<P> The football poll is released Sundays at 2pm Eastern time during the football season, unless ranked teams have not finished their games . </P> <P> The AP college football poll has a long history . The news media began running their own polls of sports writers to determine who was, by popular opinion, the best football team in the country at the end of the season . One of the earliest such polls was the AP College Football Poll, first run in 1934 . In 1935, AP sports editor Alan J. Gould declared a three way tie for national champion in football between Minnesota, Princeton, and Southern Methodist . Minnesota fans protested, and a number of Gould's colleagues led by Charles "Cy" Sherman suggested he create a poll of sports editors instead of only using his own list, and the next year the poll was born . It has run continuously from 1936 . </P> <P> Due to the long - standing historical ties between individual college football conferences and high - paying bowl games like the Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl, the NCAA had not held a tournament or championship game to determine the champion of what is now the highest division, NCAA Division I, Football Bowl Subdivision (the Division I, Football Championship Subdivision and lower divisions do hold championship tournaments). As a result, the public and the media began to acknowledge the leading vote - getter in the final AP Poll as the national champion for that season . </P> <P> While the AP Poll currently lists the Top 25 teams in the nation, from 1936 to 1961 the wire service only ranked 20 teams . From 1962 to 1967 only 10 teams were recognized . From 1968 to 1988, the AP again resumed its Top 20 before expanding to the current 25 teams in 1989 . </P>

When does the ap poll come out each week