1976 saw one of the century’s early powerhouse programs return to the mountaintop, as consensus poll champion Pittsburgh finished atop the RPR for the year. The Panthers tied for the best Win % and had the 3rd-best Score Ratio to end up pacing the field. 3 teams (Southern California, Michigan, and Maryland) finished in the CCT cutoff, but neither of them had enough to warrant a co-champion share with Pitt. The Panthers were the 1st Eastern team and non-Notre Dame independent to claim a national title since Syracuse in 1959.

Note: I rated 136 teams instead of 137, which most rating systems rate for the 1976 season. Based on NCAA Football Record books, the following schools wasn’t considered “major college”/FBS-equivalent for 1976 and were not rated: Chattanooga.

Co-champion Consideration Threshold: 0.0288; CCT Rating Cutoff: 0.6748

Rank	Team	Rating
1	Pittsburgh (AP/C)	0.7036
2	Southern California	0.6862
3	Michigan	0.6804
4	Maryland	0.6772
5	Georgia	0.6689
6	Rutgers	0.6668
7	East Carolina	0.6557
8	Ohio State	0.6538
9	Yale	0.6536
10	Texas A&M	0.6520
11	Houston	0.6485
12	Texas Tech	0.6372
13	Oklahoma	0.6366
14	Alabama	0.6329
15	UCLA	0.6322
16	Brown	0.6289
17	Nebraska	0.6281
18	Mississippi State	0.6274
19	Oklahoma State	0.6242
20	Notre Dame	0.6233
21	San Diego State	0.6169
22	Louisiana-Lafayette	0.6124
23	Iowa State	0.6086
24	Kentucky	0.6061
25	Cincinnati	0.6047
26	Colorado	0.6001
27	McNeese State	0.5986
28	Florida	0.5978
29	Appalachian State	0.5935
30	Dartmouth	0.5912
31	Missouri	0.5834
32	Furman	0.5811
33	William & Mary	0.5774
34	Harvard	0.5725
35	Brigham Young	0.5696
36	Boston College	0.5692
37	North Carolina	0.5689
38	Penn State	0.5686
39	Ball State	0.5655
40	Baylor	0.5655
41	LSU	0.5557
42	Colgate	0.5539
43	Tulsa	0.5532
44	San Jose State	0.5489
45	Ohio	0.5489
46	Richmond	0.5456
47	South Carolina	0.5417
48	Kent State	0.5408
49	Kansas	0.5402
50	Western Michigan	0.5374
51	Villanova	0.5368
52	Long Beach State	0.5358
53	Texas	0.5358
54	Virginia Tech	0.5327
55	The Citadel	0.5324
56	North Texas	0.5306
57	Memphis	0.5290
58	Louisiana Tech	0.5287
59	Arkansas	0.5284
60	Bowling Green	0.5267
61	Tennessee	0.5267
62	Wyoming	0.5238
63	Stanford	0.5210
64	West Virginia	0.5167
65	Southern Illinois	0.5155
66	California	0.5145
67	Fresno State	0.5139
68	Duke	0.5131
69	Central Michigan	0.5123
70	Illinois	0.5120
71	Minnesota	0.5082
72	Northwestern State	0.5015
73	Arkansas State	0.5010
74	Washington	0.4972
75	Purdue	0.4957
76	Wisconsin	0.4956
77	VMI	0.4904
78	Miami, FL	0.4897
79	Navy	0.4878
80	Army	0.4861
81	Mississippi	0.4849
82	Michigan State	0.4820
83	Colorado State	0.4797
84	Louisville	0.4795
85	Wake Forest	0.4789
86	Arizona	0.4748
87	Georgia Tech	0.4745
88	Clemson	0.4717
89	Florida State	0.4696
90	Iowa	0.4696
91	NC State	0.4696
92	New Mexico	0.4662
93	Temple	0.4654
94	West Texas A&M	0.4643
95	Texas-Arlington	0.4611
96	Auburn	0.4591
97	Indiana	0.4557
98	Arizona State	0.4531
99	Columbia	0.4515
100	Cornell	0.4457
101	Illinois State	0.4433
102	SMU	0.4406
103	Air Force	0.4383
104	Marshall	0.4382
105	Miami, OH	0.4374
106	Cal St – Fullerton	0.4307
107	Rice	0.4266
108	Washington State	0.4255
109	Pennsylvania	0.4253
110	Oregon	0.4245
111	Holy Cross	0.4240
112	Princeton	0.4227
113	Syracuse	0.4184
114	Utah State	0.4175
115	Southern Mississippi	0.4144
116	Toledo	0.4141
117	Dayton	0.4069
118	Indiana State	0.4059
119	Wichita State	0.4035
120	Kansas State	0.4032
121	Vanderbilt	0.3991
122	Tulane	0.3965
123	Eastern Michigan	0.3938
124	New Mexico State	0.3926
125	Utah	0.3909
126	Lousiana-Monroe	0.3825
127	Virginia	0.3811
128	Pacific	0.3798
129	Oregon State	0.3793
130	Lamar	0.3620
131	Northwestern	0.3558
132	Drake	0.3503
133	Hawaii	0.3402
134	UTEP	0.3383
135	TCU	0.3278
136	Northern Illinois	0.3008

Best Win Percentage: Pittsburgh/Rutgers
Best SOS: Missouri
Best Score Ratio: Michigan