College Football: Rematch of AP Ranked Teams

Championship Saturday will consist of two rematches of AP ranked teams.  No. 5 Virginia Tech will try to avenge their earlier season loss to No. 21 Clemson.  Meanwhile No. 15 Wisconsin will try to forget the Hail Mary pass, that No. 11 Michigan State defeated them with back in October.

In the history of the AP poll, there have been 19 other instances of two ranked teams meeting each other twice in the same season.  Checkout the list below.

Year	Date	Rk	Won/Tie		Rk	Lost/Tie	Score
1959	10/31/1959	1	LSU	vs	3	Mississippi	7-3
	1/1/1960	2	Mississippi	n	3	LSU	21-0
1975	10/4/1975	2	Ohio St	at	13	UCLA	41-20
	1/1/1976	11	UCLA	n	1	Ohio St	23-10
1978	11/11/1978	4	Nebraska	vs	1	Oklahoma	17-14
	1/1/1979	4	Oklahoma	n	6	Nebraska	31-24
1982	9/25/1982	12	UCLA	at	20	Michigan	31-27
	1/1/1983	5	UCLA	n	19	Michigan	24-14
1994	11/26/1994	4	Florida	vs	7	Florida St	31-31
	1/2/1995	7	Florida St	n	5	Florida	23-17
1996	11/30/1996	2	Florida St	vs	1	Florida	24-21
	1/2/1997	3	Florida	n	1	Florida St	52-20
1999	10/2/1999	21	Alabama	at	3	Florida	40-39
	12/4/1999	7	Alabama	n	5	Florida	34-7
1999	10/23/1999	18	Texas	vs	3	Nebraska	24-20
	12/4/1999	3	Nebraska	n	12	Texas	22-6
Year	Date	Rk	Won		Rk	Lost	Score
2000	10/14/2000	10	Florida	vs	19	Auburn	38-7
	12/2/2000	7	Florida	n	18	Auburn	28-6
2000	10/14/2000	8	Oklahoma	at	2	Kansas St	41-31
	12/2/2000	1	Oklahoma	n	8	Kansas St	27-24
2001	9/29/2001	7	Tennessee	vs	14	LSU	26-18
	12/8/2001	21	LSU	n	2	Tennessee	31-20
2001	10/20/2001	9	Texas	vs	14	Colorado	41-7
	12/1/2001	9	Colorado	n	3	Texas	39-37
2002	11/2/2002	2	Oklahoma	vs	13	Colorado	27-11
	12/7/2002	8	Oklahoma	n	12	Colorado	29-7
2003	9/20/2003	11	LSU	vs	7	Georgia	17-10
	12/6/2003	3	LSU	n	5	Georgia	34-13
2003	10/11/2003	2	Miami FL	at	5	Florida St	22-14
	1/1/2004	10	Miami FL	n	9	Florida St	16-14
Year	Date	Rk	Won		Rk	Lost	Score
2004	10/2/2004	8	Auburn	at	10	Tennessee	34-10
	12/4/2004	3	Auburn	n	15	Tennessee	38-28
2007	10/13/2007	6	Oklahoma	vs	11	Missouri	41-31
	12/1/2007	9	Oklahoma	n	1	Missouri	38-17
2007	10/25/2007	2	Boston College	at	8	Virginia Tech	14-10
	12/1/2007	6	Virginia Tech	n	12	Boston College	30-16
2010	9/25/2010	17	Auburn	vs	12	South Carolina	35-27
	12/4/2010	2	Auburn	n	18	South Carolina	56-17
2011	10/1/2011	13	Clemson	at	11	Virginia Tech	23-3
	12/3/2011	5	Virginia Tech ?	n	21	Clemson ?	?
2011	10/22/2011	15	Michigan St	vs	4	Wisconsin	37-31
	12/3/2011	11	Michigan St ?	n	15	Wisconsin ?	?

