CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

1959 California

2–⁠8 (1–⁠3 Athletic Association of Western Universities), coached by Pete Elliott.

Schedule and results

California in 1959, game by game: won at Washington State 20–6; lost vs. No. 13 Iowa 12–42; lost at No. 10 Texas 0–33; lost vs. Notre Dame 6–28; lost at UCLA 12–19; lost vs. Oregon State 20–24; lost vs. No. 6 USC 7–14; lost at No. 15 Oregon 18–20; lost vs. No. 13 Washington 0–20; won at Stanford 20–17+14−33Won 20–6 at Washington State+14Washington StateLost 12–42 vs. No. 13 Iowa-30No. 13 IowaLost 0–33 at No. 10 Texas-33No. 10 TexasLost 6–28 vs. Notre Dame-22Notre DameLost 12–19 at UCLA-7UCLALost 20–24 vs. Oregon State-4Oregon StateLost 7–14 vs. No. 6 USC-7No. 6 USCLost 18–20 at No. 15 Oregon-2No. 15 OregonLost 0–20 vs. No. 13 Washington-20No. 13 WashingtonWon 20–17 at Stanford+3Stanford
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 19atWashington StateW 20–⁠633%
Sep 26vs13IowaL 12–⁠4244%
Oct 3at10TexasL 0–⁠3333%
Oct 10vsNotre DameL 6–⁠2846%
Oct 17atUCLAL 12–⁠1938%
Oct 24vsOregon StateL 20–⁠2454%
Oct 31vs6USCL 7–⁠1431%
Nov 7at15OregonL 18–⁠2019%
Nov 14vs13WashingtonL 0–⁠2036%
Nov 21atStanfordW 20–⁠1738%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Stanford 20–⁠17; unranked in the final AP poll; 4th in the Athletic Association of Western Universities.

In program history: The 96th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 112 on file).

Record
2–⁠8
Conference
1–⁠3 4th in Athletic Association of Western Universities
AP final
Unranked
Points
115–⁠223
Coach
Pete Elliott
Elo
1412 −93 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
0.9 No. 60 of 112 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—

All-Pacific Coast

1 first team, 1 second team

First team

  • Frank SallyOTAP-1

Second team

  • Walt ArnoldFBAP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1959 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1959 Athletic Association of Western Universities standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Washington3–⁠110–⁠18
USC3–⁠18–⁠214
UCLA3–⁠15–⁠4–⁠1
California1–⁠32–⁠8
Stanford0–⁠43–⁠7

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.