https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/yea...tings.html
In 1950, Princeton finished 9-0 and was 6th in the AP. The Simple Rating System (SRS) computer rating from Sport-Reference.com has Penn 8th, Princeton 14th, and Cornell 28th.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/yea...tings.html
In 1951, Princeton again finished 9-0 and again was 6th in the AP. The Simple Rating System (SRS) computer rating from Sport-Reference.com has Penn 17th, Princeton 30th, and Cornell 33rd.
Penn had its own national TV contract, and played Wisconsin, Cal, Army, Navy, Princeton and Cornell both seasons, with all but two of these games at home. Penn's games against Cal and Wisconsin, each of whom was nationally ranked both seasons, were home and home series. In 1952 and 1953, Penn played Notre Dame twice, Penn State twice, Michigan, Ohio State and Georgia. All of these games, except the Michigan game, were played at Penn.
The schools that formed the Ivy league were not top to bottom this strong, no conference is, but its top schools competed at a national level even if they were not winning national championships.
The drop off in the level of play following their commitment to play in the non-scholarship Ivy League was dramatic. During the first year of play in the new league, Yale was the conference champion and had the highest SRS ranking of any school in the league at 42nd. Princeton was second with an SRS ranking of 61st. Penn was 94th and Cornell was 100th. There were 111 major college teams that year.