Return to the college football ratings index
Final power ratings for the 1896 season are listed below. Home field advantage for this year was .517 and the root for determining point spreads was 0.413.
The average home field advantage for this year is 1.82 points.
Some game locations are unknown and have been estimated. Research continues.
KEY: PR=Final power rating, PS=Pre-season power rating, SOS=strength of schedule.
| Rank | Team | PR | PS | SOS | PF | PA | Wins | Losses | Ties | Pct | Conference |
| 1 | Princeton | .858 | .723 | .479 | 27.18 | 1.09 | 10 | 0 | 1 | .955 | Eastern Independent |
| 2 | Pennsylvania | .839 | .771 | .514 | 21.73 | 1.60 | 14 | 1 | 0 | .933 | Eastern Independent |
| 3 | Lafayette | .815 | .427 | .328 | 20.00 | 0.83 | 11 | 0 | 1 | .958 | Eastern Independent |
| 4 | Yale | .802 | .792 | .470 | 15.57 | 3.14 | 13 | 1 | 0 | .929 | Northeast Independent |
| 5 | Michigan | .723 | .619 | .150 | 26.20 | 1.10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | .900 | Western |
| 6 | Wisconsin | .692 | .450 | .349 | 22.89 | 3.33 | 7 | 1 | 1 | .833 | Western |
| 7 | Harvard | .659 | .732 | .552 | 12.00 | 3.64 | 7 | 4 | 0 | .636 | Northeast Independent |
| 8 | Chicago | .650 | .515 | .257 | 19.37 | 4.53 | 15 | 3 | 1 | .816 | Western |
| 9 | Minnesota | .638 | .489 | .222 | 16.80 | 2.40 | 8 | 2 | 0 | .800 | Western |
| 10 | Northwestern | .613 | .326 | .314 | 17.67 | 5.11 | 6 | 1 | 2 | .778 | Western |
| 11 | Carlisle | .592 | .222 | .671 | 16.40 | 10.20 | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | Eastern Independent |
| 12 | Cornell | .565 | .444 | .422 | 18.00 | 9.11 | 5 | 3 | 1 | .611 | Northeast Independent |
| 13 | Dartmouth | .544 | .452 | .458 | 15.25 | 10.50 | 5 | 2 | 1 | .688 | Northeast Independent |
| 14 | Williams | .522 | .410 | .371 | 8.73 | 4.91 | 6 | 4 | 1 | .591 | Northeast Independent |
| 15 | Brown | .511 | .462 | .553 | 12.60 | 10.00 | 4 | 5 | 1 | .450 | Northeast Independent |
| 16 | Bucknell | .476 | .222 | .311 | 6.75 | 12.50 | 5 | 2 | 1 | .688 | Eastern Independent |
| 17 | Navy | .465 | .222 | .267 | 22.50 | 6.63 | 5 | 3 | 0 | .625 | Eastern Independent |
| 18 | Trinity (Connecticut) | .458 | .326 | .224 | 12.00 | 8.00 | 5 | 3 | 1 | .611 | Northeast Independent |
| 19 | Wesleyan | .453 | .320 | .514 | 8.60 | 10.60 | 4 | 5 | 1 | .450 | Northeast Independent |
| 20 | Army | .439 | .452 | .422 | 15.50 | 7.50 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .583 | Northeast Independent |
| 21 | Illinois | .434 | .366 | .250 | 21.14 | 5.14 | 4 | 2 | 1 | .643 | Western |
| 22 | Bowdoin | .424 | .222 | .050 | 8.20 | 8.60 | 5 | 3 | 2 | .600 | Northeast Independent |
| 23 | Dickinson | .423 | .222 | .368 | 14.44 | 10.00 | 4 | 5 | 0 | .444 | Eastern Independent |
| 24 | Purdue | .404 | .482 | .252 | 17.43 | 8.57 | 4 | 2 | 1 | .643 | Western |
| 25 | Amherst | .395 | .411 | .541 | 6.20 | 12.80 | 3 | 6 | 1 | .350 | Northeast Independent |
| 26 | Penn State | .372 | .222 | .485 | 9.00 | 18.29 | 3 | 4 | 0 | .429 | Eastern Independent |
| 27 | Franklin & Marshall | .361 | .222 | .298 | 7.78 | 13.89 | 3 | 4 | 2 | .444 | Eastern Independent |
| 28 | Lake Forest | .348 | .206 | .320 | 9.50 | 18.75 | 3 | 4 | 1 | .438 | Eastern Independent |
| 29 | Lehigh | .340 | .359 | .584 | 11.43 | 18.57 | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | Eastern Independent |
| 30 | Wild Card U | .229 | .222 | .602 | 2.06 | 22.32 | 8 | 99 | 5 | .094 | |
| 31 | Tufts | .227 | .397 | .181 | 4.67 | 13.00 | 2 | 6 | 1 | .278 | Northeast Independent |
| Conference | PR | PS | SOS | Wins | Losses | Ties | Pct | Teams |
| Western | .593 | .464 | .256 | 53 | 12 | 6 | .789 | 7 |
| Eastern Independent | .535 | .347 | .421 | 65 | 33 | 6 | .654 | 11 |
| Northeast Independent | .500 | .452 | .396 | 62 | 44 | 11 | .577 | 12 |
This page has been accessed times since November 30,
1999.
Last Updated on 09/15/13
By James Howell
Email: cfootball@jhowell.net