LSU has ruined a perfect season for Ole Miss ... again, just as in 1959 and 1960.
Those Johnny Vaught coached Rebels were 0-1-1 against LSU and 20-0 against everyone else. The loss and tie kept Ole Miss from being a unanimous National Champion both years, although the Rebels did win a piece of the championship in 1960.
When the teams met at Tiger Stadium on Halloween Night in 1959, LSU, the defending National Champion, was 7-0 and top ranked in the AP writers poll and the UPI coaches poll. Ole Miss was 7-0 and third in both polls.
The Ole Miss defense dominated, but the Rebels led only 3-0 when Jake Gibbs punted late in the game. Vaught had told him to punt out of bounds, but Billy Cannon fielded the ball on a bounce at the 11 and went on his legendary tackle-breaking 89-yard TD run that vaulted him to the Heisman Trophy.
Ole Miss then drove to the LSU one, but Doug Elmore was stopped short of the end zone on fourth down as the game ended with a 7-3 LSU victory.
With second ranked Northwestern losing that day, the Rebels would have moved up to number one in the polls, falling instead to fifth.
The following week, LSU was upset by Tennessee 14-13 when Cannon was stopped inches short of the end zone on a two-point attempt late in the game. On the same day, fourth-ranked Syracuse defeated seventh-ranked Penn State in a battle of unbeatens and moved to the top of the rankings.
When the regular season ended, Syracuse (10-0) was number one, followed by 9-1 Ole Miss and 9-1 LSU. The final polls at that time came after the regular season.
Ole Miss should have played Syracuse in a bowl game to determine the best team. It would have been a classic battle between a Syracuse team that led the nation in total offense and total defense, and an Ole Miss team that allowed only 21 points, three touchdowns, the entire season. That's the fewest points any team has allowed since 1939 Tennessee shut out every regular season opponent before losing 14-0 to Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl.
But Ole Miss would not play an integrated team so the Rebels had a rematch with LSU in the Sugar Bowl, won by Ole Miss 21-0. Syracuse, led by the great Ernie Davis, defeated, fourth ranked Texas 23-14 in the Cotton Bowl and was a unanimous National Champion. It would have been Ole Miss if not for Cannon's punt return.
The Rebels' one blemish in 1960 was a 6-6 tie with LSU in a down year for the Tigers. LSU entered the game with four straight losses and finished the season unranked at 5-4-1.
Both final polls had one-loss Minnesota number one. Ole Miss was second in the AP, third in the UPI behind Iowa, whose only loss was to Minnesota at a time when the Big Ten was the nation's premier conference.
Ole Miss was an unimpressive 14-6 winner over unranked Rice in the Sugar Bowl, while Minnesota lost to sixth-ranked Washington 17-7 in the Rose Bowl.
The Football Writers Association of America chose a national champion after the bowl games and went with Ole Miss in a close vote ahead of one-loss Washington.
The Rebels would have been unanimous if not for LSU.
