1989 saw Notre Dame finish atop the RPR following a victory in the Orange Bowl over Big 8 champion Colorado. The Fighting Irish had the nation’s best Win % and SOS, along with a top-10 Score Ratio. 3 other teams finished in the CCT cutoff: consensus poll champion Miami, Colorado, and Florida State. Miami came the closest due to their head-to-head win over the Irish, but beyond that, the Irish maintained enough of an edge to prevent a co-champion being crowned.

Co-champion Consideration Threshold: 0.0412; CCT Rating Cutoff: 0.6833

Rank	Team	Rating
1	Notre Dame	0.7245
2	Miami, FL (AP/C)	0.7110
3	Colorado	0.6988
4	Florida State	0.6858
5	Tennessee	0.6813
6	Clemson	0.6807
7	Auburn	0.6776
8	Southern California	0.6774
9	Alabama	0.6596
10	Michigan	0.6586
11	Houston	0.6547
12	Illinois	0.6546
13	Nebraska	0.6507
14	Virginia	0.6367
15	Arkansas	0.6365
16	Penn State	0.6214
17	Michigan State	0.6158
18	Washington	0.6053
19	Fresno State	0.6044
20	Texas A&M	0.6015
21	West Virginia	0.5996
22	Brigham Young	0.5906
23	Texas Tech	0.5895
24	Pittsburgh	0.5871
25	Arizona	0.5860
26	Northern Illinois	0.5806
27	Oregon	0.5750
28	Duke	0.5733
29	Hawaii	0.5706
30	Oklahoma	0.5628
31	Syracuse	0.5615
32	South Carolina	0.5612
33	Air Force	0.5611
34	Washington State	0.5599
35	Mississippi	0.5599
36	Ohio State	0.5592
37	Virginia Tech	0.5585
38	Georgia Tech	0.5540
39	Florida	0.5464
40	Louisiana Tech	0.5461
41	North Carolina State	0.5447
42	Louisiana-Lafayette	0.5427
43	Colorado State	0.5394
44	Georgia	0.5389
45	Akron	0.5292
46	Louisiana State	0.5228
47	Ball State	0.5224
48	Eastern Michigan	0.5224
49	Arizona State	0.5188
50	Baylor	0.5187
51	East Carolina	0.5169
52	Louisville	0.5163
53	Southern Mississippi	0.5143
54	Texas	0.5137
55	Minnesota	0.5097
56	California St-Fullerton	0.5093
57	Kentucky	0.5075
58	Army	0.5064
59	San Diego State	0.5008
60	San Jose State	0.4987
61	Indiana	0.4931
62	Iowa State	0.4916
63	UCLA	0.4889
64	Mississippi State	0.4861
65	Maryland	0.4855
66	Central Michigan	0.4822
67	Wyoming	0.4800
68	Iowa	0.4792
69	Tulsa	0.4776
70	Oregon State	0.4747
71	Toledo	0.4675
72	California	0.4669
73	Oklahoma State	0.4572
74	Stanford	0.4487
75	Texas Christian	0.4462
76	Utah	0.4439
77	Purdue	0.4421
78	Western Michigan	0.4362
79	Navy	0.4351
80	Tulane	0.4334
81	Bowling Green	0.4324
82	UNLV	0.4312
83	Utah State	0.4295
84	Kansas	0.4203
85	Boston College	0.4130
86	Rutgers	0.4068
87	Wake Forest	0.4065
88	Long Beach State	0.4064
89	Wisconsin	0.4024
90	Rice	0.4014
91	New Mexico	0.3974
92	Southern Methodist	0.3959
93	Missouri	0.3894
94	Pacific	0.3750
95	Texas-El Paso	0.3726
96	Memphis	0.3710
97	Vanderbilt	0.3671
98	North Carolina	0.3631
99	Kansas State	0.3544
100	Temple	0.3522
101	Cincinnati	0.3386
102	Miami, OH	0.3382
103	Northwestern	0.3287
104	Ohio	0.3201
105	Kent State	0.2926
106	New Mexico State	0.2713

Best Win Percentage: Notre Dame
Best SOS: Notre Dame
Best Score Ratio: Houston