AP Poll Pre

Associated Press Poll

Year: 1997

7/1/1997

Preseason Poll

Rank	Team (FPV)	Points	Prev
1	Penn State (21)	1,566	7
2	Florida (12)	1,548	1
3	Florida State (7)	1,507	3
4	Washington (10)	1,484	16
5	Tennessee (8)	1,480	9
6	Nebraska (4)	1,442	6
7	North Carolina (4)	1,333	10
8	Colorado (3)	1,302	8
9	Ohio State (1)	1,172	2
10	LSU	1,096	12
11	Notre Dame	1,071	19
12	Texas	1,042	23
13	Miami	820	14
14	Michigan	797	20
15	Alabama	673	11
16	Auburn	592	24
17	Syracuse	585	21
18	Stanford	533	NR
19	BYU	375	5
20	Clemson	352	NR
21	Iowa	347	18
22	USC	219	NR
23	Kansas State	210	17
24	Wisconsin	198	NR
25	Michigan State	148	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.