This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/e8odie on 2026-01-23 15:51:27+00:00.
I made this post in 2013 that asked “What if a team could only win the CFP national title once?” where, after a team has won a national championship once, any subsequent time they do win it again, that year’s championship instead goes to the next highest rated team that hasn’t won one before. For the sake of ease and consistency, I’m sticking with just using the end-of-season AP #1 rather than anything else.
So the table below shows (1) who actually ended up the AP #1 at the end of the season, (2) who would be the new #1 under this system, and (3) what place that team actually finished.
| year | actual AP #1 | new #1 | actual finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | Minnesota | Minnesota | 1 |
| 1937 | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | 1 |
| 1938 | TCU | TCU | 1 |
| 1939 | Texas A&M | Texas A&M | 1 |
| 1940 | Minnesota | Stanford | 2 |
| 1941 | Minnesota | Duke | 2 |
| 1942 | Ohio State | Ohio State | 1 |
| 1943 | Notre Dame | Notre Dame | 1 |
| 1944 | Army | Army | 1 |
| 1945 | Army | Alabama | 2 |
| 1946 | Notre Dame | Georgia | 3 |
| 1947 | Notre Dame | Michigan | 2 |
| 1948 | Michigan | North Carolina | 3 |
| 1949 | Notre Dame | Oklahoma | 2 |
| 1950 | Oklahoma | Texas | 3 |
| 1951 | Tennessee | Tennessee | 1 |
| 1952 | Michigan State | Michigan State | 1 |
| 1953 | Maryland | Maryland | 1 |
| 1954 | Ohio State | UCLA | 2 |
| 1955 | Oklahoma | Georgia Tech | 7 |
| 1956 | Oklahoma | Iowa | 3 |
| 1957 | Auburn | Auburn | 1 |
| 1958 | LSU | LSU | 1 |
| 1959 | Syracuse | Syracuse | 1 |
| 1960 | Minnesota | Ole Miss | 2 |
| 1961 | Alabama | Colorado | 7 |
| 1962 | USC | USC | 1 |
| 1963 | Texas | Navy | 2 |
| 1964 | Alabama | Arkansas | 2 |
| 1965 | Alabama | Nebraska | 5 |
| 1966 | Notre Dame | Purdue | 7 |
| 1967 | USC | Indiana | 4 |
| 1968 | Ohio State | Penn State | 2 |
| 1969 | Texas | Missouri | 6 |
| 1970 | Nebraska | Arizona State | 6 |
| 1971 | Nebraska | Toledo | 14 |
| 1972 | USC | North Carolina State | 17 |
| 1973 | Notre Dame | Houston | 9 |
| 1974 | Oklahoma | Miami (OH) | 10 |
| 1975 | Oklahoma | California | 14 |
| 1976 | Pittsburgh | Texas Tech | 13 |
| 1977 | Notre Dame | Kentucky | 6 |
| 1978 | Alabama | Clemson | 6 |
| 1979 | Alabama | Florida State | 6 |
| 1980 | Georgia | BYU | 12 |
| 1981 | Clemson | SMU | 5 |
| 1982 | Penn State | Washington | 7 |
| 1983 | Miami (FL) | Miami (FL) | 1 |
| 1984 | BYU | Florida | 3 |
| 1985 | Oklahoma | Air Force | 8 |
| 1986 | Penn State | Arizona | 11 |
| 1987 | Miami (FL) | Oklahoma State | 11 |
| 1988 | Notre Dame | West Virginia | 5 |
| 1989 | Miami (FL) | Illinois | 10 |
| 1990 | Colorado | Louisville | 14 |
| 1991 | Miami (FL) | East Carolina | 9 |
| 1992 | Alabama | Washington State | 15 |
| 1993 | Florida State | Wisconsin | 6 |
| 1994 | Nebraska | Utah | 10 |
| 1995 | Nebraska | Kansas State | 7 |
| 1996 | Florida | Virginia Tech | 13 |
| 1997 | Michigan | Colorado State | 17 |
| 1998 | Tennessee | Tulane | 7 |
| 1999 | Florida State | Marshall | 10 |
| 2000 | Oklahoma | Oregon State | 4 |
| 2001 | Miami (FL) | Oregon | 2 |
| 2002 | Ohio State | Boise State | 15 |
| 2003 | USC | Bowling Green | 23 |
| 2004 | USC | Boston College | 21 |
| 2005 | Texas | Northwestern | 25* |
| 2006 | Florida | Rutgers | 12 |
| 2007 | LSU | Kansas | 7 |
| 2008 | Floriad | Cincinnati | 17 |
| 2009 | Alabama | Central Michigan | 23 |
| 2010 | Auburn | Nevada | 11 |
| 2011 | Alabama | South Carolina | 9 |
| 2012 | Alabama | Utah State | 16 |
| 2013 | Florida State | Central Florida | 10 |
| 2014 | Ohio State | Baylor | 17 |
| 2015 | Alabama | Western Kentucky | 24 |
| 2016 | Clemson | Western Michigan | 15 |
| 2017 | Alabama | Mississippi State | 19 |
| 2018 | Clemson | Fresno State | 18 |
| 2019 | LSU | Memphis | 17 |
| 2020 | Alabama | Iowa State | 9 |
| 2021 | Georgia | Wake Forest | 15 |
| 2022 | Georgia | Troy | 19 |
| 2023 | Michigan | Liberty | 25 |
| 2024 | Ohio State | UNLV | 23 |
| 2025 | Indiana | Vanderbilt | 15 |
Congrats to Vanderbilt Vanderbilt
The interesting story this go-around was that going into this season the only power-conference teams to not have a pseudo-title were Vanderbilt and Virginia. Not only did these two teams clearly both have a very good season this year, but both ended the season ranked in the AP poll so this meant whoever was the highest-ranked of the two would end up winning this pseudo-title. Entering bowl season, Vandy was ranked 14th but lost their bowl while Virginia was ranked 19th and won their game; to make things more dramatic, 3 teams ranked between them also lost their bowl so we knew the gap between them was going to be close.
So to give a sense of scale when the final AP poll came out, the first 14 teams had an average gap of 64 poll points separating each adjacent pair. So when both of the only power-conference teams to not have a pseudo-title finished 15th & 16th with a 189-point gap below the top-14 followed by a 20-point gap between each other, it was clearly an indicator of a “new tier” from the teams above and that these two teams were EXTREMELY close. But in the end, Vanderbilt is ranked at 15 with 623 points with Virginia right on their heels at 16 with 603 points.