CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Four => Big Ten => Topic started by: medinabuckeye1 on March 02, 2026, 12:16:21 PM
-
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 this is the last of these weekly (roughly) posts, one for each segment, here are the prior 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/)
- 1996-2010 (https://www.cfb51.com/big-ten/90-years-of-ap-polls-the-fifth-15-1996-2010/)
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 2011-2025 along with the top-25 for the entire 90 years (1936-2025) starting with AP Poll Appearances:
(https://i.imgur.com/dDEqB7X.png)
AP top-10 appearances:
(https://i.imgur.com/JRjdsiv.png)
AP top-5 Appearances:
(https://i.imgur.com/KwX16nW.png)
-
The story of 2011-2025 is Alabama. Their dominance is astounding. To put it in some perspective, Ohio State's run from 2011-2025 has been astonishing and in just about any other 15 years, Ohio State's 2011-2025 run would easily be the best in the nation and the Buckeyes are a distant second in all three categories.
Appearances:
- Bama leads by 15 over
- tOSU leads by 13 over
- OU leads by 5 over
- UGA leads by 9 over
- Clemson leads by 6 over
- Oregon leads by 3 over
- ND leads by 8 over
- LSU leads by 5 over
- M leads by 35 over
- aTm
Top-10s:
It is rare for a team to be ranked more than 90% of the time and Bama has been not only ranked but inside the top-10 in more than 90% of the AP Polls of the last 15 years. Ohio State is the only team that has managed to be ranked more often than Bama has been top-10.
- Bama leads by 19 over
- tOSU leads by 39 over
- UGA leads by 28 over
- Clemson leads by 7 over
- Oregon leads by 17 over
- ND leads by 22 over
- LSU leads by 10 over
- PSU leads by 2 over
- FSU/M
Top-5s:
Bama's lead here is even more impressive. They have been in the top-5 in more than three-quarters of the AP Polls of the last 15 years and their lead over #2 Ohio State is bigger than Ohio State's lead over #3 UGA.
-
I'm impressed with OSU's finish, considering the way it started, what with the Luke Fickel season and all.
-
I'm impressed with OSU's finish, considering the way it started, what with the Luke Fickel season and all.
Even Ohio State has bad years now and then, every school does. Where Ohio State has done better than any other school is at avoiding stringing bad years together to become bad decades. Here are the top-25 programs in all time AP Poll appearances along with their worst ranking for any of the 15 year segments I divided the AP Poll era into:
- Ohio State: 9th from 81-95
- Michigan: 16th from 51-65
- Oklahoma: 13th from 36-50 and again from 96-10
- Alabama: 18th from 96-10
- Notre Dame: 20th from 96-10
- USC: 14th from 11-25
- Texas: 21st from 81-95
- Nebraska: 38th from 51-65
- Penn State: 37th from 36-50
- Georgia: 48th from 51-65
- LSU: 24th from 81-95
- Tennessee: 28th from 11-25
- Florida: 98th from 36-50
- Auburn: 75th from 36-50
- Florida State: ZERO appearances from 36-50 and they were 74th from 51-65
- UCLA: 31st from 11-25
- Miami, FL: 75th from 36-50
- Texas A&M: 32nd from 51-65
- Clemson: 34th from 96-10
- Washington: 34th from 51-65
- Arkansas: 61st from 36-50
- Michigan State: 41st from 36-50
- Wisconsin: 57th from 66-80
- Oregon: 72nd from 66-80
- Iowa: ZERO appearances from 66-80 and they were 61st from 36-50
In the 90 years of the AP Poll Ohio State simply hasn't ever had a prolonged downturn anything like what every other program has endured.
-
Luckeyes ;)
-
Florida's been complete dogshit in this era and to be ranked 17th in ranked season %.....it really shows the relativity of it all. Some programs would kill for 17th in any of these eras.
The mighty Gators being #1 in the previous era makes it all the more difficult. Having come of age right as Spurrier took over is why my expectations are so high.
-
I know how you feel
-
Having come of age right as Spurrier took over is why my expectations are so high.
Having come of age right as Spurrier took over is why I loathe the Gators so much.
