1977
So my calculation for 1977 spit out a rather unusual result, with HBCU Tennessee State finishing atop the RPR over consensus national champion Notre Dame. However, a deep dive into the bodies of work obviously opens me up for ridicule for a couple reasons.
A) Tennessee State played 5 non-FBS teams, the most percentage-wise of FBS teams and tied for most of the teams. With the focus on the FBS teams and the formula limiting the impact on non-FBS games, that bumped the math in the Tigers’ favor (especially considering 4 of their 5 FBS opponents had winning records).
B) The Tigers also had a loss to non-FBS Florida A&M, which is the biggest knock to TSU. To be fair, the Rattlers weren’t slouches – they were the only undefeated team in all levels of the NCAA this year and won the inaugural Division I-AA/FCS national championship the following year.
I found myself in a quandary: do I restrict Tennessee State due to these things (like Joseph Dise’s rating system did), or do I continue as normal & open myself up for ridicule for keeping the Tigers #1? When doing my normal examination for co-champion consideration, Notre Dame easily surpassed Tennessee State in the categories to warrant co-champion status. In addition, the Irish – in a scenario that removes Tennessee State – stayed ahead of anyone else that would’ve fell within the cutoff. I think I’m just going to bite the bullet with keeping TSU in the top spot to recognize the good things they did do, but with the Irish being co-champions.
Co-champion Consideration Threshold: 0.0270; CCT Rating Cutoff: 0.7049
| Rank | Team | Adj. Rating |
| T-1 | Tennessee St. | 0.7238 (0.7319) |
| T-1 | Notre Dame (AP/C) | 0.7238 (0.7156) |
| 3 | Penn State | 0.7087 |
| 4 | Texas | 0.6973 |
| 5 | Pittsburgh | 0.6928 |
| 6 | Arkansas | 0.6894 |
| 7 | Alabama | 0.6885 |
| 8 | Grambling State | 0.6788 |
| 9 | Kentucky | 0.6757 |
| 10 | Michigan | 0.6579 |
| 11 | Oklahoma | 0.6495 |
| 12 | San Diego State | 0.6489 |
| 13 | Fresno State | 0.6450 |
| 14 | Ohio State | 0.6388 |
| 15 | Florida State | 0.6379 |
| 16 | Louisiana Tech | 0.6352 |
| 17 | North Texas | 0.6252 |
| 18 | Central Michigan | 0.6245 |
| 19 | Nebraska | 0.6219 |
| 20 | Jackson State | 0.6185 |
| 21 | Yale | 0.6163 |
| 22 | North Carolina | 0.6124 |
| 23 | Brigham Young | 0.6085 |
| 24 | Chattanooga | 0.6080 |
| 25 | So. California | 0.6078 |
| 26 | Miami, OH | 0.6063 |
| 27 | Ball State | 0.6047 |
| 28 | Rutgers | 0.6036 |
| 29 | Washington | 0.6022 |
| 30 | Colgate | 0.5994 |
| 31 | Colorado | 0.5935 |
| 32 | Clemson | 0.5929 |
| 33 | Colorado State | 0.5922 |
| 34 | NC State | 0.5909 |
| 35 | Arizona State | 0.5902 |
| 36 | Michigan State | 0.5855 |
| 37 | Brown | 0.5844 |
| 38 | LSU | 0.5808 |
| 39 | Maryland | 0.5754 |
| 40 | East Carolina | 0.5737 |
| 41 | Texas A&M | 0.5728 |
| 42 | Stanford | 0.5726 |
| 43 | Iowa State | 0.5711 |
| 44 | Texas Southern | 0.5693 |
| 45 | UCLA | 0.5646 |
| 46 | Army | 0.5642 |
| 47 | Texas Tech | 0.5600 |
