AP Poll Pre

Associated Press Poll

Year: 1980

7/1/1980

Preseason Poll

Rank	Team (FPV)	Points	Prev
1	Ohio State (36)	1,253	4
2	Alabama (24)	1,217	1
3	Pittsburgh (3)	1,102	7
4	USC (1)	1,030	2
5	Oklahoma (1)	1,009	3
6	Arkansas	850	8
7	Nebraska	812	9
8	Houston	774	5
9	Purdue	654	10
10	Texas	580	12
11	Notre Dame	556	NR
12	Michigan	441	18
13	Florida State	439	6
14	North Carolina	393	15
15	Stanford	337	NR
16	Georgia	333	NR
17	Missouri	308	NR
18	Penn State	280	20
19	Auburn	261	16
20	Washington	200	11

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.