So update:
The top-5 appearances is the only one in play so I'll focus on that first. Most of the current top-5 are not teams that are all that high on the all-time list, the current top-5:
- Texas - 7th all-time with 294 appearances
- Georgia - 10th all-time with 217
- Notre Dame - 4th all-time with 327
- Ole Miss - 25th all-time with 69
- Indiana - 48th all-time with 22 (Indiana is tied for 5th from 2024-2026 and 15 of their 22 top-5 appearances have been in that time)
Looked at the other way around, here are the all-time most frequent top-5 teams and where they are currently ranked:
- 467 Alabama, 8
- 466 Ohio State, 7
- 432 Oklahoma, nr
- 327 Notre Dame, 3
- 325 Michigan, 18
- 296 Nebraska, nr
- 294 Texas, 1
- 286 USC, 12
- 257 Florida State, nr
- 217 Georgia, 2
- 215 Miami, FL 6
- 188 Florida, 21
- 187 Penn State,
- 140 LSU, 10
- 130 Auburn, nr
Notre Dame is pulling away from #5 Michigan but they are not a threat to catch Oklahoma anytime soon.
Texas is pulling away from USC and gaining on Nebraska but not a threat to catch Michigan anytime soon.
Georgia is pulling away from Miami but not a threat to catch FSU anytime soon.
The race for #1 all-time is interesting (at least to me). If you look at the votes in the AP Poll, there is a humongous gap between #5 Ohio State and #6 Alabama so if one of the top-5 teams takes a loss Ohio State will probably ascend to the top-5 but realistically if both teams keep winning undefeated Alabama will eventually pass 1-loss Ohio State so time is on the side of the Tide. Also, as
@rolltidefan stated upthread, Alabama doesn't really have the schedule to jump Ohio State until probably the UGA game on October 10. Meanwhile, Ohio State probably can't jump any of the undefeated teams so the Buckeyes need to keep winning and wait for other teams to lose.
Texas is 10th all-time with 52 appearances at #1 and if they stay there for two more weeks they'll catch #9 Georgia.
There is no change nor even potential change anywhere close to the top in all-time appearances in the top-10.
Of the 13 all-time most frequently ranked teams only #3 Oklahoma (925) and #8 Nebraska (733) are currently unranked. The Sooners were ranked last week and are still getting votes while the Cornhuskers are 3-0 with two very winnable games coming up so both of them could get ranked within a week or two.
Of interest to
@rolltidefan and
@FearlessF (from opposite sides), Alabama's current streak of weeks appearing in the poll is now up to 299 (starting with the 2008 Preseason Poll). That is good for 2nd all time and they are now just 49 weeks away from catching the all-time leader of 348 straight appearances by Nebraska from October 12, 1981 through September 22, 2002.