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68-476: Since the Associated Press began crowning its national champion in 1968 following the bowl games, the two top-ranked teams going into the bowls had faced one other in a bowl only six times, most recently in the 1987 season . Due to often rigid existing bowl tie-ins, and various conference regulations, it was not uncommon that the two top-ranked teams at the end of the regular season would never meet on

136-567: A “Game of the Century” against No. 2 Notre Dame. The Irish stunned the Seminoles by running off 24 consecutive points after an early Florida State touchdown, and they still led 31–17 with a few minutes left to play. But FSU quarterback Charlie Ward led the Seminoles on a rapid drive which resulted in a touchdown pass on 4th-and-20, and the Irish went three-and-out on the next possession. Getting

204-569: A 17–13 victory for the Tigers. No. 6 Nebraska was taken down to the wire by Kansas, but the Cornhuskers stopped a Jayhawks two-point conversion to preserve a 21–20 win and move back into the top five: No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Miami, No. 4 Nebraska, and No. 5 Ohio State. November 13: Up to this point, No. 1 Florida State had defeated all nine of their opponents by 18 points or more, but now they would face their toughest test in

272-504: A Charlie Ward pass in the end zone with three seconds left to play. Despite the win over Florida State, Notre Dame's title chances ended the very next week when the Fighting Irish lost to No. 17 Boston College . Further controversy surrounded the inclusion of one-loss Florida State in the national title game over undefeated West Virginia , who was ranked No. 2 (ahead of Florida State) by the final regular season coaches' poll but not

340-652: A bowl invitation. To alleviate these concerns, before the 1995 season the Bowl Coalition was reconfigured into the Bowl Alliance , breaking up the conference tie-ins and tweaking a system that still did not include the Big Ten and the Pac-10. The final year of the Bowl Coalition saw its formula break down completely, as the situation it was designed to prevent (a split national championship) presented itself as

408-413: A chance to play for the national championship. This occurred during the 1993 season . Nebraska and West Virginia both finished the season 11–0. West Virginia ranked #2 in the final regular season Coaches Poll (behind #1 Nebraska), but was ranked #3 in the final regular season AP Poll (behind #1 Florida State and #2 Nebraska). The margin between West Virginia and Florida State was large enough to drop

476-649: A clear champion in the Coaches Poll and the AP poll, despite Florida State's loss to Notre Dame 31–24 during the regular season, in a game known by many as the " Game of the Century ". This much hyped clash between No. 1 and No. 2 was the site of the first ever "live" broadcast of the ESPN College GameDay show and did not fail to live up to expectations as Irish defensive back Shawn Wooden batted down

544-727: A national championship game and instead each gone to their respective traditional bowl. In later years, the Big 8, SEC, and SWC champions would be released to play in another bowl if it was necessary to force a "title game". For example, if the SEC and SWC champions were ranked first and second, the Cotton Bowl would have released the SWC champ to play in the Sugar Bowl, or the Sugar would have released

612-520: A serious possibility. Nebraska (12–0) finished the regular season ranked #1 in both the AP and Coaches polls while Penn State (11–0) ranked #2 in both polls. Penn State had decided prior to the formation of the Bowl Coalition to give up its independent football status to join the Big Ten, a conference not part of the coalition and whose champion was contractually obligated to play in the Rose Bowl. Nebraska, as Big 8 champion, qualified automatically for

680-521: A split championship if Miami won, but that Penn State's fate could be sealed before they even had a chance to play their game. In the end Nebraska defeated Miami to win the Orange Bowl and became consensus champions despite Penn State's win over Oregon in the Rose Bowl. One legacy of the Bowl Coalition was that it cemented the status of the Fiesta Bowl as a major bowl. The Fiesta Bowl was by far

748-523: A spot in the national championship game. The organizers chose Florida State as the Cornhuskers' Orange Bowl opponent, feeling that the Seminoles’ pattern of dominant victories outweighed Notre Dame's head-to-head win and West Virginia's undefeated record. (Florida State had easily beaten Miami and Maryland, two teams which the Mountaineers struggled to beat.) Notre Dame would face No. 7 Texas A&M,

