1896 Pre-Season College Football Team Rankings
1896 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 | 17 | 0.000 | Amherst (AMHERST) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 5 | 0.000 |  Army (ARMY) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | — | 0.000 |  Bowdoin (BOWDOIN) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 14 | 0.000 |  Brown (BROWN) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | — | 0.000 |  Bucknell (BUCKNELL) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | — | 0.000 | Carlisle (CARLISLE) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 7 | 0.000 | Chicago (CHICAGO) |  B10 | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 19 | 0.000 |  Cornell (CORNELL) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 12 | 0.000 |  Dartmouth (DARTMOUTH) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | — | 0.000 | Dickinson (DICKINSON) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | — | 0.000 | Franklin & Marshall (FRANKLIN & MARSHALL) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 3 | 0.000 |  Harvard (HARVARD) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 6 | 0.000 |  Illinois (ILLINOIS) | B10 | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 8 | 0.000 |  Lafayette (LAFAYETTE) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 23 | 0.000 |  Lake Forest (LAKE FOREST) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 22 | 0.000 |  Lehigh (LEHIGH) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 1 | 0.000 |  Michigan (MICHIGAN) | B10 | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 10 | 0.000 |  Minnesota (MINNESOTA) | B10 | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | — | 0.000 |  Navy (NAVY) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 15 | 0.000 |  Northwestern (NORTHWESTERN) | B10 | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | — | 0.000 |  Penn State (PENN STATE) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 0 | 0.000 |  Pennsylvania (PENNSYLVANIA) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 4 | 0.000 |  Princeton (PRINCETON) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 13 | 0.000 |  Purdue (PURDUE) | B10 | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 16 | 0.000 | Trinity (connecticut) (TRINITY (CONNECTICUT)) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 18 | 0.000 |  Tufts (TUFTS) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 11 | 0.000 | Wesleyan (WESLEYAN) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 21 | 0.000 |  Williams (WILLIAMS) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 9 | 0.000 |  Wisconsin (WISCONSIN) | B10 | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |
| 1 | 2 | 0.000 |  Yale (YALE) | IND FBSI | 0–0 | 0.000 | 1 | 0 | Preseason |