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The Power Four => Big Ten => Topic started by: medinabuckeye1 on February 24, 2026, 09:56:07 AM

Title: 90 Years of AP Polls, the fifth 15: 1996-2010
Post by: medinabuckeye1 on February 24, 2026, 09:56:07 AM

All data from College Poll Archive (https://www.collegepollarchive.com/football/index.cfm).  

I've broken the 90 years of AP Polls into six 15 year segments and I will continue making a post like this roughly each week, one for each segment.  Here are the previous posts:

• 1936-1950 (https://www.cfb51.com/big-ten/90-years-of-ap-polls-the-first-15-1936-1950/) 
• 1951-1965 (https://www.cfb51.com/big-ten/90-years-of-ap-polls-the-second-15-1951-1965/) 
• 1966-1980 (https://www.cfb51.com/big-ten/90-years-of-ap-polls-the-third-15-1966-1980/) 
• 1981-1995 (https://www.cfb51.com/big-ten/90-years-of-ap-polls-the-fourth-15-1981-1995/) 

Each post lists the top-25 programs from that 15 years as measured by total appearances, top-10 appearances, and top-5 appearances.  For this week I'm displaying the top-25 from 1996-2010 along with all of the teams that are top-25 for the first 75 years (1936-2010) and for the entire 90 years (1936-2025).  Starting with AP Poll Appearances:  
(https://i.imgur.com/SDmRlQj.png)


AP Top-10 Appearances:
(https://i.imgur.com/inT9NQ6.png)

AP Top-5 Appearances:
(https://i.imgur.com/yEg4lwl.png)

Title: Re: 90 Years of AP Polls, the fifth 15: 1996-2010
Post by: medinabuckeye1 on February 24, 2026, 10:29:37 AM

I'd love to focus on Ohio State's success in the 96-2010 period but the focus here belongs on VaTech and Frank Beamer.  In the first 60 years of the AP Poll (1936-1995) VaTech was a complete nobody, they had:

• 44 total AP Poll appearances - That is roughly three every four years and was 68th nationally.  
• 1 total AP Top-10 appearance - In sixty freaking years.  
• ZERO AP Top-5 appearances - EVER.  

The above actually somehow manages to understate Frank Beamer's impact on that program because he became HC at VaTech in 1987 and 31 of VaTech's 44 AP appearances prior to 1996 were under Beamer between 1987-1995.  Additionally, their one and only top-10 appearance before 1996 was in the final poll of 1995 under Frank Beamer.  

VaTech in the AP Poll before Frank Beamer (1936-1986):

• 13 TOTAL appearances:
• 9 in 1954 at 14-19
• 3 in 1956 at 15-18
• 1 in 1986 at #20

Then under Frank Beamer they were #3 in total appearances from 1996-2010.  That is insane.