1960 NCAA University Division football season

In the preseason poll released on September 12, the defending champion Syracuse Orangemen and 1959's second-place finisher, the Mississippi Rebels were No. 1 and No. 2, with 26 and 21 first place votes respectively. They were followed by the No. 3 Washington Huskies from Seattle, the No. 4 Texas Longhorns and the No. 5 Illinois Fighting Illini.[4] As the regular season progressed, a new poll would be issued on the Monday following the weekend's games.

The Big Ten schools would not kick off until September 24. On September 17, No. 2 Mississippi beat the Houston Cougars in Houston, 42–0. No. 3 Washington crushed the visiting College of the Pacific, 55–6 (the school became the University of the Pacific in 1961). No. 4 Texas opened its season with a loss at home to Nebraska, falling 14–13.

Ole Miss was voted No. 1, followed by Syracuse, Washington, Illinois, and previously unranked Alabama, which had beaten No. 13 Georgia 21–6 in Birmingham.

September 24 No. 1 Mississippi beat Kentucky in Memphis, 21–6. No. 2 Syracuse opened its season with a 55–7 win over Boston University. No. 3 Washington won at home again, beating the University of Idaho Vandals 41–12. No. 4 Illinois beat Indiana 17–6. In Lincoln, Minnesota beat No. 12 Nebraska 26–14. No. 5 Alabama was tied 6–6 by Tulane in New Orleans.

The poll remained 1. Mississippi, 2. Syracuse, 3. Washington, 4. Illinois, but 5. Kansas, which had crushed Kansas State 41–0 on the road, rose from 7th to 5th. Minnesota entered the poll at the No. 18 spot.

October 1 No. 1 Mississippi played its second straight game in Memphis, Tennessee, beating Memphis State 31–20. No. 2 Syracuse defeated No. 5 Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, 14–7, to reclaim the top spot. No. 3 Washington narrowly lost 15–14 at home to the No. 17 Navy Midshipmen. No. 4 Illinois beat West Virginia 33–0. No. 18 Minnesota beat Indiana 42–0. In the following poll, Syracuse and Ole Miss were No. 1 and No. 2, followed at 3, 4 and 5 by Big Ten teams Iowa, Illinois and Ohio State. Purdue was 7th, Michigan State 13th, and Minnesota 14th. Iowa had beaten Northwestern 42–0 on the road, while Ohio State had shut out visiting USC.

October 8 No. 1 Syracuse struggled to beat Holy Cross 15–6 in Worcestor, Mass. No. 2 Mississippi won in their third consecutive trip to Tennessee, beating Vanderbilt 26–0 in Nashville. No. 3 Iowa beat No. 13 Michigan State in East Lansing, 27–15. No. 4 Illinois lost in Champaign, Ill., to No. 5 Ohio State, 34–7. No. 6 Navy, which had beaten SMU 26–7 at a game in the naval port of Norfolk, Virginia, came in at fifth. No. 14 Minnesota beat Northwestern 7–0. The next poll was: 1.Mississippi 2.Iowa 3.Ohio State 4.Syracuse 5.Navy. Minnesota reached the Top Ten at No. 10

On October 15, No. 1 Mississippi beat Tulane in New Orleans 26–13, and No. 2 Iowa beat No. 12 Wisconsin at home, 28–21. No. 3 Ohio State lost a close one at Purdue 24–21. No. 4 Syracuse beat No. 20 Penn State 21–15, and No. 5 Navy beat the Air Force Academy 35–3 in Baltimore. No. 10 Minnesota beat Illinois 21–10. The Iowa Hawkeyes narrowly topped the next poll, with 23 first place votes to 22 for Ole Miss, and only two points to separate No. 1 and No. 2 (442–440) They were followed by 3.Syracuse 4.Navy and newcomer 5.Missouri, which was 5–0 after a 45–0 win over Kansas State at Manhattan, KS. Minnesota rose from 10th to 6th.

October 22 No. 1 Iowa beat No. 10 Purdue 21–14 and No. 2 Mississippi edged No. 14 Arkansas 10–7 in Little Rock. No. 3 Syracuse won at West Virginia 45–0, while No. 4 Navy beat the Ivy League's Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, 27–0. No. 5 Missouri, which had held its opponents to single digits, continued winning with a 34–8 thrashing of Iowa State. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, No. 6 Minnesota beat Michigan 10–0. Iowa tightened its hold on No. 1 in the next poll, with 34 of the 48 votes for first place. The next week's Top 20 had only nineteen teams, with Kansas at No. 19 with 2 points. The top five remained the same with 1.Iowa 2.Mississippi 3.Syracuse 4.Navy and 5.Missouri.

October 29 No. 1 Iowa beat No. 19 Kansas 21–7. No. 2 Mississippi played its 7th game of the season, but its first at home in Oxford, and was tied 6–6 by the LSU Tigers. No. 3 Syracuse lost to Pitt 10–0. In Philadelphia, No. 4 Navy beat Notre Dame 14–7. No. 5 Missouri crushed Nebraska in Lincoln, 28–0, to go 7–0–0. At this time, they had outscored their opponents 210–31. No. 6 Minnesota beat Kansas State 48–7.

