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The Associated Press college football poll started in 1936, the brainchild of former sports editor Alan J. Gould. The number of teams ranked, the number of voters on the panel and how the ballots are tabulated has fluctuated over 87 years, but no organization has been ranking teams and naming a major college football national champion longer than the AP. The voting is done by writers and broadcasters from around the country who cover college football.
