Rewards standings before the bowl games and after them.

Commentary: Like in 1970, and 1987, the Rewards system matched the first four teams in both polls exactly, though after that, it performed "about average" in comparison to the other years listed on this web site (as far as agreeing with the polls is concerned). Rewards did rank Ohio State (#2 in both polls) above Miami of Florida (#1 in both polls) before the bowl games, and the Buckeyes did defeat the Hurricanes for the BCS Consensus National Championship in the Fiesta Bowl. Rewards ranked Notre Dame somewhat higher than the polls this year based on quality wins over #9 Michigan (10-3), #13 Maryland (10-3), Florida State (9-5) and top twenty Pittsburgh (9-4). (Losing their bowl game handily against top 15 North Carolina State probably hurt their final ranking in the polls.) On the other hand, Virginia Tech was rated a lot lower by Rewards, based on a loss to Syracuse (4-8), along with its three other losses.