1960 Kansas Jayhawks football team


The 1960 Kansas Jayhawks football team represented the University of Kansas during the 1960 NCAA University Division football season. The Jayhawks were led by third-year head coach Jack Mitchell and played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas.
Kansas started the season with an upset over #11 TCU, shooting them up the polls. Losses were suffered to two top-two teams in #2 Syracuse and #1 Iowa, as well as a tie to Oklahoma. The Jayhawks ended the regular season with an upset victory over their arch-rivals and previously-undefeated #1 Missouri Tigers. Their victory earned them their first outright Big 8 Conference championship since 1930 and an invitation to the 1961 Orange Bowl. They finished 11th in the final AP Poll, their second ever ranked finish, and first since 1947.
Controversy surrounded the end of the season, however, as Kansas was found to have fielded an ineligible player, Bert Coan, in their games against Colorado and Missouri. On December 8, 1960, the Big 8 Conference forced Kansas to forfeit those two victories and the conference championship. The forfeited games remain a topic of dispute, as Kansas and the NCAA do not record the games as losses, while Missouri and the Big 8 conference recognize the forfeits. Kansas does not claim the 1960 conference championship, despite claiming the requisite victories.

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