1997 saw Nebraska finish atop the base ratings for the RPR following their win over Tennessee in the Bowl Alliance’s national championship game at the Orange Bowl. The Cornhuskers would cap the year undefeated and with the best Score Ratio as they claimed the Coaches Poll national title. Four other teams finished within the CCT cutoff, and in analyzing those teams, one did warrant further consideration. Rose Bowl champion Michigan, who was also undefeated and had claimed the other major poll titles that year, were just on the heels of Nebraska’s SOS & SR numbers, and also had performed better against common opponents. Both teams also had games with controversial endings (Nebraska with the Flea Kicker game at Missouri, and Michigan with the end of game sequence in the Rose Bowl). I believe the Wolverines were on par with the Huskers for co-champion status.

Co-champion Consideration Threshold: 0.0383; CCT Rating Cutoff: 0.6759

Rank	FBS Teams	WP	SOS	SR	Rating	Adj. Rating
T-1	Nebraska (C)	1.0000	0.5587	0.7393	0.7142	0.7138
T-1	Michigan (AP/F/N)	1.0000	0.5574	0.7385	0.7133	0.7138
3	Florida State	0.9167	0.5923	0.7211	0.7056	0.7056
4	Florida	0.8333	0.6376	0.6772	0.6964	0.6964
5	Tennessee	0.8462	0.6528	0.5994	0.6878	0.6878
6	Kansas State	0.9167	0.5407	0.7025	0.6751	0.6751
7	Georgia	0.8333	0.6001	0.6609	0.6736	0.6736
8	Auburn	0.7692	0.6503	0.5763	0.6615	0.6615
9	UCLA	0.8333	0.5768	0.6588	0.6614	0.6614
10	North Carolina	0.9167	0.5119	0.7045	0.6612	0.6612
11	Washington State	0.8333	0.5621	0.6200	0.6444	0.6444
12	Ohio State	0.7692	0.5480	0.6986	0.6410	0.6410
13	Colorado State	0.8462	0.5037	0.7015	0.6388	0.6388
14	Louisiana State	0.7500	0.5503	0.6649	0.6289	0.6289
15	Washington	0.6667	0.6114	0.6186	0.6270	0.6270
16	Mississippi	0.6667	0.6191	0.5266	0.6079	0.6079
17	Arizona State	0.7500	0.5356	0.6067	0.6070	0.6070
18	Penn State	0.7500	0.5384	0.5903	0.6043	0.6043
19	Marshall	0.7692	0.4949	0.6514	0.6026	0.6026
20	Texas A&M	0.6923	0.5224	0.6535	0.5976	0.5976
21	Air Force	0.7692	0.5088	0.5949	0.5954	0.5954
22	Purdue	0.7500	0.5147	0.5973	0.5942	0.5942
23	Southern Mississippi	0.7500	0.4997	0.6161	0.5914	0.5914
24	Miami, OH	0.7273	0.4904	0.6458	0.5884	0.5884
25	Syracuse	0.6923	0.4993	0.6612	0.5880	0.5880
26	Virginia	0.6364	0.5849	0.5337	0.5850	0.5850
27	Ohio	0.7273	0.4814	0.6297	0.5799	0.5799
28	Oregon	0.5833	0.6003	0.5205	0.5761	0.5761
29	Iowa	0.5833	0.4939	0.7211	0.5731	0.5731
30	Toledo	0.7500	0.4828	0.5705	0.5715	0.5715
31	Mississippi State	0.6364	0.5684	0.5125	0.5714	0.5714
32	Clemson	0.5833	0.5641	0.5714	0.5708	0.5708
33	Michigan State	0.5833	0.5483	0.5907	0.5677	0.5677
34	Arizona	0.5833	0.5910	0.5040	0.5673	0.5673
35	New Mexico	0.6923	0.4811	0.5959	0.5626	0.5626
36	Georgia Tech	0.5833	0.5702	0.5148	0.5596	0.5596
37	Louisiana Tech	0.8182	0.4271	0.5643	0.5592	0.5592
38	Southern California	0.5455	0.5923	0.5000	0.5575	0.5575
39	Tulane	0.6364	0.4837	0.6250	0.5572	0.5572
40	Oklahoma State	0.6667	0.4691	0.6017	0.5517	0.5517
41	Colorado	0.4545	0.6205	0.5042	0.5499	0.5499
42	Notre Dame	0.5385	0.5714	0.5155	0.5492	0.5492
43	Missouri	0.5833	0.5458	0.5165	0.5478	0.5478
44	Texas Tech	0.5455	0.5503	0.5303	0.5441	0.5441
45	Wisconsin	0.6154	0.5297	0.4874	0.5405	0.5405
46	North Carolina State	0.5455	0.5313	0.5481	0.5390	0.5390
47	Central Florida	0.4545	0.5745	0.5524	0.5390	0.5390