-
Great stuff.
-
Florida's been complete dogshit in this era and to be ranked 17th in ranked season %.....it really shows the relativity of it all. Some programs would kill for 17th in any of these eras.
This is an important point that @betarhoalphadelta (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=19) reminds me of from time to time. For Ohio State fans the bad times are 1980-1992. In those 13 seasons Ohio State never lost less than 3 games per year:
Earle Bruce took over in 1979 after Woody got fired for punching Charlie Bauman in the Gator Bowl and Earle's first team started 11-0 and went to the Rose Bowl as #1 where they lost by a single point to USC. Then he went 9-3 six consecutive years only breaking that streak when it was impossible to continue because they played 13 games in 1986 and he went 10-3. Bruce's team careened off the cliff (by tOSU standards) in 1987 and he got himself fired with a 6-4-1 season that was only partially redeemed by his 5th and final win over Michigan (5-4 in 9 years) which came AFTER he had been fired. The bottom really fell out the next year with new HC John Cooper finishing below .500 (the first time for tOSU since 1966). That was followed up by an 8-4 season, a 7-4-1 season, an 8-4 season, and an 8-3-1 season. Cooper's first five seasons all ended with two losses except the first and 5th which ended with a tie and a loss.
By Ohio State's standards the above is just flat awful but from 1980-1992 Ohio State was:
- 9th in AP Appearances with 149 appearances in 210 polls, 71%
- 13th in AP Top-10 Appearances with 58 in 210 polls, 27.6%
- 18th in AP Top-5 Appearances with 17 in 210 polls, 8.1%
- 19th in AP #1 Appearances with 2 in 210 polls, 1%
When you are in the top-20 even in your worst times, those are good problems to have that, as you pointed out: "Some (I'd say most) programs would kill for . . ."
-
Having come of age right as Spurrier took over is why my expectations are so high.
I think this is something most of us tend to do. I think we tend to learn how things are when we start following them and then just assume that it always has been and always will be that way.
For me that stuck out with Oklahoma. Oklahoma had some great teams in the mid-80s. They finished in the top-6 four straight years from 1984-1987 and even though I was 9-12 then, I didn't really follow CFB because my football interest was directed at the NFL where my local Browns were REALLY good at that time. Then in the 12 years from 1988-1999 the Sooners only finished ranked four times and those four were mid-teen also-ran finishes. They were completely absent from the AP Poll for the entirety of the 1996-1998 seasons. That (88-99) is when I started following the sport and learned how things were and Oklahoma was a complete afterthought for those years so when the jumped up and won the NC in 2000 I was shocked. Older fans were obviously not surprised to see the Sooners in the NC hunt but for me it just felt weird.
-
I think this is something most of us tend to do. I think we tend to learn how things are when we start following them and then just assume that it always has been and always will be that way.
Yeah. I started at Purdue in 1996. About all I knew about college football was that we sucked at it. I was a nerdy engineer and didn't attend a game that fall.
But my sophomore year I had joined the fraternity, and we were buying an allotted block of seats, so I decided to get tickets. And that was the year that Joe Tiller showed up. Year 1 with Billy Dicken at QB we went from 3-8 (1996) to 9-3 (1997) and a bowl win. And then I was treated to three seasons of Drew Brees.
I got spoiled over those seasons, and while I [now] know it's not Purdue's normal, it was the formative portion of my fandom...
-
I'm trying to imagine some kind of graphic that wouldn't be too complicated to display some of this stuff. I know one could plot of course AP rankings by year for a team, I was musing about smoothing such a plot. You could then compare and contrast periods more easily?
-
I'm trying to imagine some kind of graphic that wouldn't be too complicated to display some of this stuff. I know one could plot of course AP rankings by year for a team, I was musing about smoothing such a plot. You could then compare and contrast periods more easily?
Maybe % ranked over rolling 10 or 15 year periods?
It would be a lot of work to get the data entered but the rolling periods would smooth it and give you a good idea of how successful each program was over a given period.
-
Its weird, I just assumed that since Iowa has won at least 8 games every single year since 2015, and won at least 10 games 4 times since 2015, that Iowa would do well in this time period. But I guess they weren't ranked that much. The classic case of a high floor but with a low ceiling.