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816-508: A three-way tie for national champion in football between Minnesota , Princeton , and Southern Methodist . Minnesota fans protested and a number of Gould's colleagues led by Charles "Cy" Sherman suggested he create a poll of sports editors instead of only using his own list. The next year the weekly AP college football poll was born, and has run continuously from 1936 . Due to the long-standing historical ties between individual college football conferences and high-paying bowl games like

884-582: A total of 228–14, but their next foe would be No. 3 Miami, who had defeated them in heartbreaking fashion in both 1991 and 1992 . This time, the Seminoles finally prevailed with a 28–10 victory. No. 2 Alabama was idle, No. 4 Notre Dame shut out Pittsburgh 44–0, No. 5 Florida won 58–3 at LSU, and No. 6 Ohio State was a 20-12 victor at Illinois. The next poll featured No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Florida, and No. 5 Ohio State. October 16: No. 1 Florida State defeated No. 15 Virginia 40–14. No. 2 Alabama trailed No. 10 Tennessee late in

952-774: A trip to Pasadena. No. 6 Auburn defeated No. 11 Alabama 22–14 in the Iron Bowl; the Tigers finished the season with a perfect 11–0 record, but were ineligible for postseason play due to recruiting violations. The next poll featured No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 West Virginia. November 26–27: No. 1 Florida State won 33–21 at No. 7 Florida, and No. 2 Nebraska defeated No. 16 Oklahoma 21–7. No. 3 Auburn and No. 4 Notre Dame had finished their schedules. No. 11 Boston College almost pulled off another upset, but No. 5 West Virginia came back from an 11-point fourth quarter deficit to win 17-14 and complete their undefeated season. The Mountaineers moved up in

1020-577: A weekly pro football ranking, the AP Pro32 rankings. 1993 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1993 NCAA Division I-A football season saw Florida State crowned national champions, in both the AP and Coaches poll. Under the Bowl Coalition , undefeated Big 8 champ and No. 2 ranked Nebraska hosted ACC champ and No. 1 ranked Florida State in the Orange Bowl . This produced

1088-451: A win easily over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl while Auburn and Utah both won their bowl games, leaving three undefeated teams at the end of the season. Also, in that same year, Texas made up late ground on California (Cal) in the BCS standings and as a result grabbed a high-payout, at-large spot in the Rose Bowl. Previous to that poll, Cal had been ranked ahead of Texas in both human polls and

1156-542: The 2023 season, the number one ranked team has faced the number two ranked team 54 times since the inception of the AP ;poll in 1936. The number one team has a record of 29–21–2 (.577) against the number two team. In 1997, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was developed to try to unify the poll results by picking two teams for a "real" national championship game. For the first several years

1224-522: The Kickoff Classic . None of the other top teams had started their schedules, but Miami moved up to tie Michigan at No. 3 in the next poll, with Texas A&M falling to No. 5. September 4: No. 1 Florida State won 45–7 at Duke, No. 2 Alabama defeated Tulane 31–17, No. 3 Michigan beat Washington State 41–14, fellow No. 3 Miami visited No 20 Boston College for a 23–7 victory, and No. 5 Texas A&M shut out LSU 24–0. Miami dropped back to No. 4 in

1292-585: The Orange Bowl to Texas , leaving Arkansas as the only undefeated, untied team after the Razorbacks defeated Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl . In 1965 , the AP's decision to wait to crown its champion paid handsomely, as top-ranked Michigan State lost to UCLA in the Rose Bowl , number two Arkansas lost to LSU in the Cotton Bowl , and fourth-ranked Alabama defeated third-ranked Nebraska in

1360-466: The Orange Bowl , vaulting the Crimson Tide to the top of the AP's final poll (Michigan State was named national champion in the final UPI Coaches Poll , which did not conduct a post-bowl poll). Beginning in 1968 , the post bowl game poll became permanent and the AP championship reflected the bowl game results. The UPI did not follow suit with the coaches' poll until the 1974 season. Through

