1888 Week 12 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 | 0 | -1.928 |  Princeton (PRINCETON) | IND FBSI | 10–0 | 1.000 | 1 | +26 | Beat Wesleyan 44–0; Beat PENNSYLVANIA 4–0 |
| 2 | 0 | -1.542 |  Yale (YALE) | IND FBSI | 11–0 | 1.000 | 1 | +19 | Beat Crescent A.c. 28–0; Beat AMHERST 70–0 |
| 3 | 0 | -1.316 |  Harvard (HARVARD) | IND FBSI | 11–0 | 1.000 | 1 | +10 | Beat Wesleyan 50–2 |
| 4 | 0 | 0.289 |  Lafayette (LAFAYETTE) | IND FBSI | 6–0 | 1.000 | 1 | +10 | Beat Pennsylvania 12–6; Beat CORNELL 16–0 |
| 5 | 1 | 0.289 | Trinity (connecticut) (TRINITY (CONNECTICUT)) | IND FBSI | 4–0–1 | 0.900 | 5 | +1 | Beat Fordham 60–0 |
| 6 | 1 | 1.672 |  Lehigh (LEHIGH) | IND FBSI | 7–2 | 0.778 | 6 | -2 | Beat Rutgers 30–0; Beat STEVENS 10–0 |
| 7 | -2 | 2.023 |  Williams (WILLIAMS) | IND FBSI | 3–3 | 0.500 | 7 | 0 | Lost to Dartmouth 6–36 |
| 8 | 0 | 3.138 |  Cornell (CORNELL) | IND FBSI | 2–2 | 0.500 | 7 | -3 | Lost to Lafayette 0–16 |
| 9 | 0 | 3.950 |  Pennsylvania (PENNSYLVANIA) | IND FBSI | 5–6 | 0.455 | 10 | +8 | Lost to Lafayette 6–12; Lost to PRINCETON 0–4 |
| 10 | 0 | 5.709 |  M.i.t. (M.I.T.) | IND FBSI | 2–3 | 0.400 | 11 | +1 | BYE |
| 11 | 1 | 7.638 |  Bucknell (BUCKNELL) | IND FBSI | 2–2 | 0.500 | 7 | -2 | Beat Dickinson 18–8 |
| 12 | 4 | 8.814 |  Dartmouth (DARTMOUTH) | IND FBSI | 1–3 | 0.250 | 12 | +3 | Beat Williams 36–6 |
| 13 | -2 | 10.339 | Wesleyan (WESLEYAN) | IND FBSI | 1–5 | 0.167 | 15 | 0 | Lost to Princeton 0–44; Lost to HARVARD 2–50 |
| 14 | -1 | 11.851 | Stevens (STEVENS) | IND FBSI | 1–6–1 | 0.188 | 13 | -11 | Lost to Lehigh 0–10 |
| 15 | -1 | 13.032 | Swarthmore (SWARTHMORE) | IND FBSI | 0–5 | 0.000 | 17 | -10 | BYE |
| 16 | -1 | 13.371 |  Rutgers (RUTGERS) | IND FBSI | 1–6–1 | 0.188 | 13 | -5 | Lost to Lehigh 0–30 |
| 17 | 0 | 19.239 | Amherst (AMHERST) | IND FBSI | 0–7–1 | 0.063 | 16 | -11 | Lost to Yale 0–70 |
| 18 | 0 | 20.863 |  Worcester Tech (WORCESTER TECH) | IND FBSI | 0–2 | 0.000 | 17 | 0 | BYE |