-
Its weird, I just assumed that since Iowa has won at least 8 games every single year since 2015, and won at least 10 games 4 times since 2015, that Iowa would do well in this time period. But I guess they weren't ranked that much. The classic case of a high floor but with a low ceiling.
A lot of this is timing and specifically the fact that Iowa can't seem to get out of September without a loss. For the last 15 years:
2011:
Started RV (#32) but lost to ISU. Second loss on 10/8, cratered starting with a loss to a horrible MN team on 10/29. Not ranked at all in 2011.
2012:
4-8 catastrophe of a season, never even received votes.
2013:
No votes in preseason due to 4-8 finish prior year. Lost opener to NIU. Climbed up to RV on 9/29 then promptly lost two straight and three out of four, no votes in November. Finished November on a three-game winning streak that resulted in votes in the December polls and lost close to a quality LSU team in the Outback bowl to finish RV (#32).
2014:
Started RV (#30) and maintained votes for a few weeks but then lost to ISU. No votes again until mid-October but then promptly lost to Maryland and that was it for 2014.
2015:
No votes preseason due to 7-6 finish prior year. Started getting votes in week 2, ranked in week 5 and stayed ranked the rest of the way. Finished 12-2 and #9.
2016:
#17 in preseason, first preseason ranking since being #10 in 2010! Lost to NDST on 9/17 and was not ranked again until #22 at 8-4 in late November and #21 in early December then lost bowl and fell out.
2017:
Lost back-to-back games to PSU and MSU in late September. In retrospect that wasn't so bad as they finished #8 and #15 respectively. Got into the poll at #25 after demolishing Ohio State but turned around and got run out of Camp Randall then lost at home to Purdue. This was a pretty good team. They finished 8-5 but four of the five losses were to really good opponents (PSU, MSU, NU, UW).
2018:
RV in preseason but lost to UW in September. Ranked three weeks in late October but then lost three straight, finished #25 after a bowl win. Ranked in 4/16 polls.
2019:
Ranked all year long! This was in large part due to FINALLY getting out of September without a loss. Ended up 10-3 and #15.
2020:
Didn't lose in September . . . because the B1G didn't play in September. Went 6-2 but started with the two losses so they were ranked preseason then not again until late November.
2021:
Ranked all year long! This was in large part due to getting out of September without a loss. Ended 10-4 and #23.
2022:
Finished 8-5 and RV (#34) but not ranked at all largely due to timing, lost to ISU on 9/10 then three straight in October.
2023:
Ranked in 50% of the polls (8/16). Finished 10-4 and #24. Would have been ranked more if not for bad timing: Lost badly in September to PSU. Finally got ranked in mid-October then promptly lost at home to a mediocre MN team. Finally got back into the rankings in mid-November at 9-2 and remained ranked the rest of the year.
2024:
#25 in the preseason and finished 8-5 so not THAT far from being ranked but a loss to ISU on 9/7 knocked them out after only two appearances and they never made it back.
2025:
RV in preseason but barely (#42) and lost in September to ISU. Didn't make it into the rankings until being 9-4 and #17 in the final poll.
-
A lot of this is timing and specifically the fact that Iowa can't seem to get out of September without a loss. For the last 15 years:
2011:
Started RV (#32) but lost to ISU. Second loss on 10/8, cratered starting with a loss to a horrible MN team on 10/29. Not ranked at all in 2011.
2012:
4-8 catastrophe of a season, never even received votes.
2013:
No votes in preseason due to 4-8 finish prior year. Lost opener to NIU. Climbed up to RV on 9/29 then promptly lost two straight and three out of four, no votes in November. Finished November on a three-game winning streak that resulted in votes in the December polls and lost close to a quality LSU team in the Outback bowl to finish RV (#32).
2014:
Started RV (#30) and maintained votes for a few weeks but then lost to ISU. No votes again until mid-October but then promptly lost to Maryland and that was it for 2014.
2015:
No votes preseason due to 7-6 finish prior year. Started getting votes in week 2, ranked in week 5 and stayed ranked the rest of the way. Finished 12-2 and #9.
