1889 Final College Football Team Rankings
1889 rankings calculated with the Classic formula (Ken's 2016-based hybrid, applied retroactively); records, NOW and game results come from James Howell's historical college football score archive.
| Rank | Change | Rating | Team | Conf | Record | Win % | Place | NOW | Game Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | -0.975 |  Princeton (PRINCETON) | IND FBSI | 10–0 | 1.000 | 1 | +56 | Beat Yale 10–0; Beat COLUMBIA A.C. 57–0 |
| 2 | 0 | -0.556 |  Yale (YALE) | IND FBSI | 16–1 | 0.941 | 2 | +67 | Lost to Princeton 0–10 |
| 3 | 0 | -0.350 |  Harvard (HARVARD) | IND FBSI | 9–2 | 0.818 | 4 | +31 | BYE |
| 4 | 2 | 0.493 | Franklin & Marshall (FRANKLIN & MARSHALL) | IND FBSI | 5–1–1 | 0.786 | 5 | +5 | Beat Dickinson 22–0 |
| 5 | -1 | 0.778 |  Lehigh (LEHIGH) | IND FBSI | 8–3–2 | 0.692 | 8 | +8 | Beat Navy 26–6; Beat JOHNS HOPKINS 40–0; Beat VIRGINIA 24–12 |
| 6 | -1 | 0.796 |  Cornell (CORNELL) | IND FBSI | 7–2 | 0.778 | 6 | +8 | Beat Columbia 20–0; Beat LAFAYETTE 24–0 |
| 7 | 0 | 0.913 |  Dartmouth (DARTMOUTH) | IND FBSI | 7–1 | 0.875 | 3 | +9 | Beat Stevens 18–5 |
| 8 | 0 | 1.827 | Dickinson (DICKINSON) | IND FBSI | 4–1–1 | 0.750 | 7 | +6 | Lost to Franklin & Marshall 0–22 |
| 9 | 0 | 3.333 |  Pennsylvania (PENNSYLVANIA) | IND FBSI | 7–6 | 0.538 | 10 | -1 | Lost to Wesleyan 2–10 |
| 10 | 1 | 3.461 | Trinity (connecticut) (TRINITY (CONNECTICUT)) | IND FBSI | 5–3–1 | 0.611 | 9 | -10 | BYE |
| 11 | 1 | 3.486 |  Williams (WILLIAMS) | IND FBSI | 4–5–1 | 0.450 | 13 | -9 | BYE |
| 12 | -2 | 4.158 |  Lafayette (LAFAYETTE) | IND FBSI | 3–4–2 | 0.444 | 14 | -3 | Lost to Cornell 0–24 |
| 13 | 0 | 5.197 |  M.i.t. (M.I.T.) | IND FBSI | 3–3 | 0.500 | 11 | -4 | BYE |
| 14 | 0 | 5.587 | Amherst (AMHERST) | IND FBSI | 3–5–2 | 0.400 | 16 | -12 | BYE |
| 15 | 0 | 6.525 | Wesleyan (WESLEYAN) | IND FBSI | 5–7–1 | 0.423 | 15 | +10 | Beat Pennsylvania 10–2 |
| 16 | 0 | 7.713 |  Penn State (PENN STATE) | IND FBSI | 2–2 | 0.500 | 11 | -5 | BYE |
| 17 | 0 | 9.143 |  Bucknell (BUCKNELL) | IND FBSI | 1–4–1 | 0.250 | 18 | -5 | BYE |
| 18 | 0 | 9.656 |  Rutgers (RUTGERS) | IND FBSI | 1–4 | 0.200 | 19 | -23 | BYE |
| 19 | 0 | 9.975 | Stevens (STEVENS) | IND FBSI | 1–10 | 0.091 | 21 | -19 | Lost to Dartmouth 5–18 |
| 20 | 0 | 10.541 |  Columbia (COLUMBIA) | IND FBSI | 2–7–2 | 0.273 | 17 | -14 | Lost to Cornell 0–20 |
| 21 | 0 | 10.652 | Swarthmore (SWARTHMORE) | IND FBSI | 1–6 | 0.143 | 20 | -14 | BYE |