 

Teams that have won the first game in a two-game season series between AP ranked teams, have a 10-9 record in the rematch game.  In conference championship games, that record goes to 8-4.

Teams that were upset in the first game of a two-game season series (defeated by a team with a worst ranking), have a record of 3-4 in the rematch.  Three out of those four losses came when their opponent had the better ranking the second time around; thus no longer an “upset” victory”.

It’s the first time in their school’s histories, that Clemson, Michigan State, and Wisconsin will play in a in-season ranked rematch game.  It’s the second time for Virginia Tech.  Back in 2007, they went 1-1 against Boston College; winning the ranked rematch game in the ACC Championship Game.

All signs are pointing to an LSU-Alabama rematch in the BCS Championship Game.  If this does occur, it will be the first time there have ever been three ranked rematch games in one season.

 

Reference: College Football at Sports-Reference.com, College Poll Archive

 

College Football: Three or More AP Top Five Teams Losing in the Same Week

One of the networks was reporting that it was only the second time three teams ranked in the top five, all lost in the same week.  This is half-true.  In the BCS era and within the BCS poll yes, it is only the second time.  But the history of college football and rankings stretches further back then the BCS.

In the history of the AP Poll, there have now been 20 instances in which three or more teams ranked in the AP Top Five, lost in the same week.  Checkout the list below.

