CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 1988 season

Notre Dame finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 12–⁠0 under Lou Holtz, after it beat West Virginia 34–⁠21 in the Fiesta Bowl. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 1 Notre Dame 27, No. 2 USC 10 (Nov 26, 1988). One Division I-A team finished unbeaten. 35 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Barry Sanders, RB, Oklahoma State, who also won the Maxwell and Walter Camp.

The Heisman vote: Barry Sanders 1,878 points, Rodney Peete 912
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Barry Sanders RB, Oklahoma State1,8785597747
Rodney Peete QB, USC91270264174
Troy Aikman QB, UCLA58231149191
Steve Walsh QB, Miami (FL)3411610877
Major Harris QB, West Virginia280276079
Tony Mandarich OT, Michigan State523925
Timm Rosenbach QB, Washington State446614
Deion Sanders CB, Florida State220316
Anthony Thompson RB, Indiana210413
Derrick Thomas LB, Alabama20327

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

The 1988 Florida team
The 1988 Florida teamPhoto: Mark Foley collection, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The 1988 Florida season →

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1Notre DameIndependent
2MiamiIndependent
3Florida StateIndependent
4MichiganBig Ten
5West VirginiaIndependent
6UCLAPac-10
7USCPac-10
8AuburnSoutheastern Conference
9ClemsonAtlantic Coast Conference
10NebraskaBig Eight
11Oklahoma StateBig Eight
12ArkansasSouthwest Conference
13SyracuseIndependent
14OklahomaBig Eight
15GeorgiaSoutheastern Conference
16Washington StatePac-10
17AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
18HoustonSouthwest Conference
19LSUSoutheastern Conference
20IndianaBig Ten

Biggest upsets

Oct 29, 1988Washington State 34, 1UCLA 30
Oct 8, 1988LSU 7, 4Auburn 6
Sep 24, 1988Ohio State 36, 7LSU 33
Oct 15, 1988Georgia Tech 34, 8South Carolina 0
Sep 3, 1988Hawai’i 27, 9Iowa 24
Oct 22, 1988NC State 10, 9Clemson 3
Nov 12, 1988Houston 34, 10Wyoming 10
Oct 22, 1988Kentucky 16, 11Georgia 10
Oct 8, 1988Ole Miss 22, 12Alabama 12
Oct 8, 1988Memphis 17, 14Florida 11
Sep 10, 1988Rutgers 17, 15Michigan State 13
Sep 24, 1988Rutgers 21, 15Penn State 16

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 1988, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13Wk 15FinalNebraska: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 11, Wk 5 No. 10, Wk 6 No. 9, Wk 7 No. 9, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 7, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 7, Wk 14 No. 6, Wk 15 No. 6, Wk 16 No. 6, Final No. 1010 NebraskaClemson: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 4, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 12, Wk 6 No. 11, Wk 7 No. 11, Wk 8 No. 11, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 15, Wk 11 No. 17, Wk 12 No. 16, Wk 13 No. 15, Wk 14 No. 13, Wk 15 No. 13, Wk 16 No. 13, Final No. 99 ClemsonAuburn: Wk 1 No. 7, Wk 2 No. 7, Wk 3 No. 7, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 4, Wk 6 No. 4, Wk 7 No. 4, Wk 8 No. 12, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 9, Wk 13 No. 8, Wk 14 No. 7, Wk 15 No. 7, Wk 16 No. 7, Final No. 88 AuburnUSC: Wk 1 No. 6, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 5, Wk 5 No. 5, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 3, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 2, Wk 14 No. 2, Wk 15 No. 5, Wk 16 No. 5, Final No. 77 USCUCLA: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 5, Wk 3 No. 5, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 6, Wk 14 No. 9, Wk 15 No. 8, Wk 16 No. 9, Final No. 66 UCLAWest Virginia: Wk 1 No. 16, Wk 2 No. 16, Wk 3 No. 12, Wk 4 No. 12, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 7, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 4, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 4, Wk 14 No. 4, Wk 15 No. 3, Wk 16 No. 3, Final No. 55 West VirginiaMichigan: Wk 1 No. 11, Wk 2 No. 10, Wk 3 No. 9, Wk 4 No. 15, Wk 5 No. 19, Wk 6 No. 19, Wk 7 No. 17, Wk 8 No. 15, Wk 9 No. 20, Wk 10 No. 14, Wk 11 No. 14, Wk 12 No. 13, Wk 13 No. 12, Wk 14 No. 11, Wk 15 No. 11, Wk 16 No. 11, Final No. 44 MichiganFlorida State: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 10, Wk 4 No. 10, Wk 5 No. 9, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 6, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 7, Wk 10 No. 6, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 5, Wk 14 No. 5, Wk 15 No. 4, Wk 16 No. 4, Final No. 33 Florida StateMiami: Wk 1 No. 8, Wk 2 No. 6, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 3, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 3, Wk 14 No. 3, Wk 15 No. 2, Wk 16 No. 2, Final No. 22 MiamiNotre Dame: Wk 1 No. 13, Wk 2 No. 13, Wk 3 No. 13, Wk 4 No. 8, Wk 5 No. 8, Wk 6 No. 5, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 1, Wk 14 No. 1, Wk 15 No. 1, Wk 16 No. 1, Final No. 11 Notre Dame
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. Oklahoma Stateunranked → No. 11
  2. Arkansasunranked → No. 12
  3. Syracuseunranked → No. 13
  4. Notre DameNo. 13 → No. 1
  5. West VirginiaNo. 16 → No. 5

