Via Reddit’s college football page, a list of each program that has been No. 1 in the AP poll and the last year it reached the top spot:
How long it’s been since each college football team was last ranked No. 1
Cornell has topped the AP poll. Stanford has not. Because college football.
And now by year pic.twitter.com/STbv7IVHDa
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 15, 2014 TCU, which hasn’t been ranked No. 1 by the AP in 76 years, holds the longest drought of any team that has previously been No. 1.
Just one team that has held the top ranking in the AP poll is not currently playing FBS football: Cornell, which held the top spot for four weeks at the beginning of the 1940 season before a loss to Dartmouth knocked it out. Three additional programs -- SMU, Army, and BYU -- have previously held the top spot but are not currently members of power conferences.
Some top-notch programs have never made it to the top of the mountain. Georgia Tech won a share of the national championship in 1990, but was never ranked higher than second by the AP. Kansas State made an appearance in the AP top 11 in nine straight seasons during the 1990s and early 2000s, but never rose higher than second. Despite holding powerhouse status for 30 years, Navy did no better than second in the AP poll on three separate occasions (1944, 1945 and 1963). Stanford finished second in the AP poll in 1940. And South Carolina has never been higher than the No. 2 ranking it received in 1984.
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