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The 1958 season

LSU finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 11–⁠0 under Paul Dietzel, after it beat Clemson 7–⁠0 in the Sugar Bowl. Auburn and Iowa also claim the national title. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 3 Army 14, No. 4 Notre Dame 2 (Oct 11, 1958). 39 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Pete Dawkins, RB, Army, who also won the Maxwell.

The Heisman vote: Pete Dawkins 1,394 points, Randy Duncan 1,021
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Pete Dawkins RB, Army1,394296195116
Randy Duncan QB, Iowa1,021194157125
Billy Cannon RB, LSU975198140101
Bob White FB, Ohio State365408869
Joe Kapp QB, California227472732
Bill Austin FB, Rutgers197264137
Bob Harrison OL, Oklahoma187263735
Dick Bass RB, Pacific96141720
Don Meredith QB, SMU75101221
Nick Pietrosante FB, Notre Dame7081418

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

The 1958 Duke team
The 1958 Duke teamPhoto: Duke University, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The 1958 Duke season →

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1LSUSoutheastern Conference
2IowaBig Ten
3ArmyIndependent
4AuburnSoutheastern Conference
5OklahomaBig Eight
6Air ForceIndependent
7WisconsinBig Ten
8Ohio StateBig Ten
9SyracuseIndependent
10TCUSouthwest Conference
11Ole MissSoutheastern Conference
12ClemsonAtlantic Coast Conference
13PurdueBig Ten
14FloridaSoutheastern Conference
15South CarolinaAtlantic Coast Conference
16CaliforniaPacific Coast Conference
17Notre DameIndependent
18SMUSouthwest Conference
19Oklahoma StateIndependent
20RutgersMiddle Atlantic University Conference

Biggest upsets

Oct 25, 1958Rice 34, 4Texas 7
Oct 18, 1958Purdue 14, 5Michigan State 6
Sep 27, 1958Iowa 17, 6TCU 0
Oct 18, 1958Tulane 14, 6Navy 6
Nov 15, 1958Tennessee 18, 7Ole Miss 16
Nov 29, 1958SMU 20, 7TCU 13
Sep 20, 1958NC State 21, 10North Carolina 14
Sep 27, 1958Northwestern 29, 10Washington State 28
Oct 23, 1958South Carolina 26, 10Clemson 6
Oct 4, 1958Tennessee 13, 11Mississippi State 8
Nov 15, 1958Notre Dame 34, 11North Carolina 24
Sep 19, 1958USC 21, 12Oregon State 0

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 1958, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 2Wk 3Wk 4Wk 5Wk 6Wk 7Wk 8Wk 9Wk 10Wk 11FinalTCU: Wk 1 No. 8, Wk 2 No. 6, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 20, Wk 6 No. 16, Wk 7 No. 18, Wk 8 No. 11, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 7, Final No. 1010 TCUSyracuse: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 unranked, Wk 8 No. 12, Wk 9 No. 12, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 10, Final No. 99 SyracuseOhio State: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 16, Wk 9 No. 16, Wk 10 No. 11, Wk 11 No. 9, Final No. 88 Ohio StateWisconsin: Wk 1 No. 14, Wk 2 No. 14, Wk 3 No. 9, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 13, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 6, Final No. 77 WisconsinAir Force: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 14, Wk 7 No. 13, Wk 8 No. 10, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 8, Final No. 66 Air ForceOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 7, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 3, Final No. 55 OklahomaAuburn: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 2, Final No. 44 AuburnArmy: Wk 1 No. 9, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 5, Final No. 33 ArmyIowa: Wk 1 No. 13, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 17, Wk 5 No. 13, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 4, Final No. 22 IowaLSU: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 No. 15, Wk 3 No. 13, Wk 4 No. 11, Wk 5 No. 9, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 1, Final No. 11 LSU
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. LSUunranked → No. 1
  2. Air Forceunranked → No. 6
  3. Syracuseunranked → No. 9
  4. Purdueunranked → No. 13
  5. Floridaunranked → No. 14

Fell

  1. Michigan StateNo. 4 → unranked
  2. NavyNo. 7 → unranked
  3. North CarolinaNo. 10 → unranked
  4. TexasNo. 11 → unranked
  5. Notre DameNo. 3 → No. 17