1428-507: The Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl , the NCAA had not held a tournament or championship game to determine the national champion of what is now the highest division, NCAA Division I, Football Bowl Subdivision (the Division I, Football Championship Subdivision and lower divisions do hold championship tournaments). As a result, the public and the media began to acknowledge the leading vote-getter in

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1496-576: The Rose Bowl , while No. 2 Louisiana State University (LSU) (who had lost to Florida earlier in the season) defeated the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners (who had lost the Big 12 championship game to Kansas State) in a national title game . As a result, the AP Poll kept USC at No. 1 while the Coaches Poll was contractually obligated to select the winner of the BCS game as the No. 1 team. The resulting split national title

1564-538: The 1992 season only, the Blockbuster Bowl ). Under the agreement, bowl bids would be extended to the five member conference champions plus five at-large teams. The at-large teams would come from a pool of the member conference runners-up (SEC, Big 8, SWC, ACC, Big East), independent Notre Dame, the runner-up of the Pac-10 , and the SEC's third-place team (the SEC started playing a championship game in 1992 and

1632-532: The AP (Nebraska was No. 2 in the AP). Despite beating Florida State in the regular season, Notre Dame finished No. 2 in the two major polls. Florida State, during the 1993 regular season played No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Nebraska, No. 15 Miami, No. 5 Florida, No. 19 North Carolina, and No. 23 Clemson. FSU went 3–1 vs top 7 teams while playing only 1 home game in the 4 contests. Florida State's Charlie Ward threw for 3,032 yards, completed 70 percent of his passes and became

1700-457: The AP Poll factored in the determination of the BCS rankings, along with other factors including the Coaches Poll and computer-based polls. Because of a series of controversies surrounding the BCS, the AP demanded in December, 2004, that its poll no longer be used in the BCS rankings, and so the 2004–2005 season was the last season that the AP Poll was used for this purpose. In the 2003 season,

1768-402: The AP during the previous 75 years. The top 5 programs in order are #1 Kentucky, #2 North Carolina, #3 Duke, #4 Kansas, and #5 UCLA. The women's basketball poll began during the 1976–1977 season, and was initially compiled by Mel Greenberg and published by The Philadelphia Inquirer . At first, it was a poll of coaches conducted via telephone, where coaches identified top teams and a list of

1836-402: The AP released an unofficial post-bowl poll which differed from the regular season final poll. Until the 1968 college football season, the final AP poll of the season was released following the end of the regular season, with the lone exception of the 1965 season. In 1964 , Alabama was named the national champion in the final AP Poll following the completion of the regular season, but lost in

1904-481: The AP took over administration of the poll from Greenberg, and switched to a panel of writers. In 1994, Tennessee started out as No. 1 in the polls with Connecticut at No. 4. After losses by the No. 2 and No. 3 teams, Tennessee and Connecticut were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, headed into a showdown, scheduled as a special event on Martin Luther King day, the only women's basketball game scheduled on that day. Because of

1972-652: The BCS equation by the newly created Harris Interactive College Football Poll . The AP Poll is not the only college football poll. The other major poll is the Coaches Poll , which has been published by several organizations: the United Press (1950–1957), the United Press International (1958–1990), USA Today (1991–present), CNN (1991–1996), and ESPN (1997–2005). Having two major polls has led to numerous "split" national titles, where

2040-515: The BCS poll. Going into their final game, the Golden Bears were made aware that while margin of victory did not affect computer rankings, it did affect human polls and just eight voters changing their vote could affect the final standings. Both teams won their game that week, but the Texas coach, Mack Brown , had made a public effort to lobby for his team to be moved higher in the ranking. When

2108-474: The BCS system broke down when the final BCS standings ranked the University of Southern California (USC) at No. 3 while the two human polls in the system had ranked USC at No. 1. As a result, USC did not play in the BCS' designated national championship game. USC (who had earlier in the season lost in triple-overtime to an unranked U of California, 31–24) went on to decisively defeat No. 4 ranked Michigan in

