Florida State finds itself on the wrong side of history
By Justin Perez
. 1960 USC Ranked #6. . 7. . USC and Oklahoma Debacle. . 519. Oklahoma Also Ranked #10.
For the first and only time, multiple teams suffered national ranking fallouts after early losses. In 1960, USC was ranked sixth in the preseason poll while Oklahoma capped off the top 10. Starting with USC, this was the Trojans' first year under the legendary John McKay. The year before under Don Clark, USC won an AAWU(later PAC-8) conference title.
To start the McKay era, USC took on unranked Oregon State at home on September 16th. They would get shut out 14-0 by the Beavers as it was the first defeat of an 0-3 start for USC.
Three days later USC fell out of the rankings and this was one of the more forgettable seasons in the history of the storied program. USC finished 4-6 in McKay's first year. They never returned to the top 20 rankings. Below is film of their 20-0 blowout loss to Ohio State,
While USC had a legendary head coach begin his tenure in 1960, Oklahoma already had a legendary coach of their own who had already established a winning culture, Bud Wilkinson. During this time, the Sooners were still a highly respected football program. However, the 1959 season signaled that OU was on the decline under Wilkinson, as they went 7-3 and didn't play in a bowl game.
Still, Oklahoma did enough to be ranked tenth in the country in the preseason poll. Now, they didn't play in week one but they still fell out of the rankings. However, they did start their season the following week against a Northwestern team that was ranked 14th in the nation. If Oklahoma would've won, there's no question they would've been back in the poll.
Instead, the Sooners were taken down by the Wildcats at home by a score of 19-3. Because of that, they were no longer considered for a national ranking and it was the first of six losses taken by Oklahoma.
The Sooners' 3-6-1 finish was the first losing season of Wilkinson's career. In the stretch, OU lost four straight contests from late October to mid-November. Below is some film of the last loss in that streak, a 17-14 loss to Nebraska.