1973 saw Notre Dame – champions of the AP, FWAA, and NFF – top the RPR after a Sugar Bowl victory of pre-bowl Coaches Poll champ Alabama. The Irish tied for the best Win % and 3rd-best Score Ratio. Six additional teams (most since 2007) finished within the CCT cutoff; however, none of them had enough in their body of work to sway me to award co-champion status.

Note: I rated 125 teams instead of 129, which most rating systems rate for the 1973 season. Based on NCAA Football Record books, the following schools weren’t considered “major college”/FBS-equivalent for 1973 and were not rated: Chattanooga, Lamar, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Texas-Arlington.

Co-champion Consideration Threshold: 0.0339; CCT Rating Cutoff: 0.6954

Rank	Team	Rating
1	Notre Dame (AP/F/N)	0.7293
2	Oklahoma	0.7266
3	Alabama (C)	0.7218
4	Miami, OH	0.7194
5	Penn State	0.7104
6	Ohio State	0.7080
7	Michigan	0.6906
8	Houston	0.6772
9	Kent State	0.6748
10	Nebraska	0.6742
11	Texas Tech	0.6640
12	Arizona State	0.6509
13	San Diego State	0.6508
14	Louisiana State	0.6480
15	Southern California	0.6347
16	Texas	0.6311
17	NC State	0.6254
18	East Carolina	0.6246
19	UCLA	0.6219
20	Richmond	0.6218
21	Temple	0.6149
22	Missouri	0.5999
23	Georgia	0.5942
24	Maryland	0.5936
25	Oklahoma State	0.5933
26	Tulane	0.5918
27	Harvard	0.5880
28	Bowling Green	0.5858
29	Kansas	0.5817
30	Memphis	0.5775
31	Boston College	0.5755
32	Yale	0.5737
33	Pacific	0.5729
34	Tennessee	0.5716
35	Arizona	0.5671
36	Dartmouth	0.5656
37	South Carolina	0.5636
38	Southern Mississippi	0.5625
39	Florida	0.5615
40	Pennsylvania	0.5613
41	Mississippi	0.5601
42	Stanford	0.5568
43	Utah State	0.5521
44	Tampa	0.5507
45	Utah	0.5484
46	Minnesota	0.5426
47	Pittsburgh	0.5419
48	Auburn	0.5405
49	San Jose State	0.5288
50	Air Force	0.5278
51	Colorado	0.5271
52	Furman	0.5267
53	Kentucky	0.5244
54	Ohio	0.5235
55	SMU	0.5228
56	Kansas State	0.5228
57	Brown	0.5210
58	Texas A&M	0.5186
59	Rice	0.5170
60	Cincinnati	0.5157
61	Tulsa	0.5151
62	Western Michigan	0.5144
63	Iowa State	0.5133
64	Miami, FL	0.5063
65	Mississippi State	0.5019
66	West Virginia	0.5016
67	Vanderbilt	0.5005
68	Arkansas	0.4978
69	Rutgers	0.4965
70	Washington State	0.4958
71	Illinois	0.4945
72	Navy	0.4942
73	Purdue	0.4916
74	Brigham Young	0.4894
75	Northern Illinois	0.4869
76	Georgia Tech	0.4848
77	Louisville	0.4831
78	Holy Cross	0.4830
79	Marshall	0.4795
80	Colgate	0.4790
81	Michigan State	0.4745
82	Cornell	0.4744
83	Wyoming	0.4741
84	New Mexico	0.4728
85	William & Mary	0.4687
86	North Carolina	0.4678
87	Colorado State	0.4677
88	Wisconsin	0.4675
89	Clemson	0.4642
90	Dayton	0.4637
91	Toledo	0.4605
92	Northwestern	0.4413
93	Xavier	0.4410
94	TCU	0.4393
95	North Texas	0.4372
96	Southern Illinois	0.4372
97	Villanova	0.4361
98	Oregon	0.4348
99	California	0.4318
100	New Mexico State	0.4313
101	Virginia	0.4150
102	Appalachian State	0.4144
103	Indiana	0.4034
104	Baylor	0.3940
105	Virginia Tech	0.3936
106	Oregon State	0.3911
107	Duke	0.3894
108	Syracuse	0.3837
109	The Citadel	0.3832
110	Long Beach State	0.3734
111	Fresno State	0.3726
112	VMI	0.3716
113	Wichita State	0.3677
114	Princeton	0.3650
115	Idaho	0.3637
116	Iowa	0.3542
117	Davidson	0.3541
118	Washington	0.3509
119	Drake	0.3360
120	West Texas A&M	0.3355
121	Columbia	0.3324
122	Wake Forest	0.3173
123	Army	0.3105
124	Florida State	0.3066
125	UTEP	0.2888

Best Win Percentage: Miami (OH)/Notre Dame/Penn State
Best SOS: Nebraska
Best Score Ratio: Ohio State