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The belt vs. the polls
The poll era began in 1936. Since then the belt holder has been the AP No. 1 in 18% of poll weeks, ranked in 84%, and invisible to the voters the rest of the time. Here is where the two disagree most.
18%of poll weeks since 1936 the belt holder was also the AP No. 1
Two ways to name a champion
The AP poll has asked sportswriters who the best team is every week since 1936. The belt has never asked anyone anything: it goes to whoever beat whoever had it. Put the two side by side for 1,161 poll weeks and they agree about 18% of the time — that is how often the program holding the belt was also the poll’s No. 1.
Widen it to “ranked at all” and the belt holder was in the top 25 in 84% of poll weeks, and in the top ten in 67%. The rest of the time the belt was somewhere the voters were not looking.
The longest agreement: USC, 28 weeks
The longest the belt holder has stayed No. 1 in the poll is 28 consecutive poll weeks, USC from week 1 of 2004 to week 14 of 2005. Runs like that are rare because the belt demands a win every week and the poll only demands a good record: a holder can stay No. 1 through a bye, but not through a loss.
The rest of the top five: Miami (18, 2001), Ohio State (12, 1968), Florida State (12, 1999), and Ohio State (12, 2006).
Unranked, and took it anyway
57 times a team that was not in the poll at all has taken the belt from a team that was. The biggest by rank: UCLA 20–17 over No. 1 Nebraska in 1972.
Others near the top: Wisconsin over No. 1 Michigan (1981), Arkansas over No. 1 LSU (2007), Texas A&M over No. 1 Alabama (2021), Navy over No. 2 Army (1950), and LSU over No. 2 Arkansas (1965).
This is the belt working exactly as designed. A poll is an argument about who is best; the belt is a record of who won on the day the belt was on the line, and one Saturday is enough.
The reigns the poll never noticed
17 reigns lasted at least three poll weeks without the holder appearing in the top 25 once. The longest was Auburn’s 1 yr, 328 days starting in 1942: 8 poll weeks with the belt, zero votes’ worth of attention.
Also unranked throughout: Arkansas State (1953, 5 weeks), Navy (1950, 4 weeks), Wyoming (1994, 7 weeks), Washington State (1982, 6 weeks), and Texas Tech (1991, 5 weeks).
How the year ends
In the final poll of the season — the one released after the bowls — the belt holder has been ranked in 77 of 89 seasons and No. 1 in 21. The team holding the belt when the season ends is usually one the voters liked too; it is just rarely the team they liked most.
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