Bowl Coalition - Misplaced Pages Continue

2176-527: The Cougars were a near-unanimous pick as national champion at the end of the season. The Coalition's exclusion of mid-major conferences made it difficult for this to ever happen again. The Bowl Coalition's demise came about, in large part, as the result of two events that occurred in the 1994 season . First, the Southwest Conference , which had seen a marked decline in its quality of play over

2244-546: The Fiesta would have hosted the "title game." The third place team from the SEC hosted the Gator Bowl. The system worked perfectly in its first year. Big East champion Miami was ranked first in both polls, while SEC champion Alabama was ranked second. As Big East champion, Miami was free to face Alabama in the 1993 Sugar Bowl , forcing the first bowl matchup between the consensus #1 and #2 teams since 1987. The Coalition

2312-484: The Mountaineers to third in the Bowl Coalition poll, forcing them to settle for a berth in the Sugar Bowl. The Coalition did not include the so-called " mid-major " Division I-A conferences ( WAC , Big West , and Mid-American ), nor any of the I-A independents besides Notre Dame. However, it was argued that most of these schools did not have schedules strong enough to be legitimate title contenders. For example, when BYU won

2380-536: The Orange Bowl. Since the #2 team in the polls was unavailable, the coalition invited the next highest ranked team, #3 Miami , to face Nebraska in its national championship game. The Orange Bowl was scheduled for New Year's night in Miami, while Penn State would face Oregon the following afternoon in the Rose Bowl (New Year's Day fell on a Sunday in 1995; when this happens bowls scheduled for January 1 are typically moved back one day). This meant that not only would there be

2448-583: The SEC champ to play in the Cotton. This did not happen in any of the three years, as either the Big East or ACC champion qualified for the championship in those years. The top "host" team played the top "at-large" team in the host team's affiliated bowl. Slots for the games were chosen by the "Bowl Poll," in which the points from the AP and Coaches polls were combined. If the top two teams were both "at-large", then

2516-686: The SWC champion, in the Cotton Bowl , while West Virginia squared off against No. 8 Florida in the Sugar Bowl. The major bowl matchups were rounded out by No. 9 Wisconsin against No. 14 UCLA in the Rose and No. 10 Miami against No. 16 Arizona in the Fiesta . Florida State's Seminoles were the unanimous choice for No. 1 beginning with the October 19 poll and the three after that, receiving all 62 votes. After Notre Dame's 31–24 defeat of Florida State on November 13, Notre Dame got all 62 first place votes in

2584-525: The Top 20 team was produced. The initial list of coaches did not include Pat Summitt , who asked to join the group, not to improve her rankings, but because of the lack of media coverage. Summitt believed it would be a good way to stay on top of who the top teams were outside of her own schedule. The poll continued to be a top 20 poll through 1989. The number was increased to 25 in 1990 and subsequent years. The contributors continued to be coaches until 1994, when

2652-629: The ball back with less than a minute left, Florida State made it all the way to Notre Dame's 14-yard line, but Ward's last-second desperation pass was knocked away, and the Irish prevailed 31–24. Meanwhile, No. 3 Miami defeated Rutgers 31–17, No. 4 Nebraska beat Iowa State 49–17 to clinch the Big 8 title and an Orange Bowl berth, and No. 5 Ohio State won 23–17 over Indiana. The next poll featured No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Florida State, No. 3 Nebraska, No. 4 Miami, and No. 5 Ohio State. November 20: As No. 1 Notre Dame went into their season-ending game against No. 17 Boston College (a team which they had beaten 54-7

2720-671: The championship game loser was tied to the Citrus Bowl ). The Orange, Sugar, Cotton, and Fiesta Bowls were "Tier 1 Bowls" under the Coalition agreement, and the Gator, Sun, and Blockbuster were "Tier 2 Bowls". The Orange, Sugar, and Cotton bowls retained their long-standing agreements to invite the Big 8, SEC, and SWC champions, respectively. According to the initial Bowl Coalition rules, if champions from these conferences were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, they would not have played each other in

