AP Poll Pre

Associated Press Poll

Year: 1953

7/1/1953

Preseason Poll

Rank	Team (FPV)	Points	Prev
1	Notre Dame (84)	1,688	3
2	Michigan State (24)	1,305	1
3	Georgia Tech (24)	1,128	2
4	UCLA (12)	1,065	6
5	Alabama (18)	968	9
6	Oklahoma (3)	672	4
7	Ohio State (3)	666	17
8	USC	165	5
9	Maryland (1)	143	13
10	Duke (2)	86	16
11	Texas	85	10
12	Rice	66	NR
13	Navy	56	NR
14	California	26	NR
15	Florida	24	15
16	West Virginia	20	NR
17	Pittsburgh	18	NR
17	Tennessee	18	8
19	Princeton	17	19
20	Baylor	15	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.