1887 Final College Football Team Rankings
1887 rankings calculated with the Classic formula (Ken's 2016-based hybrid, applied retroactively); records, NOW and game results come from James Howell's historical college football score archive.
| Rank | Change | Rating | Team | Conf | Record | Win % | Place | NOW | Game Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | -3.065 |  Harvard (HARVARD) | IND FBSI | 10–1 | 0.909 | 2 | +35 | Lost to Yale 8–17 |
| 2 | 1 | -2.651 |  Princeton (PRINCETON) | IND FBSI | 7–2 | 0.778 | 4 | +34 | BYE |
| 3 | -1 | -2.513 |  Yale (YALE) | IND FBSI | 9–0 | 1.000 | 1 | +40 | Beat Harvard 17–8 |
| 4 | 0 | -1.904 |  Dartmouth (DARTMOUTH) | IND FBSI | 3–1–1 | 0.700 | 6 | +9 | BYE |
| 5 | 0 | -0.009 |  M.i.t. (M.I.T.) | IND FBSI | 5–1 | 0.833 | 3 | +12 | Beat Tufts 36–0 |
| 6 | 0 | 1.869 |  Lafayette (LAFAYETTE) | IND FBSI | 7–2 | 0.778 | 4 | +9 | Beat Lehigh 6–0 |
| 7 | 0 | 3.577 |  Williams (WILLIAMS) | IND FBSI | 3–3 | 0.500 | 8 | 0 | BYE |
| 8 | 0 | 3.921 |  Lehigh (LEHIGH) | IND FBSI | 4–3 | 0.571 | 7 | -4 | Lost to Lafayette 0–6; Beat CORNELL 38–10 |
| 9 | 0 | 6.977 |  Pennsylvania (PENNSYLVANIA) | IND FBSI | 6–7 | 0.462 | 10 | -8 | Lost to Wesleyan 4–10 |
| 10 | 0 | 7.931 | Trinity (connecticut) (TRINITY (CONNECTICUT)) | IND FBSI | 3–3–1 | 0.500 | 8 | -3 | BYE |
| 11 | 2 | 9.041 | Wesleyan (WESLEYAN) | IND FBSI | 4–5 | 0.444 | 11 | +13 | Beat Pennsylvania 10–4 |
| 12 | 2 | 9.638 | Amherst (AMHERST) | IND FBSI | 4–6 | 0.400 | 12 | -14 | Beat Stevens 16–6 |
| 13 | -2 | 9.674 |  Rutgers (RUTGERS) | IND FBSI | 2–6 | 0.250 | 14 | -16 | BYE |
| 14 | -2 | 11.074 |  Tufts (TUFTS) | IND FBSI | 3–6 | 0.333 | 13 | -4 | Lost to M.i.t. 0–36 |
| 15 | 0 | 14.500 | Stevens (STEVENS) | IND FBSI | 0–6–1 | 0.071 | 15 | -22 | Lost to Amherst 6–16 |