2788-502: The field, even when there was a clear-cut #1 and #2. Following two consecutive seasons of split national championships ( 1990 and 1991 ), there was a renewed interest in devising a system that would provide for a #1 vs. #2 national championship bowl game. The College Football Bowl Coalition consisted of five member conferences ( SEC , Big 8 , SWC , ACC , and Big East ) along with independent Notre Dame and seven bowl games ( Orange , Sugar , Cotton , Fiesta , Gator , Sun , and, for

Bowl Coalition - Misplaced Pages Continue

2856-401: The final AP poll as the national champion for that season. While the AP poll currently lists the Top 25 teams in the nation, from 1936 to 1988 , the wire service only ranked twenty teams, except from 1961 to 1967 , when only ten teams were recognized. The AP expanded to the current 25 teams in 1989 . The AP began conducting a preseason poll in 1950 . At the end of the 1947 season,

2924-592: The first player to win the Heisman Trophy and the national championship in the same season since Pittsburgh's Tony Dorsett in 1976. Five teams changed conferences and one team dropped its football team prior to the season. As such, the total number of Division I-A schools decreased to 106. The preseason AP Poll featured Florida State at No. 1 and defending champion Alabama at No. 2, followed by No. 3 Michigan , No. 4 Texas A&M , and No. 5 Miami . August 28: No. 1 Florida State shut out Kansas 42–0 in

2992-477: The fourth quarter, but put together a game-ending 83-yard drive to salvage a 17–17 tie. No. 3 Notre Dame won 45–20 at Brigham Young. In another SEC nailbiter, No. 4 Florida fell 38–35 to No. 19 Auburn on a late field goal. No. 5 Ohio State beat No. 25 Michigan State 28–21, and No. 6 Nebraska defeated Kansas State 45–28. The next poll featured No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Alabama, and No. 5 Nebraska. October 23: No. 1 Florida State

3060-520: The highest % of AP poll top 25 appearances, top 10 appearances, top 5 appearances, as well as preseason and end of season appearances. Kentucky has appeared in over 75% of the AP polls since the 1948–49 season. On January 10, 2024, the Associated Press published an article detailing their 75th anniversary of the AP poll for men's college basketball. In this article they highlight the most successful programs in terms of rankings released by

3128-424: The human polls were released, Texas remained behind Cal, but it had closed the gap enough so that the BCS poll (which determines placement) placed Texas above Cal, angering both Cal and its conference, the Pac-10 . The final poll positions had been unchanged with Cal at No. 4 AP, No. 4 coaches, and No. 6 computers polls and Texas at No. 6 AP, No. 5 coaches, and No. 4 computer polls. The AP Poll voters were caught in

3196-420: The men's and women's NCAA basketball tournament, also known as March Madness . The poll is usually released every Monday and voters' ballots are publicized. The AP began compiling a ranking of the top 20 college men's basketball teams during the 1948–1949 season . It has issued this poll continuously since the 1950–1951 season . Beginning with the 1989-1990 season , the poll expanded to 25 teams. Kentucky has

3264-501: The middle because their vote changes were automatically publicized, while the votes of the Coaches poll were kept confidential. Although there had been a more substantial shift in the votes of the Coaches Poll, the only clear targets for the ire of fanatical fans were the voters in the AP Poll. While officials from both Cal and the Pac-10 called for the coaches' votes to be publicized, the overtures were turned down and did little to solve

3332-417: The nation. Each voter provides their own ranking of the top 25 teams, and the individual rankings are then combined to produce the national ranking by giving a team 25 points for a first place vote, 24 for a second place vote, and so on down to 1 point for a twenty-fifth place vote. Ballots of the voting members in the AP poll are publicized. The football poll is released Sundays at 2 pm Eastern time during

3400-427: The national championship in 1984 — the last time a team from a mid-major conference has won a consensus national championship to date ( UCF claimed a national championship in 2017) — some college football pundits argued that the Cougars had not played a legitimate schedule. BYU had only played one ranked team all season, and only two of the Cougars' opponents won more than seven games. Despite criticism of their schedule,

