Saturday, May 21, 2011

1960 College Football Final Rankings

It's all been downhill since 1960 for the New Mexico State Aggies. Our most recent post listed the Aggies as the 150th most successful college program of the last 50 years - out of the 155 teams qualifying for the list. But in 1960, the Aggies went undefeated, beat Utah State in the Sun Bowl, and the program actually captured enough attention to be ranked in the Final Top 20 of both major polls. Our analysis goes a step further than the human polls. The Aggies' wins - while not against major teams - were impressive enough to rank the team #1 in our analysis for the 1960 season. Of course, this is in part due to the fact that no major teams finished the season undefeated. The AP and UPI national champion Minnesota Golden Gophers actually lost two games, in fact.

Only three of the Aggies' games were closer than 20 points - a three-point victory over Arizona State (who finished the season 7-3), a 12-point victory over the UTEP Miners, and the Sun Bowl 7-point victory over Utah State (who finished 9-2 and ranked #10 in our analysis). It was a season the Aggies have not come close to duplicating since.

1. New Mexico State Aggies (11-0) - 1.0
2. Ole Miss Rebels (10-0-1) - 2.4
3. Missouri Tigers (10-1) - 3.6
4. Yale Bulldogs (9-0) - 4.0
5. Iowa Hawkeyes (8-1) - 4.5
6. Kansas Jayhawks (7-2-1) - 7.5
7. Minnesota Golden Gophers (8-2) - 8.8
8. Ohio State Buckeyes (7-2) - 9.1
9. Penn State Nittany Lions (7-3) - 9.2
10. Utah State Aggies (9-2) - 9.3
11. Washington Huskies (10-1) - 9.8
12. Navy Midshipmen (9-2) - 10.5
13. Alabama Crimson Tide (8-1-2) - 13.8
14. Baylor Bears (8-3) - 15.7
15. Syracuse Orange (7-2) - 16.1
16. Florida Gators (9-2) - 16.3
17. Michigan State Spartans (6-2-1) - 17.2
18. Wyoming Cowboys (8-2) - 18.2
19. Auburn Tigers (8-2) - 19.1
20. Rice Owls (7-4) - 19.8
21. UCLA Bruins (7-2-1) - 20.3
22. Tennessee Volunteers (6-2-2) - 24.2
23. Michigan Wolverines (5-4) - 24.3
24. Arkansas Razorbacks (8-3) - 24.5
25. Purdue Boilermakers (4-4-1) - 24.6
(tie) Utah Utes (7-3) - 24.6
27. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (5-5) - 28.6
(tie) Texas Longhorns (7-3-1) - 28.6
29. LSU Tigers (5-4-1) - 31.4
30. Northwestern Wildcats (5-4) - 32.1
31. Kentucky Wildcats (5-4-1) - 32.2
32. Army Black Knights (6-3-1) - 32.5
33. Pittsburgh Panthers (4-3-3) - 33.2
34. Memphis Tigers (8-2) - 33.7
35. Georgia Bulldogs (6-4) - 34.0
36. Arizona Wildcats (7-3) - 34.9
37. Oregon Ducks (7-3-1) - 36.7
38. Duke Blue Devils (8-3) - 36.8
39. Illinois Fighting Illini (5-4) - 37.3
40. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-1) - 37.8
(tie) VMI Keydets (7-2-1) - 37.8
42. Princeton Tigers (7-2) - 38.6
43. Oregon State Beavers (6-3-1) - 43.1
44. Colorado Buffaloes (6-4) - 45.7
45. Mississippi State Bulldogs (2-6-1) - 45.8
46. Iowa State Cyclones (7-3) - 46.8
47. Miami Hurricanes (6-4) - 47.1
48. TCU Horned Frogs (4-4-2) - 48.9
49. Arizona State Sun Devils (7-3) - 50.4
50. NC State Wolfpack (6-3-1) - 51.3
51. Holy Cross Crusaders (6-4) - 51.4
(tie) Houston Cougars (6-4) - 51.4
53. Wichita State Shockers (8-2) - 53.9
54. Wisconsin Badgers (4-5) - 54.1
55. Clemson Tigers (6-4) - 55.0
56. Detroit Mercy Titans (7-2) - 55.4
57. Dartmouth Big Green (5-4) - 57.2
58. Nebraska Cornhuskers (4-6) - 57.7
59. New Mexico Lobos (5-5) - 58.9
(tie) Tulane Green Wave (3-6-1) - 58.9
61. Maryland Terrapins (6-4) - 60.4
62. Virginia Tech Hokies (6-4) - 60.7
63. Oklahoma Sooners (3-6-1) - 63.3
64. Citadel Bulldogs (8-2-1) - 63.5
65. Texas Tech Red Raiders (3-6-1) - 65.0
66. George Washington Colonials (5-3-1) - 65.7
67. Oklahoma State Cowboys (3-7) - 66.1
68. Air Force Falcons (4-6) - 66.6
69. USC Trojans (4-6) - 70.0
70. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-8) - 70.3
71. Boston College Eagles (3-6-1) - 71.6
72. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (5-5) - 71.7
73. Washington State Cougars (4-5-1) - 71.9
74. Texas A&M Aggies (1-6-3) - 72.1
75. Florida State Seminoles (3-6-1) - 75.9
76. South Carolina Gamecocks (3-6-1) - 76.5
77. Harvard Crimson (5-4) - 77.0
78. Montana Grizzlies (5-5) - 77.2
79. Columbia Lions (3-6) - 79.3
80. Pennsylvania Relays (3-6) - 80.7
81. UTEP Miners (4-5-1) - 81.1
82. North Carolina Tar Heels (3-7) - 81.7
83. Vanderbilt Commodores (3-7) - 83.0
84. Furman Paladins (5-4-1) - 85.0
(tie) San Jose State Spartans (5-4) - 85.0
86. California Golden Bears (2-7-1) - 86.1
87. West Texas A&M Buffaloes (3-7) - 86.8
88. Richmond Spiders (3-6-1) - 87.3
89. Denver Pioneers (3-7) - 88.9
90. Cincinnati Bearcats (4-6) - 90.7
91. BYU Cougars (3-8) - 91.7
92. Boston University Terriers (3-5-2) - 91.8
(tie) Wake Forest Demon Deacons (2-8) - 91.8
94. Xavier Musketeers (5-5) - 93.3
95. Davidson Wildcats (3-5) - 95.3
96. Indiana Hoosiers (1-8) - 96.8
97. Pacific Tigers (4-6) - 97.2
98. North Texas Mean Green (2-6-1) - 97.5
99. Brown Bears (3-6) - 99.5
100. William & Mary Tribe (2-8) - 99.9
101. Cornell Big Red (2-7) - 100.4
102. Villanova Wildcats (2-8) - 102.1
103. Marquette Golden Eagles (3-6) - 102.4
104. Colorado State Rams (2-8) - 102.9
105. SMU Mustangs (0-9-1) - 104.4
106. Colgate Raiders (2-7) - 106.2
107. Kansas State Wildcats (1-9) - 108.6
(tie) West Virginia Mountaineers (0-8-2) - 108.6
109. Idaho Vandals (1-9) - 109.2
110. Dayton Flyers (1-9) - 111.0
111. Stanford Cardinal (0-10) - 111.7
112. Virginia Cavaliers (0-10) - 113.4
113. Hardin-Simmons Cowboys (0-10) - 113.5

Special thanks to James Howell's College Football Scores, which provided the data for our analysis.

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