he New York Times's computer football ranking is based on an analysis of each team's scores with emphasis on three factors: who won, by what margin and against what quality of opposition. The quality of an opponent is determined by examining its record against other teams. The Times's computer model collapses runaway scores and takes note of a home-field advantage. Recent games count more than earlier games. Bowl games count as one and a half times a regular season game.
The top team is assigned a rating of 1.000; the ratings of all other teams are percentages reflecting their strength relative to the top team. This week, for example, there is a fairly small difference between Oklahoma (no. 1) and U.C.L.A (2), but the difference between U.C.L.A. (2) and Nebraska (3) is much smaller.
| OPPONENTS'
PERFORMANCES
|
| RANK | TEAM | PREVIOUS
RANK | W | L | AVERAGE
SCORING
MARGIN | RATING | W | L | AVERAGE
SCORING
MARGIN* |
| 1 | Oklahoma | -- | 6 | 0 | 20.3 | 1.000 | 18 | 9 | 7.6 |
| 2 | U.C.L.A. | -- | 5 | 0 | 17.4 | 0.986 | 14 | 7 | 7.8 |
| 3 | Nebraska | -- | 7 | 0 | 30.3 | 0.982 | 20 | 10 | 4.9 |
| 4 | Virginia Tech | -- | 6 | 0 | 34.0 | 0.922 | 16 | 14 | 2.9 |
| 5 | Michigan | -- | 5 | 1 | 14.8 | 0.912 | 20 | 6 | 7.1 |
| 6 | Maryland | -- | 6 | 0 | 17.5 | 0.879 | 17 | 14 | 1.0 |
| 7 | Stanford | -- | 3 | 1 | 9.5 | 0.861 | 14 | 5 | 15.4 |
| 8 | Tennessee | -- | 3 | 1 | 10.0 | 0.856 | 14 | 5 | 7.7 |
| 9 | Oregon | -- | 6 | 0 | 18.7 | 0.852 | 13 | 15 | -2.5 |
| 10 | Texas | -- | 5 | 1 | 23.8 | 0.848 | 17 | 13 | 3.3 |
| 11 | Auburn | -- | 5 | 1 | 4.5 | 0.817 | 16 | 11 | 8.7 |
| 12 | Colorado | -- | 5 | 1 | 15.3 | 0.815 | 16 | 11 | 3.2 |
| 13 | Georgia | -- | 4 | 1 | 10.4 | 0.800 | 12 | 9 | 2.4 |
| 14 | North Carolina | -- | 4 | 3 | -1.6 | 0.791 | 26 | 7 | 13.5 |
| 15 | Washington St. | -- | 6 | 0 | 20.2 | 0.790 | 11 | 15 | -6.5 |
| 16 | Clemson | -- | 4 | 1 | 8.2 | 0.785 | 14 | 9 | 10.5 |
| 17 | Florida | -- | 5 | 1 | 32.7 | 0.782 | 13 | 12 | 0.8 |
| 18 | Iowa St. | -- | 4 | 1 | 12.2 | 0.776 | 16 | 7 | 9.9 |
| 19 | Miami (Fla.) | -- | 5 | 0 | 32.4 | 0.768 | 7 | 13 | -5.2 |
| 20 | Fresno St. | -- | 6 | 0 | 11.0 | 0.766 | 17 | 11 | 4.9 |
| 21 | Utah | -- | 4 | 1 | 8.8 | 0.754 | 11 | 12 | 2.4 |
| 22 | Syracuse | -- | 5 | 2 | 7.3 | 0.739 | 18 | 14 | 4.4 |
| 23 | Air Force | -- | 4 | 1 | 8.4 | 0.729 | 12 | 11 | -1.5 |
| 24 | Michigan St. | -- | 3 | 1 | 5.8 | 0.726 | 10 | 6 | 3.9 |
| 24 | Texas A&M | -- | 5 | 1 | 8.8 | 0.726 | 16 | 12 | 4.6 |
| 26 | South Carolina | -- | 5 | 1 | 10.0 | 0.721 | 14 | 14 | 1.1 |
| 27 | B.Y.U. | -- | 6 | 0 | 22.7 | 0.714 | 7 | 21 | -6.5 |
| 28 | Mississippi | -- | 4 | 1 | 12.2 | 0.701 | 11 | 12 | -1.7 |
| 29 | Purdue | -- | 4 | 1 | 5.2 | 0.690 | 13 | 9 | 6.0 |
| 30 | Illinois | -- | 5 | 1 | 10.5 | 0.684 | 13 | 14 | 0.4 |
| 31 | Washington | -- | 4 | 1 | 7.8 | 0.673 | 11 | 12 | -1.0 |
| 32 | Georgia Tech | -- | 4 | 2 | 19.7 | 0.659 | 14 | 14 | 1.2 |
| 33 | Ohio St. | -- | 3 | 2 | 7.0 | 0.656 | 14 | 9 | 3.5 |
| 34 | Alabama | -- | 3 | 3 | 11.0 | 0.655 | 17 | 10 | 5.4 |
| 35 | Central Florida | -- | 3 | 3 | 6.0 | 0.636 | 18 | 12 | 8.4 |
| 36 | Boston College | -- | 4 | 2 | 9.2 | 0.630 | 12 | 13 | 1.2 |
| 37 | Northwestern | -- | 4 | 1 | 7.0 | 0.629 | 8 | 13 | -2.8 |
| 38 | Wisconsin | -- | 4 | 3 | -0.6 | 0.608 | 20 | 11 | 5.8 |
| 39 | Oregon St. | -- | 2 | 3 | -3.6 | 0.602 | 20 | 5 | 5.1 |
| 40 | Notre Dame | -- | 2 | 3 | -3.6 | 0.601 | 15 | 8 | 7.7 |
| 41 | Arkansas | -- | 3 | 3 | -2.0 | 0.590 | 15 | 12 | 5.3 |
| 42 | Kansas | -- | 2 | 3 | -9.2 | 0.577 | 18 | 5 | 9.8 |
| 43 | North Carolina St. | -- | 3 | 2 | 3.4 | 0.558 | 11 | 12 | -2.7 |
| 43 | Rice | -- | 5 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.558 | 12 | 16 | -0.9 |
| 45 | Texas Tech | -- | 3 | 2 | 4.2 | 0.555 | 10 | 12 | 2.4 |
| 46 | Florida St. | -- | 3 | 2 | 6.8 | 0.548 | 12 | 13 | 2.3 |
| 47 | Kansas St. | -- | 2 | 3 | 7.6 | 0.543 | 16 | 9 | 9.3 |
| 48 | Iowa | -- | 3 | 2 | 14.0 | 0.540 | 11 | 9 | -0.7 |
| 49 | Missouri | -- | 2 | 3 | -1.8 | 0.538 | 18 | 7 | 12.7 |
| 50 | Southern California | -- | 2 | 4 | 4.7 | 0.526 | 14 | 10 | 8.0 |
* The cumulative records and average margin of victory of each ranked team's opponents do not include the games against the ranked team.
