The 1959 Syracuse Orangemen football team represented

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

during the

1959 NCAA University Division football season The 1959 NCAA University Division football season saw Syracuse University crowned as the national champion by both final polls, the AP writers poll and the UPI coaches polls. A major rule change widened the goal posts from to . This width re ...

. Led by eleventh-year head coach

Ben Schwartzwalder Floyd Burdette Schwartzwalder (June 2, 1909 – April 28, 1993) was a Hall of Fame football coach at Syracuse University, where he trained future National Football League stars such as Jim Brown, Larry Csonka, Floyd Little and Ernie Davis, t ...

, the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Orangemen were undefeated and won the school's only

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, topping the rankings by wide margins in the final polls in early December. They met fourth-ranked

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in the

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

on New Year's Day, and led 15–0 at halftime and 23–6 after the three quarters. Texas scored midway through the fourth quarter to draw to 23–14, but there was no further scoring, and Syracuse gained its first

bowl A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom forming a seamless curve. This makes ...

win. Unranked at the start of the season, Syracuse finished with an 11–0 record with five shutouts, and outscored its opponents 413–73. Notable players included sophomore running back

Ernie Davis Ernest Davis (December 14, 1939 – May 18, 1963) was an American football player who won the Heisman Trophy in 1961 and was its first African-American recipient. Davis played college football for Syracuse University and was the first pick in the ...

, winner of the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

and the first selection of the In the Cotton Bowl Classic, he scored the first two touchdowns and threw a pass to

Gerhard Schwedes Gerhard H. Schwedes (born April 23, 1938) is a former American football halfback who played two seasons in the American Football League with the Boston Patriots and New York Titans. He was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in the fourth round o ...

for the third. Davis was helped by an offensive line that included unanimous first team All-American guard Roger Davis. The team was named national champion by AP, Billingsley,

Boand Boann or Boand (modern Irish spelling: Bónn) is the Irish goddess of the River Boyne (the river-name now always in the nominalised dative/prepositional case, Bóinn), a river in Ireland's historical fifth province, Meath (from Middle Irish '' ...

, DeVold, Football News, Football Research, Football Writers, Helms,

Litkenhous A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best co ...

, NCF, NFF, Poling, Sagarin (ELO-Chess),

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

, and Williamson, leading to a

consensus national champion A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best co ...

designation.

Schedule

Game summaries

Kansas

Maryland

vs. Navy

Holy Cross

West Virginia

at Pittsburgh

at Penn State

Colgate

at Boston University

at UCLA

vs. Texas (Cotton Bowl Classic)

1960 NFL Draft

References

Syracuse Syracuse Orange football seasons College football national champions Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy seasons Cotton Bowl Classic champion seasons College football undefeated seasons Syracuse Orangemen football {{collegefootball-1950s-season-stub