1959–60 NCAA football bowl games

Season

1959

Number of bowls

All-star games

Blue–Gray Football Classic
East–West Shrine Game
North–South Shrine Game
Senior Bowl

Bowl games

December 19, 1959 –
January 2, 1960

Champions

Syracuse (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF)

Bowl record by conference
Conference	Bowls	Record	Final AP poll
SEC	5	2–3 (0.400)
SWC	3	1–2 (0.333)
Independents	2	2–0 (1.000)
AAWU	1	1–0 (1.000)
ACC	1	1–0 (1.000)
Border	1	1–0 (1.000)
OVC	1	1–0 (1.000)
Big Seven	1	0–1 (0.000)
Big Ten	1	0–1 (0.000)
Little Three	1	0–1 (0.000)
MVC	1	0–1 (0.000)

The 1959–60 NCAA football bowl games were a series of post-season games played in December 1959 and January 1960 to end the 1959 college football season. A total of nine team-competitive games, and four all-star games, were played. The post-season began on December 19 with the Bluebonnet Bowl and Liberty Bowl, and concluded on January 9, 1960, with the season-ending Senior Bowl all-star game.

Schedule

The following table lists bowl games involving University Division teams; bowl games at lower levels are listed in the See also section.

The nine team-competitive bowls consisted of seven played the prior season (the eighth, the Bluegrass Bowl, did not return) plus the first editions of the Bluebonnet Bowl and Liberty Bowl.

Date	Game	Site	Time (US EST)	TV	Matchup (pre-game record)	AP pre-game rank	UPI (Coaches) pre-game rank
12/19	Liberty Bowl	Philadelphia Municipal Stadium Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1:00 p.m.	NBC	Penn State 7 (8–2) (Independent) Alabama 0 (7–1–2) (SEC)	#12 #10	#10 #13
12/19	Bluebonnet Bowl	Rice Stadium Houston, Texas	3:30 p.m.	CBS	Clemson 23 (8–2) (ACC) TCU 7 (8–2) (SWC)	#11 #7	#11 #8
12/31	Sun Bowl	Kidd Field El Paso, Texas	4:00 p.m.	—	New Mexico State 28 (7–3) (Border) North Texas State 8 (9–1) (MVC)	NR NR	NR NR
1/1	Orange Bowl	Burdine Stadium Miami, Florida	1:00 p.m.	CBS	Georgia 14 (9–1) (SEC) Missouri 0 (6–4) (Big Seven)	#5 #18	#5 #20
1/1	Sugar Bowl	Tulane Stadium New Orleans, Louisiana	2:00 p.m.	NBC	Ole Miss 21 (9–1) (SEC) LSU 0 (9–1) (SEC)	#2 #3	#2 #3
1/1	Cotton Bowl Classic	Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas	3:30 p.m.	CBS	Syracuse 23 (10–0) (Independent) Texas 14 (9–1) (SWC)	#1 #4	#1 #4
1/1	Rose Bowl	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California	5:00 p.m.	NBC	Washington 44 (9–1) (AAWU) Wisconsin 8 (7–2) (Big Ten)	#8 #6	#7 #6
1/1	Tangerine Bowl	Tangerine Bowl (stadium) Orlando, Florida	8:15 p.m.	—	Middle Tennessee 21 (9–0–1) (OVC) Presbyterian 12 (9–1) (Little Three)	n/a	n/a
1/2	Gator Bowl	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, Florida	2:00 p.m.	CBS	Arkansas 14 (8–2) (SWC) Georgia Tech 7 (6–4) (SEC)	#9 NR	#9 NR

Source:

Notes

Excludes all-star games.
Teams in this seasons's Tangerine Bowl were not from the University Division, but the bowl is included due to its history with such teams.

References

"1959 College Football Bowl Games". Sports Reference. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
^ Sakowitz, Sheldon (December 19, 1959). "Three Grid Bowl Games On Tap Today". The Paducah Sun. Paducah, Kentucky. AP. p. 18. Retrieved June 10, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
"Offense Key For Sun Bowl". Amarillo Globe-News. AP. December 30, 1959. p. 24. Retrieved June 10, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
^ "Bowl Schedule". The Item. Sumter, South Carolina. AP. December 31, 1959. p. 8. Retrieved June 10, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
"TV Highlights". Jim Thorpe Times News. Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. January 2, 1960. p. 5. Retrieved June 10, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
MacCambridge, Michael, ed. (2005). ESPN College Football Encyclopedia. New York, N.Y.: ESPN Books. p. 1256. ISBN 1-4013-3703-1.

v t e 1959–60 NCAA football bowl game season
Bluebonnet (Dec. 19) Liberty (Dec. 19) Sun (Dec. 31) Cotton (Jan. 1) Orange (Jan. 1) Rose (Jan. 1) Sugar (Jan. 1) Tangerine (Jan. 1) Gator (Jan. 2)

v t e NCAA football bowl seasons
1901–02 1902–14 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

NCAA football bowl seasons

1901–02
1902–14
1915–16
1916–17
1917–18
1918–19
1919–20
1920–21
1921–22
1922–23
1923–24
1924–25
1925–26
1926–27
1927–28
1928–29
1929–30
1930–31
1931–32
1932–33
1933–34
1934–35
1935–36
1936–37
1937–38
1938–39
1939–40
1940–41
1941–42
1942–43
1943–44
1944–45
1945–46
1946–47
1947–48
1948–49
1949–50
1950–51
1951–52
1952–53
1953–54
1954–55
1955–56
1956–57
1957–58
1958–59
1959–60
1960–61
1961–62
1962–63
1963–64
1964–65
1965–66
1966–67
1967–68
1968–69
1969–70
1970–71
1971–72
1972–73
1973–74
1974–75
1975–76
1976–77
1977–78
1978–79
1979–80
1980–81
1981–82
1982–83
1983–84
1984–85
1985–86
1986–87
1987–88
1988–89
1989–90
1990–91
1991–92
1992–93
1993–94
1994–95
1995–96
1996–97
1997–98
1998–99
1999–2000
2000–01
2001–02
2002–03
2003–04
2004–05
2005–06
2006–07
2007–08
2008–09
2009–10
2010–11
2011–12
2012–13
2013–14
2014–15
2015–16
2016–17
2017–18
2018–19
2019–20
2020–21
2021–22
2022–23
2023–24
2024–25

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