1960 College Football National Championship

Iowa 1960

Iowa's Season

Iowa moved up to #8 in the next AP poll, then they hit the road to play another top 10 opponent, #6 Northwestern, who had won their opener 19-3 at Oklahoma. This game was no problem, as Iowa rushed for 303 yards and romped 42-0. Northwestern also lost to 8-2 Minnesota, 5-4 Michigan, and 6-2-1 Michigan State, but all in close games, and they defeated 5-4 Illinois and a good 4-5 Wisconsin team, finishing Northwestern at 5-4 and ranked #21.

Iowa moved up to #3, then hit the road again to face #13 Michigan State. The Hawkeyes jumped to a first half lead, as usual, 14-0, but Michigan State rallied for 2 touchdowns and a 2-point conversion to lead 15-14 in the 4th quarter. They were driving again when Iowa fullback Joe Williams played the hero, snatching a fumble out of the air and returning it 67 yards for a touchdown. Quarterback Wilburn Hollis added a late insurance touchdown, and Iowa won 27-15. Michigan State finished 6-2-1 and ranked #8.



Iowa moved up to #2, then hosted yet another rated opponent, #12 Wisconsin (as pictured above), who was the defending Big 10 champion and was coming into the game at 3-0. The Badgers scored first, driving 74 yards in 17 plays for a 7-0 lead in the opening quarter. Iowa intercepted a pass to set up a touchdown to tie the game 7-7 in the 2nd quarter, and that was the halftime score. In the 3rd quarter Iowa traveled 69 yards in 14 plays, the last a 31 yard Wilburn Hollis touchdown run. Later, Iowa intercepted another pass and returned it to the Wisconsin 32. Two long touchdowns were negated by penalties, then Hollis connected on a pass to the 14. He scored the touchdown in 2 runs, and the game seemed safely in hand at 21-7 early in the 4th quarter. But it wasn't.

Wisconsin drove 75 yards, most of it on a 51 yard pass, to cut the lead to 21-13. Iowa fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, Wisconsin recovered the ball at the 19, and they quickly moved in for another touchdown from there, adding a pass for the 2-point conversion to tie the game up 21-21. So it remained until just less than 2 minutes remaining in the game. Iowa halfback Larry Ferguson returned a punt from his 20 all the way to the Wisconsin 29. Hollis then hit Ferguson on the next play for a touchdown, but it was negated by a penalty. So Hollis tossed a 34 yard touchdown to Sammie Harris, this pass bouncing off the fingertips of Wisconsin defender Bill Hess. Iowa won 28-21.

Hollis was the hero, rushing 19 times for 88 yards and 2 touchdowns, and hitting the winning touchdown bomb from 34 yards out late in the game. Wisconsin had 16 first downs to 13 for Iowa, and they outgained Iowa 259 yards to 240. The Badgers proceeded to lose 4 of their next 5 games, finishing 4-5 and unranked, but power-wise they were probably about #15. All five of their losses came to top 25 teams, and they defeated 4-4-1 Purdue (#11) and 5-4 Michigan (#12).

Six Straight Ranked Opponents, Six Straight Wins

Game of the Year at Minnesota

The one game Iowa lost this year was their biggest one, at Minnesota. Iowa was ranked #1, and Minnesota was 6-0 and ranked #3. On the opening drive of the game, Iowa had a bad snap on a punt, giving Minnesota the ball at the Iowa 14 (pictured above), and then the Gophers hit a touchdown pass on 3rd down for a 7-0 lead. Iowa hit a field goal in the 2nd quarter to close the gap to 7-3 at the half. Iowa then drove to a touchdown on their first possession of the 3rd quarter to take a 10-7 lead. Minnesota answered with an 81 yard touchdown drive, the key play a 28 yard pass on 3rd down, and they regained the lead for good at 13-10. Iowa lost a fumble at their 42 in the 4th quarter, and a Minnesota run into the line popped free for a 42 yard touchdown run. On their next drive, Iowa lost the ball again, at their 19, and Minnesota scored again, making the final 27-10.

Minnesota outgained Iowa 299 yards to 198. But the Gophers were upset 23-13 at home by 4-4-1 Purdue (#11) the next week, opening the door for the winner of the upcoming Iowa-Ohio State game to claim a share of the Big 10 title. Minnesota then got upset 17-7 by Washington (10-1, #2) in the Rose Bowl, finishing the Gophers at 8-2, ranked #3.



Iowa dropped from #1 to #5 in the next AP poll, and Ohio State came to Iowa City at 6-1 and ranked #3 (this game pictured above). So this was Iowa's 8th straight ranked opponent, and 5 of those had been ranked in the top 10! With a share of the Big 10 title up for grabs, Iowa throttled Ohio State, jumping to a 28-6 halftime lead, and halfback Larry Ferguson sealing the deal with a 91 yard touchdown run in the last quarter to make the final score 35-12. Iowa amassed 361 yards rushing in this game. Ohio State finished the season 7-2 and ranked #7.

Iowa moved past Minnesota again in the next AP poll, to #2 behind Missouri. The Hawkeyes then finally faced their first cupcake in their last game, winning 28-0 at 2-8 Notre Dame. They held the Irish to just 95 yards of offense. #1 Missouri was upset by Kansas on the same day, but #2 Iowa did not rise to #1, despite their easy win. In their typical irrational fashion, the AP sportswriters surged Minnesota back ahead of Iowa because Minnesota was invited to the Rose Bowl. Iowa fell to #2. They fell to #3 behind Mississippi in the last AP poll, but only 3.5 poll points behind them, so it's tough to say how a post-bowl AP poll would have gone, with #1 Minnesota losing.

I'd like to think the voters would have been smart enough to move Iowa, 4-1 against their own top 20, to #1 ahead of Mississippi, who was 1-0 against rated teams and had a tie with an unrated team. But... there's that irrational thing, and the FWAA writers weren't smart enough to select Iowa over Mississippi after the bowls (more on that terribly inconsistent choice later), so who knows?

Washington 1960

This season is Washington's first MNC, but the football program here had had some success in the past. They went unbeaten for 9 straight seasons 1908-1916 under Hall of Fame coach Gil Dobie. Then they went 58-12-4 under Enoch Bagshaw 1922-1928, with 2 Rose Bowl appearances. After that, Washington football was just okay over the next couple of decades, making the top 25 about once every 4 seasons. But in the 1950s, the program degraded from just okay to just bad, going 31-45-4 from 1951 through 1958. Then suddenly, Washington exploded for a pair of 10-1 seasons 1959-1960, each capped with a Rose Bowl victory

Washington's Season

Washington's season was much more dramatic than Iowa's, or any MNC contender in 1960. But it didn't start out that way, as Washington began with 55-6 and 41-12 romps over cupcakes. The trouble began game 3, when #17 Navy came to town. #3 Washington was a 13 point favorite, and they would outgain Navy 275 yards to 207, but a bunch of improbable mistakes would cost the Huskies the game. Washington took an early 7-0 lead on a touchdown pass, and Navy answered with a touchdown drive of their own, but they missed the extra point, so Washington still led 7-6.

Early in the 2nd quarter, Washington scored a touchdown on 4th and goal from the 5, but the play was negated by offsetting penalties. The next play was stopped at the 1 yard line. Late in that half, Washington drove to the Navy 9, and the coaches were about to send George Fleming in to kick a field goal, but they decided there was time for one more pass into the end zone. Unfortunately, quarterback Bob Schloredt failed to see a wide-open back in the end zone, and also failed to throw the ball away, scrambling instead and getting tackled at the 4. That let time run out, with no field goal attempt.

In the 3rd quarter, Washington drove a short field to a touchdown, extending their lead to 14-6. Navy answered through the air, hitting passes for 15, 12, and 26 yards for the touchdown, cutting the lead to 14-12. So it remained until late in the 4th quarter, when a couple more Schloredt mistakes cost the Huskies a game that was practically over. First, on 3rd and 4, Schloredt had a clear field ahead for the first down, which would have enabled them to run out the clock, but he tripped and fell. Then, the punt snap was low, and Schloredt couldn't handle it, giving Navy the ball at the Washington 24 with the clock winding down. Navy had a touchdown pass called back due to a penalty, then they kicked a 31 yard field goal with 14 seconds left for the miracle 15-14 win.

Navy ended up having a surprising 9-2 season, losing 21-14 to Missouri (10-1, #4) in the Orange Bowl, and they are ranked #6 for 1960. Washington next mowed down a bad Stanford team 29-10 on the road, then #15 UCLA came to Seattle. Washington was ranked #13. UCLA still ran the old-fashioned single wing offense, driven by tailback Billy Kilmer, a future Hall of Famer and 18-year pro quarterback. This is the game where Bob Schloredt was lost for the season, breaking his collarbone trying to make a tackle in the 2nd quarter.

Bob Hivner came in at quarterback, and on his first offensive series, he led the Huskies 53 yards to a 38 yard George Fleming field goal. In the 3rd quarter, they drove 82 yards to a touchdown. UCLA came up empty on 3 trips inside the Washington 10 yard line in the 2nd half before finally scoring a touchdown late in the 4th quarter, adding a 2-point conversion to make the final score 10-8. UCLA outgained Washington by a lot, 358 yards to 192, but they just couldn't finish drives.