Fell

  1. IowaNo. 9 → unranked
  2. Texas A&MNo. 10 → unranked
  3. OklahomaNo. 3 → No. 14
  4. Michigan StateNo. 15 → unranked

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

National leaders

Passing yardsScott Mitchell (Utah)4,322 yds
Passing touchdownsScott Mitchell (Miami)29 TD
Passer ratingTimm Rosenbach (Washington State)162.0
Rushing yardsBarry Sanders (Oklahoma State)2,628 yds
Rushing touchdownsBarry Sanders (Oklahoma State)37 TD
Yards per carryChuck Weatherspoon (Houston)8.5
ReceptionsJason Phillips (Houston)108 catches
Receiving yardsJason Phillips (Houston)1,444 yds
Yards per catchCalvin Phillips (West Virginia)25.5
Receiving touchdownsJason Phillips (Houston)15 TD
PointsBarry Sanders (Oklahoma State)234 pts
Points per gameBarry Sanders (Oklahoma State)21.27
Total offenseScott Mitchell (Utah)4,299 yds
Total offense per gameScott Mitchell (Utah)390.8
Punt return averageDeion Sanders (Florida State)15.2
Kickoff return averageRaghib Ismail (Notre Dame)36.1

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

Division I-A

Atlantic Coast Conference
Clemson
Big Eight
Nebraska
Big Ten
Michigan
Big West
Fresno State
Mid-American Conference
Western Michigan
Pac-10
USC
Southeastern Conference
Auburn and LSU (shared)
Southwest Conference
Arkansas
Western Athletic Conference
Wyoming

Division I-AA

Big Sky
Idaho
Colonial Conference
Lafayette
Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference
Western Illinois
Ivy League
Cornell and Pennsylvania (shared)
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Bethune-Cookman, Delaware State and Florida A&M (shared)
Ohio Valley Conference
Eastern Kentucky
Southern Conference
Furman and Marshall (shared)
Southland Conference
Northwestern State
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Jackson State
Yankee Conference
Delaware and Massachusetts (shared)

Division II and below

Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference
Central Arkansas
Gulf South Conference
Jacksonville State and UT Martin (shared)
Heartland Collegiate Conference
Butler
Liberty Football Conference
Long Island University and Fordham (shared)
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
Southeast Missouri State
North Central Conference
North Dakota State
Northern California Athletic Conference
UC Davis
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Alabama A&M
Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Tarleton State
Western Football Conference
Portland State

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

28 playersAll 9 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 1988 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 1988 All-America teams page.

The 1988 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Coaches

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 10, 1988Fresno State 35, Western Michigan 30California Bowl
Dec 23, 1988Southern Miss 38, UTEP 18Independence Bowl
Dec 24, 198820Alabama 29, Army 28Sun Bowl
Dec 25, 198818Washington State 24, 14Houston 22Aloha Bowl
Dec 28, 1988Indiana 34, South Carolina 10Liberty Bowl
Dec 29, 1988BYU 20, Colorado 17Freedom Bowl
Dec 29, 1988Florida 14, Illinois 10All-American Bowl
Dec 30, 198812Oklahoma State 62, 15Wyoming 14Holiday Bowl
Dec 31, 1988NC State 28, Iowa 23Peach Bowl
Jan 1, 198919Georgia 34, Michigan State 27Gator Bowl
Jan 2, 198913Clemson 13, 10Oklahoma 6Citrus Bowl
Jan 2, 19894Florida State 13, 7Auburn 7Sugar Bowl
Jan 2, 19892Miami 23, 6Nebraska 3Orange Bowl
Jan 2, 198911Michigan 22, 5USC 14Rose Bowl
Jan 2, 19891Notre Dame 34, 3West Virginia 21Fiesta Bowl
Jan 2, 198917Syracuse 23, 16LSU 10Hall of Fame Bowl
Jan 2, 19899UCLA 17, 8Arkansas 3Cotton Bowl