Year	Wk	Date	Rk	Losing School		Rk	Winning School	Score
1943	9	11/6/1943	3	Army	n	1	Notre Dame	0-26
1943	9	11/6/1943	4	USC	at		San Diego Navy	7-10
1943	9	11/6/1943	5	Pennsylvania	vs	7	Navy	7-24
1950	16	1/1/1951	1	Oklahoma	n	3	Kentucky	7-13
1950	16	1/1/1951	4	California	n		Michigan	6-14
1950	16	1/1/1951	5	Texas	n	9	Tennessee	14-20
1953	6	10/24/1953	2	Michigan St	at		Purdue	0-6
1953	6	10/24/1953	4	Georgia Tech	at	1	Notre Dame	14-27
1953	6	10/24/1953	5	Michigan	at		Minnesota	0-22
1957	10	11/16/1957	1	Texas A&M	at	20	Rice	6-7
1957	10	11/16/1957	2	Oklahoma	vs		Notre Dame	0-7
1957	10	11/16/1957	5	Iowa	at	6	Ohio St	13-17
Year	Wk	Date	Rk	Losing School		Rk	Winning School	Score
1965	16	1/1/1966	1	Michigan St	n	5	UCLA	12-14
1965	16	1/1/1966	2	Arkansas	n		LSU	7-14
1965	16	1/1/1966	3	Nebraska	n	4	Alabama	28-39
1970	19	1/1/1971	1	Texas	n	6	Notre Dame	11-24
1970	19	1/1/1971	2	Ohio St	n	12	Stanford	17-27
1970	19	1/1/1971	5	LSU	n	3	Nebraska	12-17
1971	17	1/1/1972	2	Alabama	n	1	Nebraska	6-38
1971	17	1/1/1972	4	Michigan	n	16	Stanford	12-13
1971	17	1/1/1972	5	Auburn	n	3	Oklahoma	22-40
1976	18	1/1/1977	2	Michigan	n	3	USC	6-14
1976	18	1/1/1977	4	Maryland	n	6	Houston	21-30
1976	18	1/1/1977	5	Georgia	n	1	Pittsburgh	3-27
1977	19	1/2/1978	1	Texas	n	5	Notre Dame	10-38
1977	19	1/2/1978	2	Oklahoma	n	6	Arkansas	6-31
1977	19	1/2/1978	4	Michigan	n	13	Washington	20-27
Year	Wk	Date	Rk	Losing School		Rk	Winning School	Score
1981	18	1/1/1982	2	Georgia	n	10	Pittsburgh	20-24
1981	18	1/1/1982	3	Alabama	n	6	Texas	12-14
1981	18	1/1/1982	4	Nebraska	n	1	Clemson	15-22
1983	4	9/17/1983	2	Oklahoma	vs	6	Ohio St	14-24
1983	4	9/17/1983	4	Notre Dame	vs		Michigan St	23-28
1983	4	9/17/1983	5	Auburn	vs	3	Texas	7-20
1983	20	1/2/1984	1	Nebraska	n	5	Miami FL	30-31
1983	20	1/2/1984	2	Texas	n	7	Georgia	9-10
1983	20	1/2/1984	4	Illinois	n		UCLA	9-45
1985	8	10/19/1985	2	Michigan	at	1	Iowa	10-12
1985	8	10/19/1985	3	Oklahoma	vs		Miami FL	14-27
1985	8	10/19/1985	4	Arkansas	vs		Texas	13-15
1985	20	1/1/1986	1	Penn St	n	3	Oklahoma	10-25
1985	20	1/1/1986	2	Miami FL	n	8	Tennessee	7-35
1985	20	1/1/1986	4	Iowa	n	13	UCLA	28-45
Year	Wk	Date	Rk	Losing School		Rk	Winning School	Score
1990	11	11/3/1990	1	Virginia	vs	16	Georgia Tech	38-41
1990	11	11/3/1990	3	Nebraska	vs	9	Colorado	12-27
1990	11	11/3/1990	4	Auburn	at	15	Florida	7-48
1990	11	11/3/1990	5	Illinois	vs	13	Iowa	28-54
1993	13	11/20/1993	1	Notre Dame	vs	17	Boston College	39-41
1993	13	11/20/1993	4	Miami FL	at	9	West Virginia	14-17
1993	13	11/20/1993	5	Ohio St	at		Michigan	0-28
2001	9	10/27/2001	2	Oklahoma	at	3	Nebraska	10-20
2001	9	10/27/2001	4	UCLA	at	20	Stanford	28-38
2001	9	10/27/2001	5	Virginia Tech	vs		Syracuse	14-22
2002	11	11/2/2002	3	Virginia Tech	vs		Pittsburgh	21-28
2002	11	11/2/2002	4	Notre Dame	vs		Boston College	7-14
2002	11	11/2/2002	5	Georgia	n		Florida	13-20
2008	7	10/11/2008	1	Oklahoma	n	5	Texas	35-45
2008	7	10/11/2008	3	Missouri	vs	17	Oklahoma St	23-28
2008	7	10/11/2008	4	LSU	at	11	Florida	21-51
2011	12	11/18/2011	2	Oklahoma St	at		Iowa St	31-37
2011	12	11/19/2011	4	Oregon	vs	18	USC	35-38
2011	12	11/19/2011	5	Oklahoma	at	25	Baylor	38-45

 

Additional Notes

• On November 3rd, 1990, four teams ranked in the AP Top Five lost; it’s the most AP Top Five ranked schools to lose in one week, and the only time it has ever occurred.  No 2. Notre Dame defeated Navy 52-31 that week.

• It’s only the second time ever that three schools in the AP Top Five all lost on the same week, without one of them playing a team in the AP Top Ten.  The other occurrence was in 2002, when No. 3 Virginia Tech, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Georgia all lost to unranked opponents.

• Oklahoma has been involved in three of the last four instances, in which three AP Top Five teams lost in the same week.

• Pointless observation, but all of the AP Top Five teams that lost this week, have a school name that starts with the letter “O”.

 

Reference: College Football at Sports-Reference.com, College Poll Archive, College Football Data Warehouse

 

College Football: No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 in the AP Poll All From the Same Conference

When the new AP Poll is released, there is a good chance that the three top spots in the AP Poll will be occupied by teams from the SEC West (LSU No. 1, Alabama No. 2, and Arkansas No 3).  If this does occur it will be the first time since 1971, that one conference occupied the three top spots in the weekly AP Poll.

In the final poll of the 1971 season, teams from the Big 8 occupied the three top spots of the AP Poll; