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.

A major rule change widened the goal posts from 18 feet, 6 inches to 23 feet, 4 inches. The new wider goal posts would remain in effect until the 1991 season, when the width of the goal posts was returned to 18 feet, 6 inches.

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).