What the AP Top 25 College Football Poll Measures

What is the AP Top 25?

The AP Top 25 is a weekly ranking of college football teams. AP stands for the Associated Press, a news organization. Its poll is one of several rankings that follow college football, and it reflects the views of a group of sportswriters and broadcasters rather than results from a single tournament. ¹

The football poll is part of a broader AP poll that also ranks teams in men’s and women’s college basketball. The football poll dates back to 1936, when the AP began publishing a weekly ranking. It originally covered fewer teams and expanded to its current top 25 in 1989. ¹

How are the teams ranked?

The rankings are compiled from ballots submitted by 62 sportswriters and broadcasters from around the country. Each voter selects and orders a top 25. The AP combines those ballots by assigning 25 points for a first-place vote, 24 for second place, and continuing down to one point for a twenty-fifth-place vote. Teams are ordered by the points they receive. ¹

That process makes the poll a summary of many individual judgments. It does not mean every voter agrees with the final order. The voters’ ballots are made public, so readers can see how individual rankings contributed to the result. ¹

Why does the poll matter?

A ranking gives readers a quick way to follow which teams are considered among the country’s leading programs. It can help put a team’s season in context and make changes in position easier to track. But a number beside a team’s name is an opinion-based ranking, not proof that one team would beat another on the field.

The poll also has historical importance. For many years, college football’s top division did not have a tournament or championship game to determine a national champion. In that setting, the team at the top of the final AP poll came to be treated by the public and media as the national champion. ¹ The AP poll later became one input in the Bowl Championship Series rankings, but it stopped being used in that system after the 2004–2005 season. ¹

Does the AP poll decide a champion?

No. The poll records voters’ assessments; it does not itself stage games or award a championship. Its historical role in identifying a champion grew from a period when the top division had no championship tournament or game. ¹ The poll’s importance and its relationship to championship decisions have changed over time.

For an ordinary reader, the useful takeaway is to treat the ranking as one guide to the season, not a final verdict. It shows where a group of voters places teams at a particular point. Game results and the rules of the current championship system are separate matters, and those rules can change.