1988 saw Miami finish atop the base RPR ratings following an Orange Bowl win over Nebraska to finish a 1-loss campaign. The Hurricanes had top 5 finishes in all three of the rating components. Two other teams, Florida State and consensus poll champion Notre Dame, both finished in the CCT cutoff. While the Seminoles didn’t warrant serious consideration after comparison with Miami, the Fighting Irish were a different story. Notre Dame had the nation’s best Win % as the nation’s lone unbeaten following their Fiesta Bowl win over West Virginia along with a head-to-head victory over Miami. With those things in mind along with the other factors in comparison, the Irish warranted co-champion status.

Co-champion Consideration Threshold: 0.0447; CCT Rating Cutoff: 0.6923

Rank	Team	Adj. Rating
T-1	Miami, FL	0.7306 (0.7370)
T-1	Notre Dame (AP/C)	0.7306 (0.7243)
3	Florida State	0.7269
4	So. California	0.6870
5	Auburn	0.6831
6	Clemson	0.6737
7	UCLA	0.6733
8	West Virginia	0.6666
9	Nebraska	0.6626
10	Michigan	0.6594
11	Wyoming	0.6471
12	Arkansas	0.6354
13	So. Mississippi	0.6299
14	Oklahoma	0.6278
15	Syracuse	0.6252
16	Oklahoma State	0.6215
17	Houston	0.6201
18	NC State	0.6178
19	Washington St.	0.6124
20	Alabama	0.6109
21	Arizona	0.6090
22	Louisiana State	0.6076
23	Texas-El Paso	0.5973
24	Georgia	0.5959
25	Fresno State	0.5919
26	Brigham Young	0.5874
27	Colorado	0.5830
28	Ball State	0.5829
29	W. Michigan	0.5827
30	Hawaii	0.5776
31	Pittsburgh	0.5752
32	Indiana	0.5742
33	Louisville	0.5731
34	Michigan State	0.5705
35	Florida	0.5691
36	South Carolina	0.5675
37	Wake Forest	0.5656
38	Texas A&M	0.5645
39	Army	0.5633
40	Washington	0.5601
41	Virginia	0.5563
42	Central Michigan	0.5549
43	Duke	0.5486
44	Oregon	0.5447
45	Penn State	0.5374
46	Iowa	0.5359
47	Kentucky	0.5326
48	Maryland	0.5288
49	LA-Lafayette	0.5277
50	Eastern Michigan	0.5251
51	Arizona State	0.5220
52	Utah	0.5202
53	Memphis	0.5199
54	Oregon State	0.5179
55	Toledo	0.5153
56	Stanford	0.5141
57	Illinois	0.5141
58	Northern Illinois	0.5110
59	Mississippi	0.5096
60	Tennessee	0.5086
61	Texas Tech	0.5073
62	California	0.5059
63	Rutgers	0.5040
64	Air Force	0.5014
65	Baylor	0.5008
66	East Carolina	0.4918
67	Virginia Tech	0.4853
68	Tulane	0.4836
69	Ohio State	0.4816
70	Kent State	0.4771
71	Georgia Tech	0.4769
72	Iowa State	0.4763
73	Tulsa	0.4759
74	Cal St-Fullerton	0.4713
75	Navy	0.4648
76	Missouri	0.4644
77	Texas	0.4619
78	Akron	0.4562
79	Texas Christian	0.4485
80	Boston College	0.4481
81	Ohio	0.4397
82	Vanderbilt	0.4383
83	Temple	0.4335
84	San Diego State	0.4234
85	San Jose State	0.4202
86	Minnesota	0.4145
87	North Carolina	0.4135
88	Purdue	0.4094
89	Utah State	0.4083
90	Northwestern	0.3973
91	Cincinnati	0.3952
92	UNLV	0.3940
93	Bowling Green	0.3881
94	Mississippi State	0.3866
95	Colorado State	0.3745
96	Long Beach St.	0.3742
97	Rice	0.3584
98	New Mexico	0.3504
99	Wisconsin	0.3474
100	Kansas	0.3452
101	Pacific	0.3451
102	Miami, OH	0.3326
103	Kansas State	0.3183
104	New Mexico St.	0.2901

Best Win Percentage: Notre Dame
Best SOS: Virginia Tech
Best Score Ratio: Auburn