Top	2	5	10	15	20
Avg.	0.0	1.2	2.4	2.8	2.8
"="	2	2	4	4	5
OBO	0	1	1	2	4

(The AP poll was the only one to ask its voters, after all the bowl games were completed: "Who should be #1?")

 

Table Legend

Rewards standings before the bowl games and after them.

Commentary: Rewards matched the top two teams again this year, and two more in the top 10, but thought less of Michigan and Stanford than the polls did, and more of Auburn. Even though Michigan only lost to Stanford (9-3) by a point in the Rose Bowl, their best win was against Ohio State (only 6-4), and so Rewards ranked them below four other teams with two losses (those four did defeat some "higher quality teams"), and placed them at #12, as opposed to #6 in the final AP poll. Stanford moved up from #16 to #10 in the polls with that 13-12 victory,  but Rewards penalized them more for losing to Washington State (4-7), San Jose State (5-6-1), and Duke (6-5) and placed them as the #19 team. Auburn, who was the only team to defeat #7 Georgia, and who also earned a victory over 9-2 Tennessee, ended up #5 in the Rewards final ranking, as opposed to #12 in the final AP poll. Auburn's last two games were not all that close (losing 31-7 to #4 Alabama, and 40-22 to #2 Oklahoma); that is probably why they fell so far in the polls. (They were #5 in the polls before their Sugar Bowl loss to the Sooners.)