Table Legend

Rewards standings before and after the bowl games.

Commentary: Rewards correctly matched 3 of the top 5 teams in both polls, most importantly the (obvious) top 2 choices, and did reasonably well throughout the top 20. #25 San Diego State (11-3) was only ranked #39 by Rewards, and Auburn (#22 or #24, depending upon which poll you examined) was #33 according to the Rewards methodology. Within just the top 20, Virginia Tech was voted #15, but Rewards had them ranked 7 places lower; the 8-4 LSU team was #13/#14 in the polls, but #20 in the final Rewards ranking (mostly due to those 4 losses); and the one loss Western Michigan team was #12 according to Rewards but #15/#18 in the final polls. Western Kentucky (11-3) moved up from #42 to #32 with their bowl win over Memphis(8-5) and they were ranked #29 in both final polls.