3rd quarter, and thus after the 3rd try, Iowa began the ultimately deciding drive at midfield. Ploen scored on a line plunge to make it 13-0. Wisconsin drove 73 yards, finishing with a 22 yard touchdown pass, to make it 13-7 midway through the final quarter, but that's as close as they got. The Badgers drove to a first down at the Iowa 37 yard line minutes later, but they lost yardage from there. Then they drove to a first down at the Iowa 33 in the closing minute, but threw an interception.

Wisconsin finished 1-5-3, so this was a rather poor performance, but Iowa wasn't the only team Wisconsin troubled this season. The Badgers had only lost by a touchdown to 8-2 Southern Cal the previous week, and they would tie 6-1-2 Minnesota (#7) in their season finale. Iowa only outgained Wisconsin 233 yards to 229, and they suffered 3 turnovers to 2 for Wisconsin. After a 34-0 win over cupcake Hawaii the next week, Forest Evashevski bemoaned to the press, "This is the poorest offensive team I've ever had at Iowa." But that can happen when you install an entirely new offense.



Luckily for Iowa, the offense woke up for at least the first half in their next game at Purdue, long enough to hold on for the win in another nail biter. Iowa took the opening kickoff and drove 65 yards, the last 9 coming on a Ken Ploen touchdown pass to end Jim Gibbons, to lead 7-0. Purdue, led by future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson, later recovered an Iowa fumble at midfield, and drove from there to tie the game 7-7. After the ensuing kickoff, Iowa drove 64 yards to another touchdown and a 14-7 lead early in the 2nd quarter. The key play was a 9 yard pass from Ploen to Gibbons on 4th and 1 from the Purdue 19 yard line. Purdue answered with an 80 yard touchdown drive, converting on 4th & 2 at the Iowa 18 with a Len Dawson touchdown pass, and it was 14-14.

Before half, Iowa scored what would be the deciding touchdown, or more precisely, deciding extra point, after an 80 yard drive. The big plays here were a 35 yard run by Ploen and a 30 yard run by halfback Bill Happel to score his 2nd touchdown of the game. Ploen kicked the ultimately decisive extra point (Gibbons had kicked the other 2), and it was 21-14 at the half. Iowa came out of halftime focusing on defense, and Purdue struggled to move the ball until the 4th quarter, when things got very hot for Iowa. Starting at midfield, Len Dawson connected on three 3rd down passes, the last for a 20 yard touchdown, but he missed the extra point by inches to the left, and Purdue would lose by that much, 21-20.

But Purdue did not go quietly. Their next drive carried to the Iowa 25, where they fumbled the ball away on a hard hit, Iowa fullback Fred Harris recovering. Still not done, Dawson passed them down the field on their next drive from their own 4 to the Iowa 21, but here Fred Harris came to Iowa's rescue again, hitting a receiver just as the ball hit his hands and forcing what was ruled a fumble. Iowa recovered the ball and ran out the clock. Purdue finished the season 3-4-2, so this was another poor performance, but like Wisconsin, Purdue was pesky to others as well, losing to 6-1-2 Minnesota (#7) by 7 points and to 7-2 Michigan (#8) by 3. Iowa gained 349 yards on Purdue, 290 on the ground, but Purdue totaled 405, mostly through the air.

November Gauntlet

Iowa had barely survived the easy half of their schedule, and now they faced a November gauntlet of Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Notre Dame in consecutive weeks. Luckily for the Hawkeyes, Notre Dame was down this year, finishing 2-8, but that still left them playing their 3 toughest opponents in 3 straight weeks. First up was Forest Evashevski's alma mater Michigan, who was coming to Iowa City with an anemic record of 3-2 thanks to losses of 9-0 to Michigan State (7-2, #9) and 20-7 to Minnesota (6-1-2, #7), both at home. But Michigan was favored because they had also won 42-13 over UCLA (7-3, #19) and 48-14 over Army (5-3-1, #14), and because Iowa had not beaten Michigan since 1924. That streak would continue.

Michigan opened the scoring with a 1st quarter field goal to lead 3-0. Iowa tackle Alex Karras recovered a fumble at the Michigan 24, substitute quarterback Randy Duncan cashing in the opportunity with a 13 yard touchdown pass, then Karras recovered a botched quick kick at the Michigan 44, setting up a 33 yard Ken Ploen touchdown scramble, and Iowa led 14-3 at half. Unfortunately for Iowa, a hurricane of injuries swept them up, hitting 7 players, and Michigan rallied for a 17-14 win in the 2nd half. Michigan drove 74 yards for their first touchdown, then they marched 80 yards, eating up more than 9 minutes of game clock and scoring the deciding touchdown with a minute to play. Iowa was held to just 77 yards in the 2nd half. Michigan won their rest easily, including 19-0 at Ohio State (6-3, #16) in their finale, to finish 7-2 and ranked #8.

