AP Poll 11/2

Associated Press Poll

Year: 1981

11/2/1981

Week 9

Rank	Team (FPV)	Points	Prev
1	Pittsburgh (49)	1,283	2
2	Clemson (9)	1,201	3
3	USC (7)	1,178	4
4	Georgia	1,075	5
5	Texas	1,007	6
6	Penn State	869	1
7	Alabama	861	8
8	North Carolina	767	9
9	Arizona State	658	10
10	SMU	626	13
11	Nebraska	625	12
12	Michigan	554	15
13	Miami	427	NR
14	Florida State	415	17
15	Mississippi State	411	7
16	Washington	388	18
17	Oklahoma	280	19
18	Ohio State	267	NR
19	Arkansas	199	20
20	Southern Miss	153	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.