| 48 | Eastern Michigan | 0.5591 |
| 49 | California | 0.5515 |
| 50 | Houston | 0.5472 |
| 51 | LA-Lafayette | 0.5459 |
| 52 | Louisville | 0.5457 |
| 53 | Florida | 0.5440 |
| 54 | Dartmouth | 0.5437 |
| 55 | VMI | 0.5426 |
| 56 | Cincinnati | 0.5400 |
| 57 | Washington St. | 0.5380 |
| 58 | Minnesota | 0.5349 |
| 59 | Syracuse | 0.5308 |
| 60 | William & Mary | 0.5297 |
| 61 | Memphis | 0.5281 |
| 62 | So. Mississippi | 0.5263 |
| 63 | Pacific | 0.5257 |
| 64 | Navy | 0.5246 |
| 65 | Mississippi State | 0.5224 |
| 66 | Baylor | 0.5221 |
| 67 | Temple | 0.5180 |
| 68 | Mississippi | 0.5135 |
| 69 | Indiana | 0.5132 |
| 70 | West Texas A&M | 0.5128 |
| 71 | Northwestern St. | 0.5128 |
| 72 | Pennsylvania | 0.5120 |
| 73 | Duke | 0.5096 |
| 74 | West Virginia | 0.5091 |
| 75 | Georgia Tech | 0.5084 |
| 76 | Boston College | 0.5081 |
| 77 | Auburn | 0.5079 |
| 78 | Western Carolina | 0.5069 |
| 79 | Kent State | 0.5053 |
| 80 | Arkansas State | 0.5018 |
| 81 | Miss. Valley St. | 0.5008 |
| 82 | Texas-Arlington | 0.5008 |
| 83 | McNeese State | 0.4974 |
| 84 | Harvard | 0.4928 |
| 85 | Missouri | 0.4921 |
| 86 | South Carolina | 0.4921 |
| 87 | Arizona | 0.4896 |
| 88 | Bowling Green | 0.4871 |
| 89 | Hawaii | 0.4866 |
| 90 | The Citadel | 0.4862 |
| 91 | Georgia | 0.4856 |
| 92 | Utah State | 0.4839 |
| 93 | Tennessee | 0.4816 |
| 94 | Villanova | 0.4804 |
| 95 | Princeton | 0.4794 |
| 96 | San Jose State | 0.4774 |
| 97 | Purdue | 0.4748 |
| 98 | Oklahoma State | 0.4747 |
| 99 | SMU | 0.4731 |
| 100 | Illinois State | 0.4680 |
| 101 | Iowa | 0.4664 |
| 102 | New Mexico | 0.4650 |
| 103 | Long Beach St. | 0.4637 |
| 104 | Cal St – Fullerton | 0.4607 |
| 105 | W. Michigan | 0.4606 |
| 106 | Southern | 0.4536 |
| 107 | Furman | 0.4532 |
| 108 | Virginia Tech | 0.4524 |
| 109 | Wisconsin | 0.4508 |
| 110 | Wichita State | 0.4488 |
| 111 | Miami, FL | 0.4481 |
| 112 | Wyoming | 0.4464 |
| 113 | Alcorn State | 0.4367 |
| 114 | Kansas | 0.4287 |
| 115 | Tulane | 0.4272 |
| 116 | New Mexico St. | 0.4236 |
| 117 | Utah | 0.4216 |
| 118 | Illinois | 0.4148 |
| 119 | Oregon State | 0.4143 |
| 120 | Columbia | 0.4124 |
| 121 | Richmond | 0.4029 |
| 122 | Indiana State | 0.4000 |
| 123 | Prairie View A&M | 0.3989 |
| 124 | Tulsa | 0.3949 |
| 125 | Air Force | 0.3902 |
| 126 | Northern Illinois | 0.3895 |
| 127 | Holy Cross | 0.3849 |
| 128 | Vanderbilt | 0.3832 |
| 129 | Kansas State | 0.3785 |
| 130 | TCU | 0.3783 |
| 131 | Oregon | 0.3774 |
| 132 | Cornell | 0.3774 |
| 133 | Appalachian St. | 0.3763 |
| 134 | Toledo | 0.3644 |
| 135 | Lamar | 0.3626 |
| 136 | Marshall | 0.3592 |
| 137 | Rice | 0.3556 |
| 138 | Ohio | 0.3549 |
| 139 | LA-Monroe | 0.3517 |
| 140 | Southern Illinois | 0.3514 |
| 141 | Northwestern | 0.3498 |
| 142 | UTEP | 0.3470 |
| 143 | Virginia | 0.3429 |
| 144 | Drake | 0.3405 |
| 145 | Wake Forest | 0.3270 |
Best Win Percentage: Alabama/Arkansas/Notre Dame/Penn State/Texas
Best SOS: Tennessee State (formula)
Best SR: Arkansas