Best Overall Top AP 25 College Football

Name each team that was ranked in the AP Top 25 since its inception in 1936. The teams are ranked by overall points based on position in final AP rankings for each year.. Formula is based on what each teams rank was each year and points are awarded by position(i.e. #1 gets 25 points,#2 24 points, etc.) The totals on each team is their overall total since 1936. This is for teams that were FBS at one point in their career. (Note: Some of these teams may no longer exist.) Updated: 2/3/2025.

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Last updated: January 23, 2026

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First submitted	August 27, 2014
Times taken	6,939
Average score	52.7%
Rating	4.67
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Reference: http://collegepollarchive.com/football/ap/seasons.cfm?seasonid=1936

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Overall Point Score	Team
1204	Ohio State
1197	Alabama
1150	Oklahoma
1087	Notre Dame
1069	Michigan
857	USC
855	Texas
783	Nebraska
760	Penn State
744	Georgia
732	Tennessee
702	LSU
597	Florida State
584	Auburn
566	Miami(FL)
551	Florida
514	Clemson
508	UCLA
473	Michigan State
444	Arkansas
418	Washington
417	Ole Miss
414	Texas A&M
378	Wisconsin
355	Oregon
345	Iowa
341	Georgia Tech
314	TCU
310	Pittsburgh
284	Stanford
273	Missouri
268	Colorado
262	Arizona State
251	Minnesota
251	Army
238	Maryland
228	BYU
225	Virginia Tech
218	North Carolina
215	Navy
214	Oklahoma State
213	Duke
211	Baylor
208	West Virginia
208	Syracuse
198	California
196	Purdue
196	Kansas State
195	Houston

Overall Point Score	Team
187	Illinois
186	SMU
174	Boise State
168	Northwestern
150	Boston College
144	Utah
139	Washington State
129	Oregon State
128	Mississippi State
128	South Carolina
123	Texas Tech
119	NC State
118	Indiana
118	Kentucky
116	Louisville
107	Rice
106	Tulane
99	Kansas
99	Arizona
88	Fordham
85	Santa Clara
84	Cincinnati
80	Tulsa
79	Air Force
76	Virginia
76	Penn
68	Miami(OH)
68	Cornell
60	Dartmouth
58	UCF
55	Princeton
54	Yale
51	Holy Cross
48	Wyoming
46	Duquesne
44	Iowa Pre-Flight
41	Villanova
40	Rutgers
36	Iowa State
33	William and Mary
33	Wake Forest
32	Utah State
32	March Field
31	Toledo
31	Colorado State
30	Vanderbilt
30	Bainbridge Naval
29	Great Lakes Naval
25	Southern Miss

Overall Point Score	Team
23	Randolph Field
23	Pacific
23	East Carolina
21	Marshall
21	Louisiana-Lafayette
20	Carnegie Mellon
19	St Mary's
18	Del Monte Pre-Flight
16	Fresno State
15	Nevada
13	Georgetown
13	Memphis
12	South Florida
12	Coastal Carolina
12	San Francisco
12	Norman Pre-Flight
12	Columbia
12	San Diego State
11	Western Michigan
10	El Toro Marines
10	Boston
10	Liberty
9	Temple
9	New Mexico State
9	Hardin-Simmons
9	George Washington
8	Fort Pierce Naval
7	James Madison
7	Appalachian St
7	Delaware
7	Lafayette
7	San Jose State
7	St Mary's Pre-Flight
7	Troy
7	Washington and Lee
6	VMI
6	Ohio
6	Marquette
6	Hawaii
6	2nd Air Force
4	Northern Illinois
3	Central Michigan
3	UNLV
3	Bowling Green
3	Ball St
2	North Texas
2	Western Kentucky
1	Buffalo

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11 Comments

Level 86

Sep 1, 2014

Title needs to include what sport you're speaking of (or is this a cumulative of the top 25 in all sports, or all men's sports?) I used football as my guide, since football season is starting, but even then there's a lack of clarity-- North Dakota State, for example, has clearly been ranked tops in FCS, which IS division I, and has numerous national championships under their belts the last several years, but aren't on this list. So clarify. Also, disclosing the formula you used would be good.

That said, love that numerous schools that no longer exist are higher than many that wish they could crack the top 25 just once! The fun of Jetpunk is learning stuff or getting tricked by history, and this quiz does both. Great Lakes Naval? I know where that is, it's a Navy basic training base near Chicago (which is funny, anyway), but a top 25 athletic program? And a University? I think they might offer flag football and have a few classrooms for certain specialties now.

Level 91

Nov 24, 2015

This is clearly the accumulated top 20/25 rankings since the rankings were started in 1936 for the highest level of college football of the era. Great Lakes Training and other military bases competed in college football like the academies do today back in the 30's and 40's. Thus, their rankings. (Along with U. of Chicago and Georgetown which dropped football, at least for a while in Georgetown's case.) In contrast, North Dakota State (and other Dakota and Big Sky schools) have been strong in I-AA/FCS but they were never powers in the I-A or whatever the highest level was/is. Personally, I like this list because it shows how much the sport has changed (e.g., the power of the Ivies), yet some programs have always dominated (Notre Dame, Michigan, Oklahoma, USC . . .)

Level 48

Sep 2, 2014

Thank you for all the advice. Made some changes and hopefully that will be helpful to future test takers. It took some time to put together all the numbers for the quiz but it was interesting to see the history of teams and college football. Hope more people enjoy this as much as you did. And for the naval teams, that was during WWII and a lot training facilities created teams that were allowed to compete and be ranked against other college teams at the time.

Level 59

Feb 3, 2017

This will shock you all... I got ones like Princeton and East Carolina and Memphis... yet SOMEHOW missed OHIO STATE!

Level 63

May 13, 2017

Troy was in the top 25 for one week in 2016! :)

Level 48

Sep 7, 2017

dubscurry30, I keep needing to add clarification, so thank you for the heads up. But the overall rankings are based on the final AP poll for each year.

Level 77

Aug 17, 2022

So North Carolina State or Central Florida won't work but NC State and UCF does? Maybe fix that.

Level 93

Jun 6, 2025

If you want this to be the "Best" teams, then you should probably cut this off at around 50 teams or 150 points. Otherwise, it's basically just a matter of typing in every team that's ever been in the AP ranking system over the past 90 years, because virtually every team (even Ball State!) has been in there at least once. This will also eliminate the necessity of knowing there were such entities as "Pre-Flight" schools and alternate Naval academies that once competed alongside Ivy League schools and massive state universities.

Level 79

Jun 6, 2025

Agree - overinclusion makes an otherwise interesting quiz tedious

Level 59

Jun 6, 2025

I typed in North Carolina State and North Carolina St and it didn't count it. If you are going to count NC ST, it shouldn't be then only appropriate answer IMO.

Level 43

Oct 22, 2025

I got liberty and Georgetown but somehow missed Michigan State

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