Iowa stayed No. 1, Missouri rose to No. 2. No. 6 Minnesota rose to No. 3 after posting its sixth win, a 48–7 routing of Kansas State, and Ohio State returned to the top five at No. 5 after beating Michigan State in East Lansing, 21–10. With three Big Ten teams, the top five was 1.Iowa 2.Missouri 3.Minnesota 4.Navy and 5.Ohio State.

November 5 The battle between the Big Ten's two 6–0–0 teams, No. 1 against No. 3, took place in Minneapolis, where No. 1 Iowa lost to No. 3 Minnesota, 27–10. No. 4 Navy lost in Durham, North Carolina, to No. 13 Duke 19–10 No. 2 Missouri beat No. 18 Colorado at home 16–6. No. 5 Ohio State handled Indiana 36–7. Having dethroned the No. 1 team, the Minnesota Gophers took the top spot in the poll released on November 7, 1960, with 40 of the 47 voters voting them as No. 1. Mississippi, still unbeaten, returned to the Top Five after a 45–0 win over Tennessee-Chattanooga. The top five was 1.Minnesota 2.Missouri 3.Ohio State 4.Mississippi and 5.Iowa.

November 12 No. 1 Minnesota lost to Purdue, 23–14. No. 2 Missouri gave up more than a touchdown for the first time, but still won 41–19 at Oklahoma. No. 3 Ohio State lost at No. 5 Iowa, 35–12. No. 4 Mississippi, following its win against UT-Chattanooga, beat the parent No. 14 University of Tennessee in Knoxville, 24–3. Washington, which had beaten California 27–7, returned to the Top Five. The Missouri Tigers captured No. 1 in the next poll, which was 1.Missouri 2.Iowa 3.Mississippi 4.Minnesota and 5. Washington

November 19 Unbeaten No. 1 Missouri, with only a home game left between it and the national championship, lost to visiting Kansas, 23–7, but the game was later forfeited to Missouri. No. 2 Iowa defeated Notre Dame in South Bend, 28–0. No. 3 Mississippi finished its season unbeaten (9–0–1) with a 35–9 win at home over Mississippi State. No. 4 Minnesota closed its season with a 26–7 win at Wisconsin. No. 5 Washington played its season ender against 4–4–1 Washington State in Spokane, winning only by a 2–point conversion, 8–7. In the penultimate poll, released November 21, Minnesota, Iowa and Mississippi had 13½, 17½ and 13 first place votes respectively (voters were allowed to split their choices for No. 1), and Minnesota was again No. 1. The following Saturday,

November 26 No. 3 Mississippi finished its season unbeaten (9–0–1) with a 35–9 win at home over Mississippi State.

With both the AP and UPI finishing their voting before the bowl games, the championship was determined in December. The AP writers divided among Minnesota (8–1), Mississippi (9–0–1) and Iowa (8–1), and some voters split their choices. As such, the Minnesota Gophers received 17½ votes for No. 1, Mississippi got 16, and Iowa 12½. Minnesota had 433½ poll points, ahead of 411 for Ole Miss and 407½ for Iowa. Minnesota was also the No. 1 choice in the UPI coaches poll.

Because the final Associated Press and United Press International polls were conducted after the final game of the regular season, Minnesota is the AP and UPI national champion for 1960. It's of note that the MAC Ohio Bobcats were also crowned the world small college football champions in 1960, after an undefeated season. The postseason poll conducted by the Helms Athletic Foundation recognizes Washington as national champions, while the Football Writers Association of America crowned Mississippi as national champion. Had the polls been taken after the bowl games, the Missouri Tigers would likely also have been a contender for the national championship, as they beat Navy in the Orange Bowl and possessed an unbeaten and untied record (11–0) after their forfeit victory over Kansas.

Because the final polls came out in November, the outcome of the post-season bowl games had no effect on the championship, giving the bowls the status of exhibitions. As winner of the Big Ten title, No. 1 Minnesota went to the Rose Bowl to face Washington, which had the best record of the five teams in the AAWU (today's Pac-12). No. 2 Mississippi, as winner of the SEC, was invited to the Sugar Bowl to face unranked Rice University. The Big Ten did not allow its teams to play in a postseason game other than the Rose Bowl, so No. 3 Iowa stayed home. Although Washington upset Minnesota 17–7 in Pasadena, the post-season loss did not affect the Gophers' championship as determined by the AP and UPI.

1. Joe Bellino, HB - Navy, 1,793 points
2. Tom Brown, G - Minnesota, 731
3. Jake Gibbs, QB - Mississippi, 453
4. Ed Dyas, FB - Auburn, 319
5. Billy Kilmer, HB - UCLA, 280
6. Mike Ditka, TE - Pittsburgh, 223
7. Tom Matte, QB - Ohio State, 165
8. Danny LaRose, DE - Missouri, 136
9. Pervis Atkins, HB - New Mexico State, 124
10. E. J. Holub, C-LB - Texas Tech, 117

Source:[6][7]

• 1960 NCAA University Division football rankings
• 1960 College Football All-America Team