best point differential in a college football season before 2000

Before 2000, the Houston Cougars had the highest point differential by a team in a season, with a 439-point differential in 1989.

	TEAM	DIFF	SEASON	GP	W	L	T	PTS	PPG	OPP PTS	OPP PPG
1	Houston	439	1989	11	9	2	0	589	53.5	150	13.6
2	Nebraska	438	1983	12	12	0	0	624	52.0	186	15.5
3	Nebraska	426	1995	11	11	0	0	576	52.4	150	13.6
4	Kansas State	416	1998	12	11	1	0	576	48.0	160	13.3
5	Oklahoma	415	1956	10	10	0	0	466	46.6	51	5.1
6	Florida State	405	1993	12	11	1	0	518	43.2	113	9.4
7	Oklahoma	397	1987	11	11	0	0	479	43.5	82	7.5
8	Oklahoma	393	1986	11	10	1	0	466	42.4	73	6.6
9	Oklahoma	381	1974	11	11	0	0	473	43.0	92	8.4
10	Nebraska	371	1971	12	12	0	0	469	39.1	98	8.2
11	Nebraska	370	1972	11	8	2	1	461	41.9	91	8.3
12	Nebraska	368	1997	12	12	0	0	565	47.1	197	16.4
13	Alabama	365	1973	11	11	0	0	454	41.3	89	8.1
14	BYU	362	1980	12	11	1	0	560	46.7	198	16.5
15	Washington	360	1991	11	11	0	0	461	41.9	101	9.2
16	Nebraska	359	1996	12	10	2	0	512	42.7	153	12.8
17	Florida	358	1996	12	11	1	0	559	46.6	201	16.8
18	Nebraska	346	1982	12	11	1	0	493	41.1	147	12.3
19	Michigan	345	1976	11	10	1	0	426	38.7	81	7.4
20	Nebraska	342	1980	11	9	2	0	435	39.5	93	8.5
21	Virginia Tech	339	1999	11	11	0	0	455	41.4	116	10.5
22	Michigan	339	1971	11	11	0	0	409	37.2	70	6.4
23	Florida	333	1995	12	12	0	0	534	44.5	201	16.8
24	Syracuse	331	1959	10	10	0	0	390	39.0	59	5.9
25	Arizona State	331	1957	10	10	0	0	397	39.7	66	6.6

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StatMuse has team, season-level data for point differential going back to the 1956 season.

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More Houston Stats

Team Leaders

PASS

946

Weigman

RUSH

283

Hughes

REC

287

Thomas

Team Rankings

PPG

44.5

9th

OPP PPG

20.5

52nd

RUSH YDS/G

248.5

14th

PASS YDS/G

257.3

53rd

2026 Big 12 Standings

	TEAM	CONF	OVERALL
8	Arizona State	1-0	2-1
9	Arizona	0-1	3-1
10	Houston	0-1	3-1
11	Kansas State	0-1	3-1
12	West Virginia	0-1	3-1

Schedule

DATE	MATCHUP			TIME (ET)
Sat 10/3	UCF	@	HOU	12:00 PM
Sat 10/10	HOU	@	KSU	3:30 PM
Sat 10/17	OKST	@	HOU	1:00 PM
Sat 10/24	HOU	@	UTAH	1:00 PM
Sat 11/7	CIN	@	HOU	1:00 PM

Last Game

Houston

3 - 1

Final

Georgia Southern

1 - 3

Sat 26 Sep 2026

CFB 2026 Leaders

Pass Yards Leaders

1,499

Maiava

1,453

Jennings

1,423

Atkinson

Rush Yards Leaders

644

Sheppard

600

Baugh

592

Riley

Rec Yards Leaders

617

Smith

585

Legree

564

Toney

Pass TD Leaders

14

Taylor

14

Mensah

14

Maiava

Rush TD Leaders

11

Baugh

9

Hawkins

9

Knight

Rec TD Leaders

7

Duff

7

Dixon

7

Smith

QB Rating Leaders

228.2

Mensah

209.1

Stockton

204.6

Hoover

Sack Leaders

7.5

Simmons

7.0

Umanmielen

6.5

Hopkins

CFB 2026 Rankings

PPG Rankings

54.8

53.5

51.8

48.0

47.5

45.0

Opp PPG Rankings

8.0

8.3

8.5

9.0

9.8

10.3

Total Yards Rankings

588.8

550.8

548.3

533.3

532.8

523.8

Rush Yards Rankings

355.7

333.7

332.3

294.8

281.5

281.3

Pass Yards Rankings

392.5

365.3

365.0

361.3

347.3

346.5

Sack Leaders

18.0

17.0

15.0

CFB 2026 Standings

	Southeastern	W	L	PCT
1	Alabama	4	0	1.000
2	Florida	4	0	1.000
3	Georgia	4	0	1.000
4	Mississippi State	4	0	1.000
5	Texas	4	0	1.000
6	Ole Miss	3	1	.750
7	Auburn	3	1	.750
8	Kentucky	3	1	.750
9	LSU	3	1	.750
10	Missouri	3	1	.750
11	Tennessee	3	1	.750
12	Vanderbilt	3	1	.750
13	Arkansas	2	2	.500
14	Oklahoma	2	2	.500
15	South Carolina	2	2	.500
16	Texas A&M	2	2	.500

