Top	2	5	10	15	20
Avg.	2.0	1.6	3.25	3.0	3.75
"="	0	2	4	4	4
OBO	1	1	2	4	5

(The top 25 column is excluded here since the AP and UPI polls do not list any teams outside of the top 20.)

 

 

Rewards standings before the bowl games and after them.

Commentary: Rewards placed Texas as the top team, even though Notre Dame soundly defeated them in the Cotton Bowl, because the pollsters weight the games at the end more highly, along with noticing such a significant margin of victory (38-11). Texas did defeat #3 Arkansas and top ten Oklahoma while ND's next best win was over #7 Pittsburgh and #12 USC (though Rewards thought USC was not that strong - the #20 Trojans were boosted eight spots by their bowl win over #18 Texas A&M, which seems a little too much upward movement to me). The sole loss by the Irish was to Mississippi (5-6) and Rewards certainly penalized them for such an unlikely loss. Overall, the ranking of the top ten teams matched "exactly" in the polls and Rewards four times, with two others only being off by one position. San Diego State's (10-1) win over Florida State (10-2) propelled them to the #9 spot in Rewards' ranking, which was higher than where they appeared in the final polls (#16/#19).