48	Virginia Tech	0.5833	0.4900	0.5880	0.5379	0.5379
49	Cincinnati	0.6667	0.4604	0.5602	0.5369	0.5369
50	South Carolina	0.4545	0.6041	0.4804	0.5358	0.5358
51	Western Michigan	0.7273	0.4379	0.5318	0.5337	0.5337
52	Navy	0.6364	0.4212	0.6557	0.5336	0.5336
53	Rice	0.6364	0.4877	0.5178	0.5324	0.5324
54	Wyoming	0.5385	0.4999	0.5865	0.5312	0.5312
55	West Virginia	0.5833	0.4781	0.5581	0.5244	0.5244
56	Stanford	0.4545	0.5880	0.4654	0.5240	0.5240
57	Alabama	0.3636	0.5907	0.4980	0.5107	0.5107
58	Southern Methodist	0.5455	0.4921	0.5103	0.5100	0.5100
59	Utah State	0.5000	0.4825	0.5679	0.5082	0.5082
60	Kentucky	0.4545	0.5426	0.4901	0.5075	0.5075
61	Fresno State	0.5000	0.4982	0.5248	0.5053	0.5053
62	Brigham Young	0.5455	0.4880	0.4960	0.5044	0.5044
63	Utah	0.5455	0.4550	0.5585	0.5035	0.5035
64	Arkansas	0.3636	0.6292	0.3892	0.5028	0.5028
65	Nevada	0.4545	0.5047	0.5245	0.4971	0.4971
66	Northwestern	0.4167	0.5501	0.4576	0.4936	0.4936
67	San Diego State	0.4167	0.5469	0.4356	0.4865	0.4865
68	Wake Forest	0.4545	0.5120	0.4597	0.4846	0.4846
69	Miami, FL	0.4545	0.4730	0.5242	0.4812	0.4812
70	Pittsburgh	0.5000	0.4674	0.4847	0.4799	0.4799
71	Ball State	0.4545	0.4720	0.4790	0.4694	0.4694
72	Kansas	0.4545	0.5160	0.3882	0.4687	0.4687
73	East Carolina	0.4545	0.4982	0.4180	0.4672	0.4672
74	Idaho	0.4545	0.4370	0.5345	0.4658	0.4658
75	California	0.2727	0.5612	0.4653	0.4651	0.4651
76	Lousiana-Monroe	0.4167	0.5142	0.4147	0.4649	0.4649
77	UAB	0.4545	0.4575	0.4826	0.4630	0.4630
78	Texas	0.3636	0.4987	0.4361	0.4493	0.4493
79	Eastern Michigan	0.3636	0.4701	0.4831	0.4467	0.4467
80	Oklahoma	0.3333	0.5244	0.3797	0.4404	0.4404
81	Bowling Green	0.2727	0.5642	0.3590	0.4400	0.4400
82	Oregon State	0.2727	0.5368	0.4063	0.4381	0.4381
83	Boston College	0.3636	0.4779	0.4301	0.4374	0.4374
84	Memphis	0.3636	0.4544	0.4729	0.4363	0.4363
85	San Jose State	0.3636	0.4899	0.3972	0.4351	0.4351
86	Boise State	0.3636	0.4661	0.4432	0.4347	0.4347
87	Vanderbilt	0.2727	0.5296	0.4035	0.4339	0.4339
88	Army	0.3636	0.4713	0.4154	0.4304	0.4304
89	Minnesota	0.2500	0.5113	0.4161	0.4222	0.4222
90	UNLV	0.2727	0.4750	0.4584	0.4203	0.4203
91	Duke	0.1818	0.5437	0.3954	0.4162	0.4162
92	Kent State	0.2727	0.4907	0.4075	0.4154	0.4154
93	Texas-El Paso	0.3636	0.4669	0.3425	0.4100	0.4100
94	North Texas	0.3636	0.4236	0.4121	0.4057	0.4057
95	Baylor	0.1818	0.5427	0.3478	0.4038	0.4038
96	Maryland	0.1818	0.5537	0.3120	0.4003	0.4003
97	Hawaii	0.2500	0.4853	0.3803	0.4002	0.4002
98	Akron	0.1818	0.5404	0.3338	0.3991	0.3991
99	Tulsa	0.1818	0.5185	0.3772	0.3990	0.3990
100	Temple	0.2727	0.4796	0.3636	0.3989	0.3989
101	Houston	0.2727	0.4686	0.3450	0.3888	0.3888
102	Indiana	0.1818	0.5512	0.2505	0.3837	0.3837
103	Central Michigan	0.1818	0.4842	0.3706	0.3802	0.3802
104	Iowa State	0.0909	0.5447	0.3027	0.3708	0.3708
105	New Mexico State	0.1818	0.4372	0.3570	0.3533	0.3533
106	Arkansas State	0.1818	0.4399	0.3367	0.3496	0.3496
107	Louisville	0.0909	0.4560	0.3758	0.3447	0.3447
108	Louisiana-Lafayette	0.0909	0.5229	0.2414	0.3445	0.3445
109	Texas Christian	0.0909	0.4683	0.3461	0.3434	0.3434
110	Illinois	0.0000	0.5387	0.2444	0.3304	0.3304
111	Northern Illinois	0.0000	0.4976	0.2524	0.3119	0.3119
112	Rutgers	0.0000	0.4469	0.2780	0.2929	0.2929

Best Win Percentage: Michigan/Nebraska
Best SOS: Tennessee
Best Score Ratio: Nebraska