3468-505: The next AP Poll: No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 West Virginia, No. 4 Auburn, and No. 5 Notre Dame. The Coaches’ Poll disagreed with the AP's ordering of the top teams, choosing Nebraska for No. 1, West Virginia for No. 2, and Florida State for No. 3. With No. 4 Auburn ineligible, No. 16 Alabama represented the SEC Western Division in the conference championship game on December 4. No. 9 Florida took revenge for

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3536-751: The next poll, with the other top teams remaining the same. September 11: No. 1 Florida State dominated No. 21 Clemson 57-0 and No. 2 Alabama won 17–6 at Vanderbilt, but No. 3 Michigan fell 27–23 to No. 11 Notre Dame . No. 4 Miami was idle, while No. 5 Texas A&M lost 44–14 at No. 17 Oklahoma . No. 8 Tennessee beat No. 22 Georgia 38-6 and moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Miami, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Tennessee. September 18: No. 1 Florida State visited No. 13 North Carolina and won 33–7. No. 2 Alabama defeated Arkansas 43–3, No. 3 Miami beat Virginia Tech 21–2, and No. 4 Notre Dame won 36–14 over Michigan State . No. 5 Tennessee fell 41–34 to No. 9 Florida , who replaced them in

3604-402: The next poll: No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Miami, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Florida. September 25: No. 1 Florida State and No. 5 Florida were idle. No. 2 Alabama blasted Louisiana Tech 56–3. No. 3 Miami held off No. 13 Colorado 35–29 in a game which featured a benches-clearing brawl near the end of the first half. No. 4 Notre Dame shut out Purdue 17–0, and the top five remained

3672-423: The past decade, announced it would dissolve after the 1995 season. Also, after finishing 10–1–1 in 1992 and 11–1 in 1993, Notre Dame slipped to 6–4–1 in 1994. They were still invited to the Fiesta Bowl that season, losing 41–24 to Colorado . The sudden fall of Notre Dame led some involved in the Bowl Coalition to be concerned about the possibility of Notre Dame failing to win the minimum six games to be eligible for

3740-484: The previous week, Boston College went on one last drive into Notre Dame territory. This time the Irish were not able to make the stop, as walk-on kicker David Gordon hit a last-second field goal to give the Eagles a 41–39 win. No. 2 Florida State bounced back with a 62-3 domination of North Carolina State, and No. 3 Nebraska was idle. No. 4 Miami suffered a 17–14 loss at No. 9 West Virginia ; the Mountaineers, who had started

3808-522: The previous year's defeat with a 28–13 victory, earning the Gators a trip to the Sugar Bowl . Even though the top teams had already finished their schedule, the AP voters slightly shuffled their order in the final poll of the regular season: No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 West Virginia, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Auburn. The Coaches’ Poll remained the same. Undefeated Nebraska was assured of

3876-442: The previous year), the only uncertainty seemed to be whether their national championship opponent should be Nebraska in the Orange Bowl or Florida State in a rematch. However, the Eagles shocked the Irish by dominating the first three quarters, and BC held a 38–17 lead early in the fourth. Notre Dame responded with a frantic comeback, scoring 22 points in 11 minutes to go back on top by a single point. But, just as Florida State had done

3944-470: The problem of AP voters. Cal went on to lose to Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl. Texas defeated Michigan in the Rose Bowl. Many members of the press who voted in the AP Poll were upset by the controversy and, at the behest of its members, the AP asked that its poll no longer be used in the BCS rankings. The 2004 season was the last season that the AP Poll was used in the BCS rankings. It was replaced in

4012-401: The same in the next poll. November 6: No. 1 Florida State won 49–20 at Maryland. No. 2 Notre Dame was idle. No. 3 Ohio State blocked a last-second field goal to come away with a 14–14 tie against No. 15 Wisconsin . No. 4 Miami won 35–7 at Pittsburgh. No. 5 Alabama carried a 31-game unbeaten streak into their game against LSU, but the Crimson Tide threw four second-half interceptions to enable