1-Point Wins

The Rose Bowl

Minnesota was #1, Washington #6. The Big 10 had been 12-1 against the West Coast in Rose Bowls 1946-1958, but Washington had broken through for the West's 2nd win, against Wisconsin, following the 1959 season. What no one knew then was that the tide had turned, and the West Coast would go 24-9 against the Big 10 in Rose Bowls over 33 years. Bob Schloredt was back at quarterback for Washington, which meant more running and less passing. Washington also surprised Minnesota with sweeps they hadn't shown all year, and that the Gophers were not well prepared to defend. Schloredt had very quick and accurate pitches on the sweeps, an often underrated asset in a quarterback, and he also found big holes to run through on quarterback sneaks.

In the opening quarter, Minnesota punted from their own end zone, and George Fleming returned it to the Minnesota 34. Washington couldn't drive it much further, but Fleming kicked a 44 yard field goal, then a Rose Bowl record, for a 3-0 lead. Minnesota's next drive started out strong, but ended with Fleming nabbing an interception that he returned to the Minnesota 47 (pictured below). That and a punt that was downed at the Minnesota 8 kept the Gophers in poor field position.



Washington launched a 61 yard touchdown drive late in the 1st quarter. The score came early in the 2nd quarter, Schloredt throwing a touchdown pass on 4th and goal from the 3 yard line, putting the lead to 10-0. Later, Minnesota's best advance of the first half was stopped on downs at the Washington 33, and the Huskies drove from there for another touchdown. The key play came on 3rd and 1 from midfield, when Schloredt ran a simple quarterback sneak and popped out of the line free and clear for a 30 yard run (pictured below). Schloredt scored the touchdown at the end of the drive, and Washington led 17-0 at the half. The Huskies outgained Minnesota 158 yards to 61 in the 1st half, but they would spend the rest of the game emphasizing ball control and field position, and Minnesota would outgain Washington 192 yards to 35 in the 2nd half.



Halftime featured more entertainment than usual thanks to a famous

On their first drive of the 2nd half, Minnesota was stopped inches short of a first down at the Washington 35. Washington gave them another opportunity by fumbling the ball away at their own 32, and Minnesota scored a touchdown from there in 3 plays, cutting the lead to 17-7, but that's all the scoring this game would see. Minnesota put together one more long drive in the final quarter, but it ended in an interception on a fake field goal. Minnesota's critical failure this day came in the passing game, where they were 2 of 10 for 21 yards and 3 interceptions.



The Huskies carried coach Jim Owens off the field (as pictured above), and Schloredt was named the Rose Bowl MVP for the 2nd straight year. This was the 4th time an AP poll's #1 team lost its bowl game. Minnesota was finished at 8-2, and I have them ranked #3 for 1960, behind #2 Washington.

Missouri 1960

Missouri's Season

Missouri opened the season 20-0 over Southern Methodist (0-9-1) and 28-7 over Oklahoma State (3-7), then the real season began with a trip to Penn State. Missouri came into the game ranked #19, PSU #20. Penn State was unable to convert their scoring chances in the opening quarter, but Missouri had no such troubles with their scoring chances in the 2nd quarter. End Dan LaRose caught a 14 yard touchdown pass to cap an 80 yard drive, and halfback Donnie Smith threw a 28 yard touchdown pass, the only one he would throw this season, and Missouri led 14-0 at the half.

Penn State hit a touchdown pass in the 3rd quarter and got the 2-point conversion to close within 14-8, but Norris Stevenson scored an insurance touchdown in the 4th quarter to make the final score 21-8. Penn State outgained Missouri 249 yards to 223, but they turned the ball over 5 times. Penn State went on to stomp 7-3-1 Oregon 41-12 in the Liberty Bowl (the game was held in Philadelphia then), finishing 7-3 and ranked #23.



Missouri rolled over their next 6 opponents with very little resistance

, but none of those teams were good. Iowa State was 7-3, but they did not beat a major team with a winning record. 6-4 Colorado's best win came over a Border Conference team (akin to today's Mountain West), 7-3 Arizona, and the Buffs lost to 4-6 Air Force in their finale.



So Missouri cruised to a 9-0 record, no one coming within a touchdown of them, and they found themselves ranked #1 in the AP poll for the first time ever heading into their finale hosting archrival Kansas, who was 6-2-1 and unranked. But this was a fierce rivalry, the kind where you "throw out the records," as they say, and the game was a complete debacle for Missouri. Kansas ambushed Missouri with a 9-man line, giving them the pass, but Missouri was about as one dimensional in 1960 as an offense can get, averaging just 45.3 passing yards per game, so they went nowhere. Missouri got no first downs in a scoreless first half, and they were held to 114 yards of offense for the game.