	Pac-12	W	L	PCT
1	Boise State	3	1	.750
2	Fresno State	3	1	.750
3	Colorado State	2	2	.500
4	Oregon State	2	2	.500
5	Texas State	2	2	.500
6	San Diego State	1	3	.250
7	Utah State	1	3	.250
8	Washington State	1	3	.250

	Big 10	W	L	PCT
1	UCLA	4	0	1.000
2	Indiana	4	0	1.000
3	Iowa	4	0	1.000
4	Nebraska	4	0	1.000
5	Minnesota	3	1	.750
6	Ohio State	3	1	.750
7	Oregon	3	1	.750
8	Wisconsin	3	1	.750
9	USC	4	1	.800
10	Michigan	3	1	.750
11	Penn State	3	1	.750
12	Washington	3	1	.750
13	Northwestern	2	1	.667
14	Illinois	2	2	.500
15	Maryland	2	2	.500
16	Michigan State	2	2	.500
17	Purdue	1	3	.250
18	Rutgers	1	3	.250

	Big 12	W	L	PCT
1	Cincinnati	4	0	1.000
2	Texas Tech	4	0	1.000
3	Utah	4	0	1.000
4	BYU	3	0	1.000
5	Baylor	3	1	.750
6	Oklahoma State	3	1	.750
7	UCF	3	1	.750
8	Arizona State	2	1	.667
9	Arizona	3	1	.750
10	Houston	3	1	.750
11	Kansas State	3	1	.750
12	West Virginia	3	1	.750
13	Colorado	2	2	.500
14	Iowa State	2	2	.500
15	TCU	2	2	.500
16	Kansas	1	2	.333

	Mid-American	W	L	PCT
1	UMass	4	0	1.000
2	Kent State	2	2	.500
3	Eastern Michigan	2	3	.400
4	Toledo	3	1	.750
5	Buffalo	2	2	.500
6	Central Michigan	2	2	.500
7	Miami (OH)	2	2	.500
8	Ohio	2	2	.500
9	Western Michigan	2	2	.500
10	Akron	1	3	.250
11	Bowling Green	0	4	.000
12	Ball State	1	3	.250
13	Sacramento State	1	4	.200

	Atlantic Coast	W	L	PCT
1	Miami	4	0	1.000
2	Clemson	3	1	.750
3	Duke	4	0	1.000
4	Pittsburgh	4	0	1.000
5	Virginia Tech	4	0	1.000
6	Virginia	3	1	.750
7	Wake Forest	3	1	.750
8	Louisville	2	2	.500
9	SMU	3	1	.750
10	California	2	2	.500
11	Stanford	2	2	.500
12	North Carolina	2	1	.667
13	Boston College	2	2	.500
14	Florida State	2	2	.500
15	NC State	2	2	.500
16	Georgia Tech	1	3	.250
17	Syracuse	1	2	.333

	Independent	W	L	PCT
1	Notre Dame	4	0	1.000
2	UConn	2	2	.500

	American Athletic	W	L	PCT
1	South Florida	4	0	1.000
2	Florida Atlantic	3	1	.750
3	UAB	2	2	.500
4	Army	2	1	.667
5	Memphis	3	1	.750
6	Tulsa	3	1	.750
7	UTSA	3	1	.750
8	East Carolina	2	2	.500
9	North Texas	2	2	.500
10	Tulane	2	2	.500
11	Rice	1	3	.250
12	Charlotte	0	4	.000
13	Temple	1	3	.250
14	Navy	1	2	.333

	Conference USA	W	L	PCT
1	Jacksonville State	3	2	.600
2	Liberty	3	1	.750
3	Delaware	2	2	.500
4	Florida International	2	2	.500
5	Kennesaw State	1	3	.250
6	Missouri State	1	3	.250
7	New Mexico State	1	3	.250
8	Sam Houston	1	3	.250
9	Western Kentucky	1	3	.250
10	Middle Tennessee	2	2	.500

	Sun Belt	W	L	PCT
1	James Madison	4	0	1.000
2	Louisiana	3	1	.750
3	Appalachian State	3	1	.750
4	South Alabama	2	2	.500
5	Georgia State	3	1	.750
6	Marshall	3	1	.750
7	Arkansas State	2	2	.500
8	Troy	2	2	.500
9	Georgia Southern	1	3	.250
10	Louisiana Tech	1	2	.333
11	Southern Miss	1	3	.250
12	Coastal Carolina	1	3	.250
13	Old Dominion	1	3	.250
14	Louisiana-Monroe	0	4	.000

	Mountain West	W	L	PCT
1	North Dakota State	4	0	1.000
2	UNLV	2	2	.500
3	Wyoming	2	2	.500
4	Air Force	2	1	.667
5	New Mexico	3	1	.750
6	San Jose State	2	2	.500
7	UTEP	1	3	.250
8	Northern Illinois	0	4	.000
9	Nevada	1	3	.250
10	Hawai'i	1	3	.250