2016:
#17 in preseason, first preseason ranking since being #10 in 2010! Lost to NDST on 9/17 and was not ranked again until #22 at 8-4 in late November and #21 in early December then lost bowl and fell out.
2017:
Lost back-to-back games to PSU and MSU in late September. In retrospect that wasn't so bad as they finished #8 and #15 respectively. Got into the poll at #25 after demolishing Ohio State but turned around and got run out of Camp Randall then lost at home to Purdue. This was a pretty good team. They finished 8-5 but four of the five losses were to really good opponents (PSU, MSU, NU, UW).
2018:
RV in preseason but lost to UW in September. Ranked three weeks in late October but then lost three straight, finished #25 after a bowl win. Ranked in 4/16 polls.
2019:
Ranked all year long! This was in large part due to FINALLY getting out of September without a loss. Ended up 10-3 and #15.
2020:
Didn't lose in September . . . because the B1G didn't play in September. Went 6-2 but started with the two losses so they were ranked preseason then not again until late November.
2021:
Ranked all year long! This was in large part due to getting out of September without a loss. Ended 10-4 and #23.
2022:
Finished 8-5 and RV (#34) but not ranked at all largely due to timing, lost to ISU on 9/10 then three straight in October.
2023:
Ranked in 50% of the polls (8/16). Finished 10-4 and #24. Would have been ranked more if not for bad timing: Lost badly in September to PSU. Finally got ranked in mid-October then promptly lost at home to a mediocre MN team. Finally got back into the rankings in mid-November at 9-2 and remained ranked the rest of the year.
2024:
#25 in the preseason and finished 8-5 so not THAT far from being ranked but a loss to ISU on 9/7 knocked them out after only two appearances and they never made it back.
2025:
RV in preseason but barely (#42) and lost in September to ISU. Didn't make it into the rankings until being 9-4 and #17 in the final poll.
Yup, a great summation.
A lot of 8-5 seasons, with an occasional 9+ about a third of the time, and only 1 losing season way bak in 2012. Consistently decent but not great. And losing early in the season dooes not help at all, I agree
Edit: on the other hand, I just saw a graphic that if the 24-team CFP had existed since 2014, Iowa would have made the CFP 6 times. This ranked 13th of all the teams listed. Not sure how they came up with that. Not saying it changes anything.
-
Medina,
I am not asking you to do any additional analysis, but part of me is curious if there is any noticeable difference between the BCS/CFP polls vs the AP polls over the years.
My assumption has always been that once the first CFP comes out each year, the AP voters tend to adjust their rankings to more or less match the CFP. So its probably not worth looking into. Its just a thought I had. Thanks again for all your hard work and great analysis on all this data.
-
Medina,
I am not asking you to do any additional analysis, but part of me is curious if there is any noticeable difference between the BCS/CFP polls vs the AP polls over the years.
My assumption has always been that once the first CFP comes out each year, the AP voters tend to adjust their rankings to more or less match the CFP. So its probably not worth looking into. Its just a thought I had. Thanks again for all your hard work and great analysis on all this data.
Believe that's often the case.
-
Medina,
I am not asking you to do any additional analysis, but part of me is curious if there is any noticeable difference between the BCS/CFP polls vs the AP polls over the years.
My assumption has always been that once the first CFP comes out each year, the AP voters tend to adjust their rankings to more or less match the CFP. So its probably not worth looking into. Its just a thought I had. Thanks again for all your hard work and great analysis on all this data.
Believe that's often the case.
Probably true, but at the same time, I think the CFP selection committee rankings are also heavily influenced by the 10 weeks of AP/Coaches' poll rankings that have already occurred before the first selection committee ranking comes out.
-
Medina,
I am not asking you to do any additional analysis, but part of me is curious if there is any noticeable difference between the BCS/CFP polls vs the AP polls over the years.
My assumption has always been that once the first CFP comes out each year, the AP voters tend to adjust their rankings to more or less match the CFP. So its probably not worth looking into. Its just a thought I had. Thanks again for all your hard work and great analysis on all this data.