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

National leaders

Passing yardsRandy Duncan (Iowa)1,347 yds
Passing touchdownsRandy Duncan (Air Force)11 TD
Passer ratingJohn Hangartner (Arizona State)150.1
Rushing yardsDick Bass (Pacific)1,361 yds
Rushing touchdownsBill Austin (Rutgers) and Dick Bass (Pacific)15 TD
Yards per carryBob Jeter (Iowa)7.2
ReceptionsDave Hibbert (Arizona)61 catches
Receiving yardsRich Kreitling (Illinois)688 yds
Yards per catchRich Kreitling (Illinois)29.9
Receiving touchdownsBob Simms (Rutgers)9 TD
PointsDick Bass (Pacific)116 pts
Total offenseDick Bass (Pacific)1,440 yds
Total offense per gameRandy Duncan (Iowa)156.2
Punt return yardsHoward Cook (Colorado)242 yds
Punt return averageHerb Hallas (Yale)23.4
Kickoff return yardsSonny Randle (Virginia)506 yds
Kickoff return averageMarshall Starks (Illinois)26.3

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

Major college

Atlantic Coast Conference
Clemson
Big Eight
Oklahoma
Big Ten
Iowa
Ivy League
Dartmouth
Mid-American Conference
Miami (OH)
Missouri Valley Conference
North Texas
Ohio Valley Conference
Middle Tennessee and Tennessee Tech (shared)
Pacific Coast Conference
California
Skyline Conference
Wyoming
Southeastern Conference
LSU
Southern Conference
West Virginia
Southwest Conference
TCU
Yankee Conference
UConn

Small college

California Collegiate Athletic Conference
Cal Poly and Fresno State (shared)
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
North Carolina A&T
Frontier Conference
Northern Arizona
Gulf States Conference
Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State (shared)
Indiana Collegiate Conference
Butler
Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Western Illinois
Lone Star Conference
East Texas A&M
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
Southeast Missouri State
North Central Conference
North Dakota
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Florida A&M
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Prairie View A&M

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

12 playersAll 9 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1958 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1958 All-America teams page.

The 1958 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

From the newspapers

The Evening star's story: Interception by Toncic Spurs Pitt to Victory
Sep 20, 195819Pittsburgh 27, UCLA 61958 Pittsburgh · 1958 UCLAEvening star, District of Columbia, September 21, 1958, page 64
Read the text

Interception by Toncic Spurs Pitt to Victory LIS ANlfELES, Cept, ~ NAh Quarterback Ivan Toncic OF Pittsburgh dashed 55 yards with a pass interception for q touchdown in the second quarter and the Panthers rolled on TO a 27–⁠6 victory over UCLA today. A crowd Of 3O.57e sat under a broiling sun in Memorial Coliseum to see the first clash in history between the two teams. It was the season opener for both. UCLA was a one-touchdown favorite. Pittsburgh took the opening kickoff and drove 10 yards in 10 plays, with Toncic sneaking over from the one. En- route, Toncic passed for IL yards to Jim Zanos and 28 to Art Cob, who was downed on the two. Had Clear Field Toncic, with his dramatic pass interception. virtually won the game with his 55-yard sprint. He intercepted a low throw by Tailback Don Long and had a clear field. Long gave chase but couldn’t catch the Panther. The defeat was the first openipg-game loss for UCLA since 1851 when the late Red Sanders began building the Pacific Coast Conference team into a national power. Between halves today the fans remained silent for a minute in memory Of the coach who died Of a heart attack last

Public domain, from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through American Stories (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 13, 1958Oklahoma State 15, Florida State 6Liberty Bowl
Dec 27, 195813Ole Miss 7, 14Florida 3Gator Bowl
Dec 31, 1958Wyoming 14, Hardin Simmons 6Sun Bowl
Jan 1, 19598Air Force 0, 7TCU 0Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 19594Iowa 38, 17California 12Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 19591LSU 7, 12Clemson 0Sugar Bowl
Jan 1, 19593Oklahoma 21, 10Syracuse 6Orange Bowl