1978 saw Southern California finish atop the RPR following their Rose Bowl victory over Michigan. The Trojans – the Coaches Poll national champion – had the best Win % and 2nd-best SOS calculation. AP Poll champion Alabama and Penn State finished within the CCT cutoff, but after further evaluation and with a head-to-head win over the Crimson Tide, I believed USC managed to stay a cut above to keep sole honors as champion.

Co-champion Consideration Threshold: 0.0297; CCT Rating Cutoff: 0.6953

Rank	Team	Rating
1	So. California (C)	0.7251
2	Penn State	0.7090
3	Alabama (AP)	0.7081
4	Oklahoma	0.6779
5	Clemson	0.6772
6	Michigan	0.6758
7	Notre Dame	0.6630
8	Ball State	0.6565
9	Texas	0.6477
10	Nebraska	0.6391
11	Arkansas	0.6368
12	Houston	0.6286
13	Central Michigan	0.6279
14	Michigan State	0.6230
15	North Texas	0.6199
16	Rutgers	0.6198
17	Georgia	0.6141
18	Stanford	0.6121
19	Maryland	0.6117
20	Purdue	0.6088
21	Missouri	0.6049
22	Florida State	0.6031
23	East Carolina	0.6030
24	NC State	0.6009
25	Tulsa	0.6006
26	Arizona State	0.5991
27	Washington	0.5945
28	UCLA	0.5927
29	Navy	0.5882
30	Yale	0.5857
31	Pittsburgh	0.5835
32	Miami, OH	0.5830
33	Brigham Young	0.5821
34	Utah	0.5797
35	Chattanooga	0.5775
36	Louisville	0.5748
37	Furman	0.5729
38	Southern Mississippi	0.5691
39	LSU	0.5681
40	Temple	0.5679
41	Ohio State	0.5674
42	Dartmouth	0.5673
43	Brown	0.5653
44	Texas Tech	0.5617
45	Texas A&M	0.5592
46	Louisiana Tech	0.5551
47	Mississippi State	0.5547
48	Arkansas State	0.5495
49	Iowa State	0.5468
50	Georgia Tech	0.5443
51	Auburn	0.5422
52	Utah State	0.5390
53	McNeese State	0.5385
54	Lousiana-Monroe	0.5381
55	New Mexico	0.5367
56	South Carolina	0.5352
57	Western Michigan	0.5331
58	Appalachian State	0.5330
59	UNLV	0.5309
60	Cornell	0.5301
61	Tennessee	0.5281
62	Hawaii	0.5267
63	California	0.5239
64	Cincinnati	0.5213
65	SMU	0.5191
66	Holy Cross	0.5177
67	Western Carolina	0.5165
68	Colorado	0.5153
69	Miami, FL	0.5138
70	Florida	0.5110
71	San Jose State	0.5099
72	Arizona	0.5063
73	North Carolina	0.5055
74	William & Mary	0.4987
75	Wyoming	0.4983
76	Texas-Arlington	0.4967
77	New Mexico State	0.4947
78	Harvard	0.4945
79	Kentucky	0.4940
80	Southern Illinois	0.4821
81	Mississippi	0.4809
82	The Citadel	0.4785
83	Wisconsin	0.4754
84	Bowling Green	0.4702
85	Villanova	0.4654
86	Northern Illinois	0.4652
87	Colorado State	0.4645
88	Baylor	0.4643
89	Cal State – Fullerton	0.4599
90	Memphis	0.4533
91	Indiana	0.4531
92	Oklahoma State	0.4531
93	Kansas State	0.4523
94	Drake	0.4514
95	Minnesota	0.4512
96	Virginia Tech	0.4510
97	Washington State	0.4508
98	Long Beach State	0.4484
99	Duke	0.4472
100	San Diego State	0.4467
101	Tulane	0.4459
102	Princeton	0.4447
103	Columbia	0.4445
104	Northwestern State	0.4426
105	Oregon State	0.4411
106	Syracuse	0.4397
107	Pacific	0.4352
108	Richmond	0.4327
109	Wichita State	0.4317
110	Pennsylvania	0.4268
111	West Texas A&M	0.4228
112	Oregon	0.4189
113	Louisiana-Lafayette	0.4154
114	Army	0.4123
115	Kent State	0.4123
116	Rice	0.4032
117	Colgate	0.4023
118	Fresno State	0.3967
119	Ohio	0.3955
120	Indiana State	0.3934
121	VMI	0.3902
122	West Virginia	0.3877
123	Lamar	0.3853
124	Iowa	0.3847
125	Vanderbilt	0.3821
126	Air Force	0.3812
127	Eastern Michigan	0.3790
128	Virginia	0.3773
129	Kansas	0.3729
130	Toledo	0.3690
131	TCU	0.3689
132	Illinois	0.3684
133	Wake Forest	0.3618
134	Illinois State	0.3602
135	Marshall	0.3513
136	UTEP	0.3457
137	Boston College	0.3181
138	Northwestern	0.3086

Best Win Percentage: Southern California
Best SOS: Notre Dame
Best Score Ratio: Michigan