Data would be tricky because it is hard to be objective but my impression is that the committee has done a MUCH better job of considering SoS where in the pre-committee days the main factor seemed to be "when did you lose". Ie, if Ohio State lost to a REALLY bad team early in the season in the old days that was better than losing to a REALLY good team late in the season.
-
agreed
-
derned September losses
(https://i.imgur.com/4HTyH6q.png)
-
Lazy cowards.
Lazy for the way they voted back in the day.
Cowards to align their vote with the new, real ranking (and not have evidence that they're "wrong").
Ick.
-
Lazy cowards.
Lazy for the way they voted back in the day.
Cowards to align their vote with the new, real ranking (and not have evidence that they're "wrong").
Ick.
Man, voting in those polls is such a shit assignment.
-
almost worse than being an umpire behind home plate
-
Man, voting in those polls is such a shit assignment.
If they gave it any effort....
-
If I were voting in any such poll as a sportwriter OR coach(es assistant), I would put minimal effort into the whole affair, especially below 10. It's not as if most of these folks really try and think hard about it knowing it'll change in a week, and there is zero penalty for being wrong.
-
You'd fit right in with them.
-
Why should any of the voters spend any real effort on their vote? What is the benefit in so doing, versus just eyeballing it all and running out a rather prosaic ranking?
Zero. None. Nada. At best a very very slight adjustment in the final poll, which possibly could be in the wrong direction.
We have polls because "we" like them, if "we" ignored them they'd go away. They matter not.
-
Anything worth doing is worth doing right. If you're not going to give it your all, then don't be a voter.
The same exact ideal you'd have for most anything else doesn't apply here because......?
-
There are plenty of things "worth doing" with mediocre effort in life. Just passing on some cliche doesn't make something right or wrong. It's your opinion, which is fine, but clearly not mine.
Of course, I don't get bothered about polls and voters in such things. They are interesting when taken historically as was done in the OP. Current season polls? Whatever.
Click bait.
-
(https://i.imgur.com/Vknnd8x.png)
-
(https://i.imgur.com/Vknnd8x.png)
A couple things stood out to me. One is Indiana's 3-0. Their first-ever appearance at #1 came after beating the Buckeyes in the last B1GCG and they then won three games in the CFP. The other is the teams that are 0-fer as #1. That just sucks. To get all the way to the mountaintop then then immediately fall sucks. So here they are:
Boston College:
The Eagles only have one appearance at #1 and only two at #2. They have 16 top-5 appearances and have been ranked in 145 of 1,267 polls (11%). Not only are they 0-1 as #1 but it was a BAD loss. They started 1942 at #11 and an 8-0 start got them the #1 ranking in the November 23 AP Poll after #1 Georgia lost at home to unranked Auburn. Then they got obliterated (55-12) by unranked Holy Cross in Boston and for good measure they also lost the Orange Bowl badly (37-21) to Alabama.
SMU:
The Mustangs have two appearances at #1 and five at #2. They have 30 top-5 appearances and have been ranked in 197 of 1,267 polls (16%). They only have two appearances at #1 because they took the week off after attaining the #1 ranking. They started 1950 at #10 and beat GaTech and #11 Ohio State before the next poll came out. At that point they were 2-0 and #3. Then #1 (ND, at PU) and #2 (MSU vs UMD) both lost and SMU moved up to #2. A 42-21 win over #15 Rice on October 21 moved them up to #1 and then they took a week off and remained #1 in the 10/30 poll. When they returned to action it was ugly. They lost 23-20 at Texas as #1 then lost 25-20 at home to aTm the next week as #7. The ended the 1950 season 6-4 and unranked.
Wisconsin:
The Badgers have one appearance at #1, seven at #2, and 49 in the top-5. They have been ranked in 416 of 1,267 polls (33%). They opened the 1952 season at #7 and fell a spot for "only" beating Marquette 42-19. Then they knocked off #2 Illinois 20-6 while previous #1 (MSU) struggled with Oregon State (17-14 win). That moved the Badgers all the way up to #1 in the October 6, 1952 poll but that Saturday they lost 23-14 in Columbus to an unranked Ohio State team that had a young upstart named Woody Hayes in his second year as HC. Wisconsin did end up winning the BigTen that year and lost the Rose Bowl to #1 USC.