Kansas was stopped at the Missouri 3 in the first half, then missed a field goal to end another drive, and it remained 0-0 until the Jayhawks connected on a 47 yard field goal early in the 3rd quarter. They soon recovered a Missouri fumble at the 19 and hit a touchdown pass from there for a 10-0 lead. In the 4th quarter, Kansas drove 69 yards in 13 plays for another touchdown, and Missouri saved some face with a late touchdown pass to close the gap to 17-7. Kansas intercepted a desperation pass near the end, and instead of running out the clock, they threw a touchdown pass with 37 seconds left to make the final score 23-7.

Kansas thus won the Big 8. But only briefly. The NCAA had put Kansas on probation for a recruiting violation in October, and had given them a one year bowl ban. The player who was illegally recruited was halfback Bert Coan, and the conference would not vote on his eligibility until the end of the season. However, if they ruled him ineligible, Kansas would have to forfeit any game he played in after the NCAA decision. Kansas denied any wrongdoing, and they were confident that the vote would go their way after the season, so they went ahead and played Coan against Colorado and Missouri (he scored 2 touchdowns against Missouri). Well, the conference ruled him ineligible, Kansas forfeited their last two wins, and Missouri was now the conference champion. In fact, they were technically 11-0, though we, like the NCAA, will treat them as 10-1.

The Orange Bowl

The Orange Bowl got a good matchup, #5 Missouri (9-1) vs. #4 Navy (9-1). Navy featured Heisman Trophy winning halfback Joe Bellino. Missouri moved easily to the Navy 3 early in the game, but then Navy end Greg Mather intercepted a lateral and returned it 96 yards for a touchdown. Missouri fumbled the ball away again on their next possession, but the game turned here when the Tigers returned an interception 90 yards for a touchdown and a 7-6 lead. Missouri drove to a 2nd quarter touchdown for a 14-6 halftime lead, and put the game away with a 4th quarter touchdown. The Tigers held Navy to minus-8 yards rushing in this game, and they held Bellino to 4 yards (Missouri end Dan LaRose pictured putting the clamps on him below), but Bellino did make a spectacular catch on a 27 yard touchdown pass late in the game that put the final score at 21-14.



Missouri had 301 yards of offense, 296 rushing, and Navy totaled 168, all through the air. Missouri lost 3 fumbles, but Navy threw 4 interceptions. Navy, whose big win came 15-14 at 10-1 Washington, was finished at 9-2, and I have them ranked #6 for 1960. Missouri, at 10-1, is #4.

Mississippi 1960

Prior to the arrival of Hall of Fame coach John Vaught (pictured at left) in 1947, Mississippi's football history had been even thinner than Missouri's. They had only been top 25 two times 1901-1946

Mississippi's Season

The Big Upset

Sugar Bowl

As usual, the Sugar Bowl was a garbage matchup, this time pitting #2 Mississippi against unrated 7-3 Rice. The problem was segregation. Teams with black players were not welcome in the Sugar Bowl, and that greatly restricted the potential teams that could be invited. And even when that hurdle was cleared, there would be a problem with the Southern schools themselves. This was Mississippi's 3rd appearance in the Sugar Bowl in the last 4 years, and Mississippi state law prevented the Rebels from playing against teams with black players. So the Sugar Bowl had lately become a matchup of SEC team vs. other Southern team.

Following the 1957 season, top 10 Mississippi was matched up with Texas (6-4-1, #19). The next year, #1 LSU played for a national championship against mediocre Clemson (8-3, #19). And the next year, the Sugar Bowl was a rematch of a regular season game. Lame. Yet none of those matchups were quite so lame as this year's.

Mississippi was a 10 point favorite, and they marched right down the field on the opening drive of the game and took an easy 7-0 lead, but nothing else would come easy this day. Rice drove to the Mississippi 10, but they threw an interception from there, and on their next drive into scoring position, they threw another interception, at the Mississippi 17. Another Rice drive was halted at the Ole Miss 31, and another went to the 13 before ending in a missed 30 yard field goal. Finally, late in the 3rd quarter, Rice drove 77 yards in 18 plays, scoring a touchdown on 4th down. They missed the extra point, so they were still down 7-6.



In the 4th quarter, Mississippi picked off another Rice pass at the Rice 11, but they were unable to score. Still, the field position was in their favor, and soon enough they drove a short field 43 yards for a touchdown on 4th and goal, making the final score 14-6 (quarterback Jake Gibbs, who scored both touchdowns, is shown carrying the ball in this game above). Rice outgained Mississippi 281 yards to 186, and they had 19 first downs to 13 for Ole Miss, but Rice also threw a big 4 interceptions. This game finished Rice at 7-4, and I have them ranked #25 for 1960.

Selecting the 1960 Mythical National Champions

Mississippi's Case

The Wildly Inconsistent FWAA

Missouri

Washington

Awards Ceremony

Grading the Selectors