1982 saw Penn State finish atop the initial RPR after winning their 1st national championship in the major polls following a Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia. The Nittany Lions were boosted by having the nation’s best SOS and tying for the 3rd-best Win %. Orange Bowl champion Nebraska and Georgia finished within the CCT cutoff. When taking a deep dive, the Huskers warranted a closer look. Nebraska had the 2nd-best Win % and best Score Ratio; in addition, the head-to-head match-up between the 2 teams (won by Penn State) was impacted by a controversial play. When taking that into consideration, the Huskers would’ve been the top team had the result in that game been a win or tie without that play standing. So taking all things into consideration, I felt that naming the Nittany Lions and Huskers co-champions was the best route to take.

Co-champion Consideration Threshold: 0.0383; CCT Rating Cutoff: 0.6864

Rank	Team	Adj. Rating
T-1	Penn St. (AP/C)	0.7151 (0.7248)
T-1	Nebraska	0.7151 (0.7055)
3	Georgia	0.6901
4	Pittsburgh	0.6628
5	UCLA	0.6615
6	So. Methodist	0.6565
7	Clemson	0.6549
8	Florida State	0.6531
9	Arizona State	0.6464
10	So. California	0.6446
11	West Virginia	0.6426
12	Arkansas	0.6420
13	Washington	0.6405
14	Tulsa	0.6344
15	Auburn	0.6321
16	North Carolina	0.6307
17	Texas	0.6261
18	Alabama	0.6222
19	Maryland	0.6206
20	New Mexico	0.6201
21	Fresno State	0.6195
22	Florida	0.6158
23	Boston College	0.6144
24	Oklahoma	0.6015
25	Brigham Young	0.5992
26	Louisiana State	0.5977
27	Ohio State	0.5952
28	Miami, FL	0.5937
29	W. Michigan	0.5875
30	Michigan	0.5836
31	So. Mississippi	0.5817
32	Vanderbilt	0.5732
33	Arizona	0.5714
34	Notre Dame	0.5705
35	San Jose State	0.5692
36	California	0.5640
37	Air Force	0.5583
38	Wichita State	0.5535
39	San Diego State	0.5471
40	East Carolina	0.5467
41	Illinois	0.5467
42	Bowling Green	0.5466
43	Iowa	0.5437
44	Kansas State	0.5418
45	NC State	0.5405
46	Stanford	0.5400
47	Cincinnati	0.5399
48	Miami, OH	0.5371
49	Wisconsin	0.5369
50	Duke	0.5339
51	Hawaii	0.5304
52	Mississippi St.	0.5296
53	Missouri	0.5286
54	Virginia Tech	0.5269
55	Tennessee	0.5242
56	Navy	0.5190
57	C. Michigan	0.5179
58	Temple	0.5146
59	Long Beach St.	0.5135
60	Georgia Tech	0.5114
61	Houston	0.5103
62	Utah	0.5097
63	Toledo	0.5057
64	Oklahoma State	0.4973
65	Texas A&M	0.4972
66	South Carolina	0.4894
67	Rutgers	0.4882
68	LA-Lafayette	0.4800
69	Wyoming	0.4788
70	N. Illinois	0.4769
71	Texas Tech	0.4759
72	Mississippi	0.4756
73	Baylor	0.4724
74	Iowa State	0.4706
75	Army	0.4695
76	Indiana	0.4679
77	Utah State	0.4677
78	Louisville	0.4602
79	Ball State	0.4569
80	Colorado State	0.4526
81	Tulane	0.4512
82	Ohio	0.4501
83	Wake Forest	0.4428
84	Oregon	0.4408
85	Syracuse	0.4370
86	UNLV	0.4270
87	Washington St.	0.4265
88	Texas Christian	0.4216
89	Minnesota	0.4178
90	New Mexico St.	0.4162
91	Virginia	0.4145
92	Kansas	0.4141
93	Purdue	0.4134
94	Colorado	0.4118
95	Michigan State	0.4105
96	Northwestern	0.4010
97	Texas-El Paso	0.3938
98	Oregon State	0.3902
99	Pacific	0.3879
100	Cal St. Fullerton	0.3875
101	Kentucky	0.3737
102	Memphis	0.3596
103	Rice	0.3461
104	E. Michigan	0.3416
105	Kent State	0.3033

Best Win Percentage: Southern Methodist
Best SOS: Penn State
Best Score Ratio: Nebraska