Next up was a trip to Minnesota, then 6-0-1 and ranked #6. They were running their own gauntlet, and were coming off victories over 7-2 Michigan (20-7 on the road) and 7-3-1 Pitt (finished ranked #10). The battered Hawkeyes went into a shell in this game, playing field position and defense to make a first quarter touchdown stand up for a 7-0 win. The touchdown was set up by a fumble recovery at the Minnesota 38. Ken Ploen hit a 7 yard pass to Jim Gibbons on 4th and 4 from the 8 yard line, and fullback Fred Harris went over goal on the next play. Minnesota lost 4 fumbles, and Iowa halfback Bill Happel intercepted 2 passes, one of them at his own 1 yard line. When the clock hit zero, Iowa tackle Alex Karras was so exhausted by the slugfest that he had to be carried from the field.

Iowa won possession of this rivalry game's trophy, Floyd of Rosedale (pictured below). Minnesota next edged 7-2 Michigan State (#9) 14-13, then suffered a tie at 1-5-3 Wisconsin in their finale, finishing 6-1-2 and ranked #7.



Ohio State came to town next, like Minnesota ranked #6 at the time (Iowa was #7), and they were sporting a 6-1 record, the loss coming 7-6 to Penn State (6-2-1, #15). The Rose Bowl would go to the winner, and Iowa's 6-0 victory here is considered to be among the most important in the program's history, and the highlight of the season, though in reality I think the Minnesota win was their best of 1956 (Minnesota also would have won the Big 10 if Iowa hadn't beaten them). Still, Ohio State was bringing a Big 10 record 17 straight conference victories into the game and was looking to win the conference's first title "threepeat." Iowa was an underdog for the 3rd straight week, this time by 6 points. Evashevski took it easy on his wounded team in practice, but he reminded them of the high stakes with a now legendary sign in the locker room that read, "You have 60 minutes to play the game Saturday, and the rest of your life to remember it."



The first half was quiet. Ohio State came up very short on a 49 yard field goal try in the 2nd quarter, and it remained 0-0 at half. But Iowa took the 2nd half kickoff and drove 63 yards for the winning touchdown, a 17 yard play-action pass from Ken Ploen to Jim Gibbons (pictured above), considered to be among the biggest plays in Iowa football history. Ohio State only managed 53 yards and 3 first downs in the 2nd half, and they totaled a mere 165 yards for the game. Iowa fans had to be cleared off the field twice before the final gun sounded, and then they tore down the goalposts. Iowa had secured their first Rose Bowl, and their first bowl game of any kind.

Ohio State still could have won a record 3rd straight Big 10 title, sharing it with Iowa, but they lost 19-0 at home to 7-2 Michigan (#8) the next week, finishing them at 6-3 and ranked #16. Iowa demolished 2-8 Notre Dame 48-8 in their regular season finale.

The Rose Bowl

The Rose Bowl provided an excellent measurement of how much better Iowa was by the end than they'd been early, as they'd had to rally to beat Oregon State 14-13 at home in game 2, and this time they smashed the Beavers 35-19. Quarterback Ken Ploen, the Rose Bowl MVP, ran 49 yards for a touchdown early in the game. Iowa scored again to lead 14-0 in the opening quarter, then again to lead 21-6 at the half. The teams traded touchdowns the rest of the way. Ploen hit Jim Gibbons for a touchdown pass in the final quarter (he was 9 of 10 passing), and OSU answered with a 35 yard touchdown pass to close the scoring. Iowa halfback Collins Hagler (pictured carrying the ball above) scored 2 touchdowns on runs of 9 and 66 yards.

Iowa outgained Oregon State 408 yards to 296, and OSU lost 3 fumbles. As noted earlier, OSU finished 7-3-1 and ranked #17. Alex Karras had this to say about the trip: "Pasadena is the most boring town I've ever been in. Menopause Manor. I remember one guy on the team got a date. It was me, and she was 67 years old. I guess you could call that a highlight.

Oklahoma vs. Iowa

Awards Ceremony

Grading the Selectors