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1958 Rice

5–⁠5 (4–⁠2 Southwest Conference), coached by Jess Neely.

Schedule and results

Rice in 1958, game by game: lost vs. LSU 6–26; won at Stanford 30–7; lost vs. No. 14 Purdue 0–24; won at Arkansas 24–0; won at No. 16 SMU 13–7; won vs. No. 4 Texas 34–7; lost vs. No. 3 Army 7–14; lost vs. Texas A&M 21–28; lost vs. No. 7 TCU 10–21; won at Baylor 33–21+27−24Lost 6–26 vs. LSU-20LSUWon 30–7 at Stanford+23StanfordLost 0–24 vs. No. 14 Purdue-24No. 14 PurdueWon 24–0 at Arkansas+24ArkansasWon 13–7 at No. 16 SMU+6No. 16 SMUWon 34–7 vs. No. 4 Texas+27No. 4 TexasLost 7–14 vs. No. 3 Army-7No. 3 ArmyLost 21–28 vs. Texas A&M-7Texas A&MLost 10–21 vs. No. 7 TCU-11No. 7 TCUWon 33–21 at Baylor+12Baylor
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 20vsLSUL 6–⁠2665%
Sep 27atStanfordW 30–⁠743%
Oct 4vs14PurdueL 0–⁠2456%
Oct 11atArkansasW 24–⁠050%
Oct 18at16SMUW 13–⁠750%
Oct 25vs4TexasW 34–⁠756%
Nov 8vs3ArmyL 7–⁠1446%
Nov 15vsTexas A&ML 21–⁠2865%
Nov 22vs7TCUL 10–⁠2141%
Nov 29atBaylorW 33–⁠2149%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Baylor 33–⁠21; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 2nd in the Southwest Conference.

In program history: The 23rd-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 115 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 7: 14
  2. Wk 8: 13
  3. Wk 9: 17

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1958.

Consensus All-AmericanBuddy Dial, E

Record
5–⁠5
Conference
4–⁠2 tied for 2nd in Southwest Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 13
Points
178–⁠155
Coach
Jess Neely
Elo
1556 −2 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
14.0 No. 16 of 112 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—

Drafted in 1959

The 1959 draft
Rd 2J.D. Smith OTPhiladelphia Eagles
Rd 2Buddy Dial ENew York Giants
Rd 7Gene Miller OTCleveland Browns

All-Southwest Conference

2 first team, 3 second team

First team

Second team

  • Pat BaileyBAP-2
  • Gene JonesEUPI-2
  • Rufus KingOGAP-2; UPI-2

From Wikipedia’s 1958 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1958 Southwest Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
TCU5–⁠18–⁠2–⁠110
SMU4–⁠26–⁠418
Rice4–⁠25–⁠5
Texas3–⁠37–⁠3
Arkansas2–⁠44–⁠6
Texas A&M2–⁠44–⁠6
Baylor1–⁠53–⁠7

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