After finishing the season with a 10–0 record the team was named consensus national champion by the Associated Press (AP) and the Coaches Poll (UPI).

The Tigers were led by a backfield of Louisiana locals Billy Cannon, Warren Rabb, and Johnny Robinson, all of whom received first-team All-SEC honors after the season.

Prior to the season, LSU head coach Paul Dietzel experimented with different methods of keeping players rested.

[5] Dietzel's plan was to swap players out in a platoon-like fashion in order to keep them rested throughout the game, since most starters played on both offense and defense during this era.

To utilize the team's talented backfield, which consisted of halfbacks Billy Cannon and Johnny Robinson, Dietzel adopted a wing T offensive formation.

[6] Dietzel then named the young defense the "Chinese Bandits", after characters from a Terry and the Pirates comic strip, hoping an identity would instill pride and confidence in what would ordinarily have been substitute players.

[23] The Tigers were projected as six point underdogs against the Owls, whose coach Jess Neely was entering his eighteenth season with the team.

LSU opened the game with a ten play, 57-yard drive capped by a quarterback scramble by Warren Rabb into the end zone.

[21] In the second quarter, LSU's Don Purvis returned a punt 27 yards into Rice territory, and the Tigers again drove down the field and scored on a two-yard run by fullback J.W.

[25][26] Alabama's defensive line and linebackers made it difficult for LSU to run the ball in the first half, and they also put pressure on Rabb during passing plays.

The Cowboys lost a fumble at midfield on their first possession, which LSU took advantage of five plays later with a four-yard touchdown run by Durel Matherne.

LSU's Henry Lee Roberts intercepted a pass from Curci at midfield and the Tigers drove down the field once more for their last touchdown of the game.

[23] For LSU's homecoming, the Tigers snapped a three-game losing streak to the Florida Gators with a 10–7 defensive struggle that came down to the last three minutes of play.

The Gators, led by defensive back Don Fleming and tackle Vel Heckman, had held their previous opponents to an average of 65 yards rushing per game.

The Gators held at the goal-line for three straight runs up the middle, but on fourth down Cannon dove into the endzone for the first score of the game.

[39] Florida started the fourth quarter with a new quarterback, Mickey Ellenburg, who then led the Gators into the end zone with a 14-yard pass to Perry McGriff, tying the game at 7–7.

Dietzel then allowed the play clock to run down and took a five-yard delay of game penalty to give Tommy Davis a better angle for a field goal attempt.

Ole Miss was LSU's most bitter rival at the time, and fans who heard and read about the Chinese Bandits and Billy Cannon wanted to see them first-hand.

[48][43][46] The teams exchanged punts three times before a twenty-yard run by Purvis put LSU at the Ole Miss 25, where Davis attempted a field goal that fell short.

At its own 30-yard line, LSU gained 19 yards on a run by Purvis, and a personal foul on the Rebels put the ball on the Ole Miss 37.

[51] In the second quarter, Duke attempted a quick kick that was blocked by Emile Fournet and recovered by Gaynell Kinchen at the Blue Devils' one-yard line.

[52] In the fourth quarter the Tigers scored on long touchdown runs from Cannon and Matherne to put the game out of reach.

[50] LSU's closest game of the season was a 7–6 victory over the Mississippi State Maroons,[c] in which a missed extra point was the difference in the score.

Mississippi State's touchdown came at the start of the second quarter, after Donnie Daye fumbled and the Maroons recovered it on LSU's 23-yard line.

[55] Cannon and Brodnax led LSU down to the five, where Rabb passed to Hendrix for the touchdown and Davis kicked the extra point for the winning score.

Cannon was the game's leading rusher with 53 yards on thirteen carries, but he also fumbled twice, both times deep in LSU territory.

"[55] His first fumble came in the first quarter at the LSU twenty, but the Bandits were able to hold Mississippi State to a missed field goal attempt.

"[40][59][55] When Dietzel read Mason's quote in the newspaper, he cut it out, made copies of it, and taped it all over the LSU locker room to serve as motivation.

"[57] With a 10–0 regular season record, LSU was crowned national champion by the Associated Press and the Coaches' Poll (UPI), as well as by 37 other selectors.

The legendary 1958 team compiled LSU's first perfect season since 1908 and became the first squad in school history to win the national title.