Missouri:
The Tigers have two appearances at #1, two at #2, and 23 in the top-5. They have been ranked in 292 of 1,267 polls (23%). Unlike SMU who got their second #1 appearance by having a week off, the Tigers have reached #1 on two completely separate occasions and they immediately lost both times:
In 1960 the Tigers started unranked but won their first nine games. The ninth win was over Oklahoma as #2 and the previous #1 also lost that week (MN to PU) so the Tigers got the #1 spot in the November 14, 1960 poll then lost 23-7 to Kansas and finished the season #5.
In 2007 the Tigers started unranked but started 5-0 to climb to #11. Then they lost 41-31 at Oklahoma but Oklahoma was #6 and it was a road loss so the Tigers only dropped to #15. They then proceeded to win six straight including over #2 Kansas on November 24. Conveniently for #3 Mizzou, #1 LSU lost 50-48 to Arkansas in 3OT that same day which opened the way for Mizzou to claim the #1 spot for their second time. Unfortunately for Mizzou their next assignment was a second crack at the Sooners, this time in the B12CG. That didn't go any better than Mizzou's previous shot at the Sooners with #9 Oklahoma winning 38-17 over #1 Mizzou. That same day #2 (WVU to unranked Pitt) lost which paved the way for Ohio State to regain the #1 ranking.
-
I'm a bit surprised that PSU has only played a dozen games as the #1 ranked team
-
I'm a bit surprised that PSU has only played a dozen games as the #1 ranked team
Well they've been #1 in 21 polls but two of those were as NC's in the final poll and you don't play any games after the final poll (anymore). I'm guessing bye weeks account for the rest.
FWIW:
- PSU has been #1 in 21 polls, tied with Pitt for 17th
- They have been #2 in another 49 polls, 9th
- They have been top-5 in 187 polls, 13th
- They have been ranked in 717 polls, 9th
For all of their rankings they fall off a little bit when it comes to top-5's and particularly #1's.
-
The other is the teams that are 0-fer as #1. That just sucks. To get all the way to the mountaintop then then immediately fall sucks. So here they are:
Co-pilot sez:
Kansas State’s rise to No. 1 in 1998 marked the peak of the Bill Snyder era. That season, the Wildcats went 11–0 in the regular season, powered by an elite defense and quarterback Michael Bishop’s Heisman‑finalist campaign. They entered the Big 12 Championship Game ranked No. 1 before falling to Texas A&M in a double‑overtime classic.
Charlie Brown University could not avoid Lucy pulling the football out the way in this category.
Seems like the same happened in 2012 at Baylor, but that will have to be a separate search, apparently.
:Edit: My memory for sad events is fairly close to intact, but does not exactly fit the category topic:
Kansas State entered the Nov. 17, 2012 game at Baylor ranked No. 1 in the BCS and No. 2 in the AP Poll. Baylor was unranked.
Guess that don't count.
-
It's interesting how a few teams are undefeated whilst ranked uno (for obvious).
And three are 0-1 and one is 0-2, which would be kind of miserable I think.
My Dawgs at 41-4 have "padded" their stat over the past 6 or so seasons I think.
-
Co-pilot sez:
Kansas State’s rise to No. 1 in 1998 marked the peak of the Bill Snyder era. That season, the Wildcats went 11–0 in the regular season, powered by an elite defense and quarterback Michael Bishop’s Heisman‑finalist campaign. They entered the Big 12 Championship Game ranked No. 1 before falling to Texas A&M in a double‑overtime classic.
And we Vols thank you much for that. *** Assist to former Vol and transfer QB Brandon Stewart.
-
And we Vols thank you much for that. *** Assist to former Vol and transfer QB Brandon Stewart.
Sigh. As I said, we here at KSU/CBU often lament the coulda woulda beens.
-
Sigh. As I said, we here at KSU/CBU often lament the coulda woulda beens.
Your boys sure kicked the crap out of us a few years later in an arctic game in the Cotton Bowl.
