The 1961 Pittsburg State Gorillas football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team that represented

Pittsburg State University Pittsburg State University (Pitt State or PSU) is a public university in Pittsburg, Kansas. It enrolls approximately 7,400 students (6,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students) and is a member of the Kansas Board of Regents. History ...

during the

1961 NAIA football season The 1961 NAIA football season was the sixth season of college football sponsored by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The season was played from August to December 1961, culminating in the sixth annual NAIA Football National ...

. In their 13th season under head coach

Carnie Smith Carnie Henry Smith (January 29, 1911 – January 25, 1979) was an American football player and coach. Smith was the seventh head football coach at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas Pittsburg is a ...

, the team compiled an 11–0 record and shut out seven of eleven opponents. The team won the

NAIA football national championship The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Football National Championship is decided by a post-season playoff system featuring the best NAIA college football teams in the United States. Under sponsorship of the National Associ ...

, the AP and UPI small college national championship, and the

Central Intercollegiate Conference The Central Intercollegiate Conference (CIC) was an American intercollegiate athletic conference that operated from 1928 to 1968. It was less often referred to as the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIAC), particularly towards the begin ...

(CIC) championship.

Schedule

References

{{NAIA football national champion navbox Pittsburg State Pittsburg State Gorillas football seasons NAIA Football National Champions NCAA Small College Football Champions College football undefeated seasons

Pittsburg State Gorillas football The Pittsburg State Gorillas football team represents Pittsburg State University in collegiate level football. The Pittsburg State football team was formed in 1908, competes in NCAA Division II and is affiliated with the Mid-America Intercollegi ...