1972 saw 1-loss Oklahoma finish atop the RPR following their Sugar Bowl win over Penn State. The Sooners had the best Score Ratio and Top 10 finishes in Win % and SOS. Unanimous poll champion USC and Texas both finished within the CCT cutoff. The Longhorns didn’t warrant serious consideration, but the Trojans’ body of work was nip and tuck. I could’ve gone either way with this one, but with USC’s resume being what it was, and that Oklahoma’s resume was tainted with use of ineligible players, I decided that the Trojans deserved to share top honors with the Sooners.

Note: I rated 119 teams instead of 127, which most rating systems rate for the 1972 season. Based on NCAA Football Record books, the following schools weren’t considered “major college”/FBS-equivalent for 1972 and were not rated: Appalachian State, Chattanooga, Drake, Fresno State, Furman, Long Beach State, Southern Illinois, and Tampa.

Co-champion Consideration Threshold: 0.0353; CCT Rating Cutoff: 0.7040

Rank	Team	Adj Rating
T-1	Oklahoma	0.7351(0.7392)
T-1	USC (AP/C)	0.7351(0.7309)
3	Texas	0.7087
4	Tennessee	0.6975
5	Auburn	0.6957
6	Alabama	0.6934
7	Nebraska	0.6914
8	Michigan	0.6864
9	North Carolina	0.6592
10	LSU	0.6505
11	Louisville	0.6494
12	Penn State	0.6444
13	San Diego State	0.6407
14	Dartmouth	0.6320
15	Ohio State	0.6289
16	Yale	0.6230
17	NC State	0.6141
18	UCLA	0.6110
19	Arizona State	0.5988
20	Notre Dame	0.5975
21	East Carolina	0.5973
22	Pacific	0.5931
23	Georgia	0.5898
24	Colorado	0.5896
25	Florida	0.5880
26	Texas Tech	0.5870
27	Washington	0.5851
28	Utah State	0.5838
29	Bowling Green	0.5829
30	Cornell	0.5823
31	SMU	0.5750
32	Georgia Tech	0.5694
33	Pennsylvania	0.5642
34	Miami, OH	0.5634
35	Stanford	0.5596
36	Washington St	0.5557
37	Oklahoma State	0.5554
38	Rutgers	0.5545
39	W. Michigan	0.5543
40	West Virginia	0.5532
41	Mississippi	0.5510
42	Purdue	0.5503
43	Miami, FL	0.5470
44	Houston	0.5444
45	Air Force	0.5377
46	Arkansas	0.5369
47	Kent State	0.5347
48	Florida State	0.5341
49	Northern Illinois	0.5318
50	Tulane	0.5314
51	Iowa State	0.5304
52	Baylor	0.5294
53	Virginia Tech	0.5288
54	Michigan State	0.5267
55	Richmond	0.5264
56	Rice	0.5251
57	Harvard	0.5247
58	Army	0.5130
59	Toledo	0.5124
60	Missouri	0.5101
61	Duke	0.5072
62	Columbia	0.5061
63	Utah	0.5059
64	Colgate	0.5028
65	TCU	0.5011
66	Maryland	0.5005
67	Holy Cross	0.5003
68	Memphis	0.4993
69	Brigham Young	0.4991
70	Princeton	0.4809
71	Mississippi State	0.4767
72	Oregon	0.4743
73	West Texas A&M	0.4688
74	William & Mary	0.4681
75	Kansas	0.4681
76	Dayton	0.4677
77	Texas A&M	0.4672
78	Navy	0.4624
79	Temple	0.4616
80	California	0.4607
81	Syracuse	0.4591
82	South Carolina	0.4584
83	Illinois	0.4570
84	Idaho	0.4545
85	Indiana	0.4541
86	Clemson	0.4530
87	Southern Miss	0.4530
88	San Jose State	0.4505
89	Boston College	0.4500
90	Minnesota	0.4479
91	The Citadel	0.4472
92	Arizona	0.4440
93	Tulsa	0.4416
94	Kentucky	0.4406
95	Virginia	0.4362
96	Wisconsin	0.4341
97	Texas-Arlington	0.4332
98	Kansas State	0.4321
99	Wichita State	0.4282
100	Wyoming	0.4227
101	Oregon State	0.4154
102	Vanderbilt	0.4149
103	Iowa	0.4123
104	Ohio	0.3990
105	New Mexico	0.3955
106	Brown	0.3910
107	Pittsburgh	0.3688
108	Northwestern	0.3668
109	Wake Forest	0.3602
110	Marshall	0.3568
111	Davidson	0.3558
112	UTEP	0.3464
113	VMI	0.3452
114	New Mexico St.	0.3437
115	Villanova	0.3418
116	Cincinnati	0.3336
117	Xavier	0.3305
118	North Texas	0.3249
119	Colorado State	0.3162

Best Win Percentage: USC
Best SOS: Auburn
Best Score Ratio: Oklahoma