AP Poll Pre

Associated Press Poll

Year: 1951

7/1/1951

Preseason Poll

Rank	Team (FPV)	Points	Prev
1	Tennessee (60)	923	4
2	Michigan State (18)	726	8
3	Ohio State (8)	652	14
4	Oklahoma (16)	509	1
5	California (3)	403	5
6	Kentucky (1)	316	7
6	Texas A&M	316	NR
8	Washington (3)	310	11
9	Alabama (2)	271	16
10	Illinois (2)	247	13
11	Texas (1)	195	3
12	Nebraska	164	17
13	Baylor	142	NR
14	Notre Dame (1)	139	NR
15	Wisconsin	105	NR
16	Maryland	101	NR
17	Michigan	85	9
18	Princeton	79	6
19	Pennsylvania	52	NR
20	Cornell	46	NR

Associated Press Poll
Started in 1936.

More Info

The Associated Press began running polls of sports writers to determine who is, by popular opinion, the best college football team in the country. The first AP Poll was run in 1934 but was not run continuously until 1936.

The AP Poll currently lists the top 25 teams in the nation. From 1936 to 1961 the poll only ranked the top 20 teams. From 1962 to 1967 it only ranked the top 10 teams. From 1968 to 1988 the AP Poll returned to ranking the top 20 teams. In 1989 they started ranking the top 25 teams.

The AP poll was used in the beginning of the BCS to calculate the team standings. Due to some controversies within the BCS, the AP Poll was pulled from these calculations which caused the BCS to create the new Harris Poll.