# Final AP Polls by year since whenever **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 8, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-ap-polls-by-year-since-whenever/678282 "2014-01-08T16:35:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-ap-polls-by-year-since-whenever/678282/1 "2014-01-08T16:35:37Z")
Am I imagining things or have I seen in one place a collection of the final AP Polls (college football) by year since some starting date? May have been all the way back, or just the last 20-30 years or something. I have not been able to Google such a thing this morning. Any help? ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-ap-polls-by-year-since-whenever/678282/2 "2014-01-08T17:16:39Z")
The ESPN College Football encyclopedia has that information, but I don’t know if it is online anywhere. [Link](http://www.amazon.com/ESPN-College-Football-Encyclopedia-Complete/dp/1401337031) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-ap-polls-by-year-since-whenever/678282/3 "2014-01-08T17:30:08Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > The ESPN College Football encyclopedia has that information, but I don’t know if it is online anywhere. > > [Link](http://www.amazon.com/ESPN-College-Football-Encyclopedia-Complete/dp/1401337031) Good looking book! I could swear that I have run across something like what I described in the OP. I just can’t remember (or find) where I saw it. As I remember it, it had a column for the teams and then columns for each year since some starting date and in the intersections between year and team there was a number (or NR) for how that team finished the year in the AP rankings. As I remember it the order of teams in their column was based on an average of how they had fared overall. Odds are the teams near the top were the ones you’d expect, like Notre Dame, Michigan, Alabama. etc. But the number of teams that had finished at least one year in the Top 25 made the teams list quite long. Over 50 for sure. ETA: I found [Football | College Poll Archive](http://www.collegepollarchive.com/football/index.cfm) which just might lead to what I’m looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-ap-polls-by-year-since-whenever/678282/4 "2014-01-08T23:45:13Z")
Another site that’s providing some fun trivia and statistics has this bit of breaking news: [http://www.cfrc.com/html/breaking.html](http://www.cfrc.com/html/breaking.html) > [@](#): > > For the first time in the 44 year history of the College Football Research Center, the Michigan Wolverines are not the #2 All-Time Top Program in the Billingsley Report. On the strength of 3 National Championships in the last 4 years the Alabama Crimson Tide have surged slightly ahead of Michigan. From 1970-1977 the top 3 programs were Notre Dame, Michigan and Ohio State. Alabama leaped the Buckeyes to claim the #3 spot in 1980 after Bear Bryant led Alabama to a remarkable run of great teams in the 1970’s, capped by their 4th Billingsley title in 1979. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-ap-polls-by-year-since-whenever/678282/5 "2014-01-09T01:27:52Z")
The best I’ve been able to find along the lines of what I’m hunting for is [Total Appearances in the Final AP Poll](http://www.collegepollarchive.com/football/ap/app_final.cfm?sort=totapp&decade=all&rows=50) which will serve my immediate concerns. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-ap-polls-by-year-since-whenever/678282/6 "2014-01-09T13:00:38Z")
[Here](http://www.collegepollarchive.com/football/ap/seasons.cfm?seasonid=1936) ya go. The link takes you to the final AP poll of 1936, which is the earliest the site lists. It’s pretty easy to navigate to the year you want, though. Also, there’s a whole lot of interesting little lists like “AP National Champions with only One Appearance at #1 During the Season” if you search around the site. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-ap-polls-by-year-since-whenever/678282/7 "2014-01-09T14:10:57Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > [Here](http://www.collegepollarchive.com/football/ap/seasons.cfm?seasonid=1936) ya go. The link takes you to the final AP poll of 1936, which is the earliest the site lists. It’s pretty easy to navigate to the year you want, though. Also, there’s a whole lot of interesting little lists like “AP National Champions with only One Appearance at #1 During the Season” if you search around the site. Thanks. I tinkered with the list from my previous post and came up with the teams that averaged no lower than #10 and came up with ```auto ============================================ Total Appearances in the Final AP Poll RK Team App* Avg RK High RK 4. Alabama 51 7.53 1 2. Oklahoma 54 7.59 1 4. Notre Dame 51 7.88 1 3. Ohio State 53 8.25 1 7. USC 46 8.85 1 41. Army (NY) 14 8.93 1 15. Florida State 30 8.97 1 15. Miami (FL) 30 8.97 1 41. Minnesota 14 9.14 1 21. Michigan State 24 9.17 1 7. Texas 46 9.22 1 17. Florida 29 9.24 1 48. Navy (MD) 12 9.42 2 1. Michigan 57 9.46 1 6. Nebraska 48 9.69 1 11. LSU 37 9.73 1 10. Penn State 40 9.80 1 9. Tennessee 42 9.86 1 ``` Another site that has potential is [Cfbtrivia.com](http://www.cfbtrivia.com/cfbt_menu.php) but I have yet to figure out how to make it do what I’m after. It’s loaded with all sorts of data, to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![boxedlunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@boxedlunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boxedlunch)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-ap-polls-by-year-since-whenever/678282/8 "2014-01-10T02:28:28Z")
At [cfbtrivia.com](http://cfbtrivia.com), the easiest way to do it is using the Season Count screen. [http://www.cfbtrivia.com/cfbt\_counter.php](http://www.cfbtrivia.com/cfbt_counter.php) Select the year range you want (AP started in 1936), then click the left box by Yr Rank/Non. The default range is 1-25, so that’s ranked. If you do 1-10, you get top 10. The next line down you can select what poll you want. The default is ranked in the AP or Coaches poll. Click the left box to get the AP poll, then click search. [http://www.cfbtrivia.com/cfbt\_count.php?fry=1936&thy=2013&app=on&yrk=on&desc=on&rout=on](http://www.cfbtrivia.com/cfbt_count.php?fry=1936&thy=2013&app=on&yrk=on&desc=on&rout=on) This is a list of how many times each team has finished ranked in the AP poll. Adjust the year range to get different ranges. The last 20 years: [http://www.cfbtrivia.com/cfbt\_count.php?fry=1936&thy=2013&app=on&yrk=on&desc=on&rout=on](http://www.cfbtrivia.com/cfbt_count.php?fry=1994&thy=2013&app=on&yrk=on&desc=on&rout=on) Or, all-time top 10 finishes: [http://www.cfbtrivia.com/cfbt\_count.php?fry=1936&thy=2013&app=on&yrk=on&yrr=on&yrl=01&yrh=10&desc=on&rout=on](http://www.cfbtrivia.com/cfbt_count.php?fry=1936&thy=2013&app=on&yrk=on&yrr=on&yrl=01&yrh=10&desc=on&rout=on) There are other things there. You can replace team for conference, to get a list of finishes by conference, you can split it up year by year, or 2+ year ranges, etc. The rank points converts the rankings to points, ie 25 for a #1 finish, 24 for a#2, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/final-ap-polls-by-year-since-whenever/678282/9 "2014-01-10T03:39:48Z")
Thanks so much, **boxedlunch**! I’ll be trying all that.