1988 Final Rankings

In the off-season, we will be running our computer analysis of each of the previous seasons of college football moving backward through time as far as it makes sense to do so. Here are the final rankings from 1988:


1. Miami Hurricanes (11-1) - 1.5
(tie) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (12-0) - 1.5
3. Florida State Seminoles (11-1) - 3.5
(tie) West Virginia Mountaineers (11-1) - 3.5
5. USC Trojans (10-2) - 5.6
6. Michigan Wolverines (9-2-1) - 6.8
7. Oklahoma State Cowboys (10-2) - 7.0
8. Auburn Tigers (10-2) - 8.0
9. Nebraska Cornhuskers (11-2) - 8.4
10. UCLA Bruins (10-2) - 10.1
11. Clemson Tigers (10-2) - 10.6
12. Oklahoma Sooners (9-3) - 11.9
13. Wyoming Cowboys (11-2) - 12.6
14. Arkansas Razorbacks (10-2) - 14.8
15. Houston Cougars (9-3) - 15.2
16. Syracuse Orange (10-2) - 15.5
17. Georgia Bulldogs (9-3) - 17.8
18. Washington State Cougars (9-3) - 19.7
19. Southern Miss Golden Eagles (10-2) - 20.0
20. LSU Tigers (8-4) - 20.6
21. Alabama Crimson Tide (9-3) - 21.2
22. Indiana Hoosiers (8-3-1) - 21.9
23. Arizona Wildcats (7-4) - 22.9
24. Colorado Buffaloes (8-4) - 23.1
25. UTEP Miners (10-3) - 25.2
26. Texas A&M Aggies (7-5) - 27.8
27. Michigan State Spartans (6-5-1) - 27.9
28. Washington Huskies (6-5) - 29.3
29. NC State Wolfpack (8-3-1) - 29.5
30. Pittsburgh Panthers (6-5) - 30.0
31. Fresno State Bulldogs (10-2) - 31.7
32. Hawaii Warriors (9-3) - 31.8
33. Iowa Hawkeyes (6-4-3) - 31.9
34. South Carolina Gamecocks (8-4) - 32.0
35. BYU Cougars (9-4) - 33.9
36. Stanford Cardinal (3-6-2) - 34.8
37. Kentucky Wildcats (5-6) - 38.3
38. Oregon Ducks (6-6) - 39.1
39. Central Michigan Chippewas (7-4) - 40.4
40. Penn State Nittany Lions (5-6) - 40.8
41. Oregon State Beavers (4-6-1) - 41.3
42. Florida Gators (7-5) - 42.8
43. Maryland Terrapins (5-6) - 44.2
44. Western Michigan Broncos (9-3) - 44.7
45. Illinois Fighting Illini (6-5-1) - 46.1
46. Ball State Cardinals (8-3) - 46.3
47. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (5-6) - 47.1
48. California Golden Bears (5-5-1) - 47.3
49. Virginia Cavaliers (7-4) - 47.5
50. Utah Utes (6-5) - 49.3
51. Arizona State Sun Devils (6-5) - 49.4
52. Louisville Cardinals (8-3) - 50.0
53. Army Black Knights (9-3) - 50.9
54. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (6-4-1) - 52.8
55. Ole Miss Rebels (5-6) - 54.7
56. Ohio State Buckeyes (4-6-1) - 56.5
57. Duke Blue Devils (7-3-1) - 57.6
58. Tennessee Volunteers (5-6) - 57.8
59. Memphis Tigers (6-5) - 58.9
60. Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns (6-5) - 61.0
61. Air Force Falcons (5-7) - 61.7
62. Eastern Michigan Eagles (6-3-1) - 61.9
63. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (4-7) - 62.5
64. Baylor Bears (6-5) - 62.6
65. Iowa State Cyclones (5-6) - 66.4
66. Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-6) - 66.6
67. Texas Longhorns (4-7) - 68.7
68. Virginia Tech Hokies (3-8) - 69.0
69. ECU Pirates (3-8) - 70.2
(tie) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (3-8) - 70.2
71. Boston College Eagles (3-8) - 70.9
72. Vanderbilt Commodores (3-8) - 71.2
73. Kent State Golden Flashes (5-6) - 71.3
74. Missouri Tigers (3-7-1) - 72.1
75. Temple Owls (4-7) - 74.2
76. TCU Horned Frogs (4-7) - 75.3
77. Toledo Rockets (6-5) - 77.0
78. Cal State Fullerton Titans (5-6) - 77.1
79. Northern Illinois Huskies (7-4) - 79.1
80. San Diego State Aztecs (3-8) - 80.5
(tie) Tulane Green Wave (5-6) - 80.5
82. San Jose State Spartans (4-8) - 82.2
83. Navy Midshipmen (3-8) - 83.2
84. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (4-7) - 84.1
85. Northwestern Wildcats (2-8-1) - 86.1
86. Purdue Boilermakers (4-7) - 86.3
87. Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-7-2) - 86.8
88. Akron Zips (5-6) - 87.2
89. North Carolina Tar Heels (1-10) - 87.3
90. Colorado State Rams (1-10) - 90.4
91. Ohio Bobcats (4-6-1) - 90.7
92. Utah State Aggies (4-7) - 91.2
93. UNLV Rebels (4-7) - 93.6
94. Cincinnati Bearcats (3-8) - 94.1
95. Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-10) - 94.2
96. Bowling Green Falcons (2-8-1) - 95.9
97. New Mexico Lobos (2-10) - 97.8
98. Long Beach State 49ers (3-9) - 98.2
99. Wisconsin Badgers (1-10) - 99.1
100. Rice Owls (0-11) - 100.9
101. Pacific Tigers (2-9) - 102.2
102. Kansas Jayhawks (1-10) - 102.8
103. New Mexico State Aggies (1-10) - 103.2
104. Miami University RedHawks (0-10-1) - 104.8
105. Kansas State Wildcats (0-11) - 105.8


Special acknowledgement and thanks to James Howell who provided the game score data used in this analysis on his website at http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~dwilson/rsfc/history/howell/