4080-470: The same in the next poll. October 2: No. 1 Florida State continued their string of blowout victories with a 51-0 annihilation of Georgia Tech. No. 2 Alabama won 17–6 at South Carolina, No. 3 Miami beat Georgia Southern 30–7, No. 4 Notre Dame visited Stanford for a 48–20 victory, and No. 5 Florida defeated Mississippi State 38–24. The top five again remained the same in the next poll. October 9: No. 1 Florida State had outscored their first five opponents by

4148-547: The season unranked, improved their record to 10–0. No. 5 Ohio State needed a win over unranked Michigan to clinch the Big Ten title and their first Rose Bowl berth in nine years. Instead, the Buckeyes threw interceptions on four straight possessions and failed to reach the Wolverines’ 20-yard line at any point in the game. Michigan's 28–0 win put No. 12 Wisconsin, who held the tiebreaker advantage over Ohio State, in line for

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4216-455: The season, unless ranked teams have not finished their games. The AP college football poll's origins go back to the 1930s. The news media began running their own polls of sports writers to determine, by popular opinion, the best college football teams in the country. One of the earliest such polls was conducted by the AP in November 1934 . In 1935 , AP sports editor Alan J. Gould declared

4284-402: The two polls disagreed on the No. 1 team. This has occurred on eleven different occasions (1954, 1957, 1965, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1991, 1997, 2003). In Division I men's and women's college basketball, the AP Poll is largely just a tool to compare schools throughout the season and spark debate, as it has no bearing on postseason play. Generally, all top 25 teams in the poll are invited to

4352-419: The unusual circumstances, the decision was made to hold off the AP voting for one day, to ensure it would be after the game. Connecticut won the game, and moved into first place in the AP poll, published on Tuesday for the only time. (Connecticut went on to complete an undefeated season.) Over the history of the poll, over 255 coaches have had a team represented in polls. Beginning in 2012, the AP began issuing

4420-544: The youngest of the "Tier 1" bowls. Indeed, it was the only "Tier 1" bowl that was less than a half-century old at the time, and was far newer than the "Tier 2" Gator and Sun Bowls. Notes: + Denotes Bowl Coalition National Championship Game AP Poll The Associated Press poll ( AP poll ) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football , men's basketball and women's basketball . The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadcasters from across

4488-746: Was flawed in several respects. Most significantly, it did not include the champions of the Big Ten and Pac-10 , both of whom were contractually obligated to play in the Rose Bowl . The Coalition's founders tried to get the Tournament of Roses Association to release the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions to play in a title game if one of them was ranked #1 or #2 in the Bowl Poll, but it refused to do so due to concerns about this potentially violating its television contract with ABC . The possibility also still existed that an undefeated and untied team would not get

4556-680: Was idle, No. 2 Notre Dame defeated USC 31–13, and No. 3 Ohio State won 45–24 at Purdue. No. 4 Alabama overcame an injury to quarterback Jay Barker and beat Mississippi 19–14. No. 5 Nebraska overwhelmed Missouri 49–7, but No. 6 Miami was even more impressive in a 49–0 shutout of Syracuse. The Hurricanes moved up in the next poll: No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Miami, and No. 5 Alabama. October 30: No. 1 Florida State shut out Wake Forest 55–0, No. 2 Notre Dame defeated Navy 58–27, No. 3 Ohio State beat No. 12 Penn State 24–6, No. 4 Miami won 42–7 over Temple, and No. 5 Alabama blanked Southern Mississippi 40–0. The top five remained

4624-408: Was the very problem that the BCS was created to solve, and has been widely considered an embarrassment. In 2004, a new controversy erupted at the end of the season when Auburn and Utah , who both finished the regular season 12–0 , were left out of the BCS title game in favor of Oklahoma who also was 12–0 and had won decisively over Colorado in the Big 12 Championship game. USC went on to

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