75 Years of the AP Poll - How Do We Think They've Done Declaring a National Champion?

2010 was the 75th year of the AP Poll. Notre Dame has won the most AP national championships in that time - 8 - followed by Alabama and Oklahoma with 7 each. Meanwhile, in the same period of time, in our analysis, no team has won the "Baggaley" national championship more than six times - a total shared by Alabama, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Notre Dame has had the best season in our analysis five times.

Our analysis has agreed with the AP National Champion 34 out of the 75 years - 45% of the time. It should be noted that prior to 1968, the AP champion was declared before any bowl games, and our analysis includes bowl games, so that might account for some of the discrepancies. In fact, prior to 1968, our analysis agreed with the AP National Champion only 41% of the time, while it has agreed with the AP Poll 49% of the time since that change was made.

Here is a summary of the AP and Baggaley National Champions from the past 75 years:

Year	AP Champ	Baggaley Champ
1936	Minnesota Golden Gophers	Pittsburgh Panthers
1937	Pittsburgh Panthers	California Golden Bears
1938	TCU Horned Frogs	Tennessee Volunteers
1939	Texas A&M Aggies	Texas A&M Aggies
1940	Minnesota Golden Gophers	Tennessee Volunteers
1941	Minnesota Golden Gophers	Duke Blue Devils
1942	Ohio State Buckeyes	Tulsa Golden Hurricane
1943	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
1944	Army Black Knights	Army Black Knights
1945	Army Black Knights	Army Black Knights
1946	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	Georgia Bulldogs
1947	Notre Dame Fighting Irish/Michigan Wolverines (tie)	Texas Longhorns
1948	Michigan Wolverines	Michigan Wolverines
1949	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
1950	Oklahoma Sooners	Kentucky Wildcats
1951	Tennessee Volunteers	Maryland Terrapins
1952	Michigan State Spartans	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
1953	Maryland Terrapins	Maryland Terrapins
1954	Ohio State Buckeyes	UCLA Bruins
1955	Oklahoma Sooners	Oklahoma Sooners
1956	Oklahoma Sooners	Oklahoma Sooners/Tennessee Volunteers (tie)
1957	Auburn Tigers	Arizona State Sun Devils
1958	LSU Tigers	Army Black Knights
1959	Syracuse Orange	Ole Miss Rebels
1960	Minnesota Golden Gophers	New Mexico State Aggies
1961	Alabama Crimson Tide	Alabama Crimson Tide
1962	USC Trojans	Alabama Crimson Tide
1963	Texas Longhorns	Texas Longhorns
1964	Alabama Crimson Tide	Arkansas Razorbacks/Notre Dame Fighting Irish (tie)
1965	Alabama Crimson Tide	Michigan State Spartans
1966	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
1967	USC Trojans	USC Trojans
1968	Ohio State Buckeyes	Penn State Nittany Lions
1969	Texas Longhorns	San Diego State Aztecs
1970	Nebraska Cornhuskers	Dartmouth Big Green
1971	Nebraska Cornhuskers	Nebraska Cornhuskers
1972	USC Trojans	USC Trojans
1973	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	Ohio State Buckeyes
1974	Oklahoma Sooners	Oklahoma Sooners
1975	Oklahoma Sooners	Arkansas State Red Wolves
1976	Pittsburgh Panthers	Pittsburgh Panthers
1977	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	Arkansas Razorbacks
1978	Alabama Crimson Tide	Alabama Crimson Tide
1979	Alabama Crimson Tide	Alabama Crimson Tide
1980	Georgia Bulldogs	Florida State Seminoles
1981	Clemson Tigers	Pittsburgh Panthers
1982	Penn State Nittany Lions	Nebraska Cornhuskers
1983	Miami Hurricanes	Nebraska Cornhuskers
1984	BYU Cougars	BYU Cougars/Florida Gators (tie)
1985	Oklahoma Sooners	Oklahoma Sooners
1986	Penn State Nittany Lions	Miami Hurricanes
1987	Miami Hurricanes	Florida State Seminoles
1988	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	Miami Hurricanes/Notre Dame Fighting Irish (tie)
1989	Miami Hurricanes	Colorado Buffaloes
1990	Colorado Buffaloes	Miami Hurricanes
1991	Miami Hurricanes	Washington Huskies
1992	Alabama Crimson Tide	Alabama Crimson Tide
1993	Florida State Seminoles	Florida State Seminoles
1994	Nebraska Cornhuskers	Nebraska Cornhuskers
1995	Nebraska Cornhuskers	Nebraska Cornhuskers
1996	Florida Gators	Florida Gators
1997	Michigan Wolverines	Nebraska Cornhuskers
1998	Tennessee Volunteers	Ohio State Buckeyes
1999	Florida State Seminoles	Florida State Seminoles
2000	Oklahoma Sooners	Oklahoma Sooners
2001	Miami Hurricanes	Miami Hurricanes
2002	Ohio State Buckeyes	Miami Hurricanes
2003	USC Trojans	USC Trojans
2004	USC Trojans	Utah Utes
2005	Texas Longhorns	Texas Longhorns
2006	Florida Gators	Ohio State Buckeyes
2007	LSU Tigers	LSU Tigers
2008	Florida Gators	Oklahoma Sooners
2009	Alabama Crimson Tide	Alabama Crimson Tide
2010	Auburn Tigers	Oregon Ducks

Special thanks to James Howell's College Football Scores, which provided much of the data for our analysis.