1888 Final College Football Team Rankings
1888 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 | 1 | -1.770 |  Princeton (PRINCETON) | IND FBSI | 11–1 | 0.917 | 3 | +55 | BYE |
| 2 | -1 | -1.701 |  Yale (YALE) | IND FBSI | 13–0 | 1.000 | 1 | +49 | BYE |
| 3 | 0 | -1.336 |  Harvard (HARVARD) | IND FBSI | 12–1 | 0.923 | 2 | +28 | BYE |
| 4 | 0 | 1.271 | Trinity (connecticut) (TRINITY (CONNECTICUT)) | IND FBSI | 5–1–1 | 0.786 | 5 | +1 | Lost to Worcester Tech 0–6 |
| 5 | 0 | 1.353 |  Williams (WILLIAMS) | IND FBSI | 5–3 | 0.625 | 7 | +5 | BYE |
| 6 | 0 | 1.360 |  Lehigh (LEHIGH) | IND FBSI | 10–2 | 0.833 | 4 | +12 | Beat Lafayette 16–0; Beat CORNELL 4–0 |
| 7 | 0 | 2.222 |  Lafayette (LAFAYETTE) | IND FBSI | 6–3 | 0.667 | 6 | +4 | Lost to Lehigh 0–16 |
| 8 | 0 | 3.075 |  Cornell (CORNELL) | IND FBSI | 3–3 | 0.500 | 9 | -6 | Lost to Lehigh 0–4 |
| 9 | 0 | 3.240 |  Pennsylvania (PENNSYLVANIA) | IND FBSI | 9–7 | 0.563 | 8 | +13 | Beat Wesleyan 18–6; Beat JOHNS HOPKINS 24–10; Beat NAVY 20–9 |
| 10 | 0 | 5.334 |  Dartmouth (DARTMOUTH) | IND FBSI | 3–4 | 0.429 | 10 | +1 | Beat Amherst 40–0 |
| 11 | 0 | 7.511 |  M.i.t. (M.I.T.) | IND FBSI | 2–5 | 0.286 | 12 | -5 | BYE |
| 12 | 0 | 8.991 |  Bucknell (BUCKNELL) | IND FBSI | 2–3 | 0.400 | 11 | -8 | BYE |
| 13 | 0 | 9.754 | Stevens (STEVENS) | IND FBSI | 2–7–1 | 0.250 | 13 | -16 | BYE |
| 14 | 0 | 10.405 | Wesleyan (WESLEYAN) | IND FBSI | 2–7 | 0.222 | 15 | -7 | Lost to Pennsylvania 6–18 |
| 15 | 3 | 10.569 |  Worcester Tech (WORCESTER TECH) | IND FBSI | 1–4 | 0.200 | 16 | -5 | Beat Trinity (CONNECTICUT) 6–0 |
| 16 | -1 | 12.395 | Amherst (AMHERST) | IND FBSI | 2–8–1 | 0.227 | 14 | -21 | Lost to Dartmouth 0–40 |
| 17 | -1 | 13.309 | Swarthmore (SWARTHMORE) | IND FBSI | 0–5 | 0.000 | 18 | -14 | BYE |
| 18 | -1 | 14.286 |  Rutgers (RUTGERS) | IND FBSI | 1–6–1 | 0.188 | 17 | -10 | BYE |