K St. was loaded that year.
-
Your boys sure kicked the crap out of us a few years later in an arctic game in the Cotton Bowl.
K St. was loaded that year.
Ice on the grass at the Cotton Bowl, yessir.
We had some good teams in that era. Cookie never crumbled as fortuitously as others.
-
Well they've been #1 in 21 polls but two of those were as NC's in the final poll and you don't play any games after the final poll (anymore). I'm guessing bye weeks account for the rest.
gee, it's tough when a bye week knocks you out of the #1 spot
-
gee, it's tough when a bye week knocks you out of the #1 spot
That wasn't what I was saying. I was answering your comment about them not playing many games as #1 and I'm assuming that they didn't play in some of those weeks. Ok, now I'll go look it up:
According to the table that you posted Penn State is 9-3 in 12 games as #1 and according to CFB Data they have been #1 in 21 AP Polls so here they are:
- 11/13/1978: DNP on 11/18
- 11/20/1978: Beat #15 Pitt 17-10
- 11/27/1978: DNP on 12/1
- 12/4/1978: Lost 14-7 to #2 Bama in the Sugar Bowl (1-1 in four weeks as #1 in 1978)
- 10/19/1981: Beat WVU 30-7
- 10/26/1981: Lost 17-14 at Miami, FL (1-1 in two weeks as #1 in 1981)
- 1/2/1983: Won the 1982 NC without being ranked #1 at any point until the final poll, DNP
- 11/12/1985: Beat Notre Dame 36-6
- 11/19/1985: Beat Pitt 31-0
- 11/26/1985: DNP
- 12/3/1985: DNP
- 12/10/1985: Lost 25-10 to #3 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl (2-1 in five weeks as #1 in 1985)
- 1/4/1987: Won the 1986 NC without being ranked #1 at any point until the final poll. DNP
- 10/18/1994: DNP
- 11/25/1994: Beat #21 Ohio State 63-14 (1-0 in two weeks as #1 in 1994. Who jumped them when they beat tOSU 63-14? I bet you remember!)
- 8/11/1997: DNP
- 8/25/1997: DNP
- 9/2/1997: Beat Pitt 34-17
- 9/8/1007: Beat Temple 52-10
- 9/15/1997: Beat Louisville 57-21 (got Jumped by Florida anyway because Florida beat #4 Tennessee)
- 10/13/1997: Beat Minnesota 16-15 and got jumped by a team that had a more impressive win, do you remember who?
That is it. They got jumped twice in 1997 without losing but then they subsequently lost three games. I get 9-3 with nine weeks being #1 and not playing (in bold). It is interesting that in their two NC seasons they were not ranked #1 until the final poll.
-
It is interesting that in their two NC seasons they were not ranked #1 until the final poll.
Similar situation for Ohio State. In their three most recent NC seasons (2024, 2014, 2002) they spent a grand combined total of just three weeks at #1. Even in the 1968 season the Buckeyes were only #1 for the last three polls. In 1954 the Buckeyes were #1 in four out of 12 polls and won the NC and in 1942 they were #1 in four out of eight polls and won the NC.
-
I assume the Hoosiers won't be ranked #1 to start next season
-
Similar situation for Ohio State. In their three most recent NC seasons (2024, 2014, 2002) they spent a grand combined total of just three weeks at #1. Even in the 1968 season the Buckeyes were only #1 for the last three polls. In 1954 the Buckeyes were #1 in four out of 12 polls and won the NC and in 1942 they were #1 in four out of eight polls and won the NC.
What about 57?
-
What about 57?
They weren't AP Champions in 1957.
Back then the NCAA actually enforced rules against cheaters. Some cheater school waa ineligible for the Coaches poll which tOSU won but the cheater school won the AP.
-
I assume the Hoosiers won't be ranked #1 to start next season
Probably not, but they'll be top ten, or even five I suspect. These guys have them at 6 FWIW. Ohio State gets the nod at 1. Then it's round up the usual suspects.
Way-too-early college football top 25 rankings for the 2026 season | NCAA.com (https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2026-01-25/way-too-early-college-football-top-25-rankings-2026-season)