1897 Week 8 College Football Team Rankings
1897 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 | 0.197 |  Princeton (PRINCETON) | IND FBSI | 5–0 | 1.000 | 1 | +6 | Beat Penn State 34–0; Beat CARLISLE 18–0 |
| 2 | 0 | 0.541 |  Pennsylvania (PENNSYLVANIA) | IND FBSI | 8–0 | 1.000 | 1 | +5 | Beat Virginia 42–0; Beat DARTMOUTH 34–0 |
| 3 | 1 | 0.948 |  Brown (BROWN) | IND FBSI | 4–0 | 1.000 | 1 | +6 | Beat Andover 20–4 |
| 4 | 1 | 1.009 |  Harvard (HARVARD) | IND FBSI | 5–0 | 1.000 | 1 | +3 | Beat Army 10–0 |
| 5 | 1 | 1.017 |  Lafayette (LAFAYETTE) | IND FBSI | 5–0–1 | 0.917 | 10 | +2 | Tied Cornell 4–4 |
| 6 | 2 | 1.057 | Chicago (CHICAGO) |  B10 | 7–0 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | Beat Armour 24–0; Beat BELOIT 39–6 |
| 7 | 4 | 1.062 |  Michigan (MICHIGAN) | B10 | 2–0–1 | 0.833 | 12 | 0 | Beat Ohio State 36–0 |
| 8 | -1 | 1.123 |  Yale (YALE) | IND FBSI | 5–0 | 1.000 | 1 | +4 | Beat Newton A.c. 10–0 |
| 9 | 1 | 1.290 |  Minnesota (MINNESOTA) | B10 | 4–0 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | Beat Grinnell 6–0 |
| 10 | 4 | 1.340 |  Illinois (ILLINOIS) | B10 | 3–0 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | Beat Lake Forest 36–0 |
| 11 | 1 | 1.384 |  Wisconsin (WISCONSIN) | B10 | 4–0 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | Beat Wisconsin Platteville 20–0 |
| 12 | 1 | 1.479 |  Cornell (CORNELL) | IND FBSI | 3–0–1 | 0.875 | 11 | +4 | Tied Lafayette 4–4 |
| 13 | -10 | 1.697 | Carlisle (CARLISLE) | IND FBSI | 2–1 | 0.667 | 14 | +4 | Lost to Princeton 0–18 |
| 14 | -5 | 2.063 |  Army (ARMY) | IND FBSI | 2–1 | 0.667 | 14 | +4 | Lost to Harvard 0–10 |
| 15 | 11 | 3.426 |  Navy (NAVY) | IND FBSI | 2–1 | 0.667 | 14 | 0 | Beat Pennsylvania Reserves 22–0; Beat PRINCETON A.C. 6–0 |
| 16 | 1 | 3.441 | Dickinson (DICKINSON) | IND FBSI | 4–1 | 0.800 | 13 | -1 | Beat Haverford 6–5 |
| 17 | 2 | 4.294 |  Bucknell (BUCKNELL) | IND FBSI | 1–2–1 | 0.375 | 22 | 0 | BYE |
| 18 | 5 | 4.325 |  Purdue (PURDUE) | B10 | 2–1 | 0.667 | 14 | 0 | Beat Depauw 8–0 |
| 19 | -3 | 4.566 |  Dartmouth (DARTMOUTH) | IND FBSI | 1–2 | 0.333 | 23 | 0 | Lost to Pennsylvania 0–34 |
| 20 | 1 | 4.582 |  Tufts (TUFTS) | IND FBSI | 4–3 | 0.571 | 19 | 0 | Beat NEW Hampshire 12–4; Beat BOWDOIN 20–8 |
| 21 | -6 | 4.619 |  Northwestern (NORTHWESTERN) | B10 | 2–1 | 0.667 | 14 | 0 | Lost to Iowa 6–12 |
| 22 | 0 | 4.636 | Wesleyan (WESLEYAN) | IND FBSI | 2–3 | 0.400 | 21 | -1 | Beat Amherst 24–0; Beat MASSACHUSETTS 18–5 |
| 23 | -3 | 4.655 | Trinity (connecticut) (TRINITY (CONNECTICUT)) | IND FBSI | 2–2 | 0.500 | 20 | -1 | Beat Hamilton 16–0 |
| 24 | -6 | 5.057 |  Penn State (PENN STATE) | IND FBSI | 1–2 | 0.333 | 23 | 0 | Lost to Princeton 0–34 |
| 25 | -1 | 7.513 |  Lehigh (LEHIGH) | IND FBSI | 1–2 | 0.333 | 23 | 0 | BYE |
| 26 | 2 | 7.671 | Franklin & Marshall (FRANKLIN & MARSHALL) | IND FBSI | 1–3 | 0.250 | 26 | 0 | Beat Villanova 28–0 |
| 27 | -2 | 10.234 | Amherst (AMHERST) | IND FBSI | 0–3 | 0.000 | 27 | -3 | Lost to Wesleyan 0–24 |
| 28 | -1 | 10.772 |  Williams (WILLIAMS) | IND FBSI | 0–4 | 0.000 | 27 | -2 | Lost to Colgate 0–18 |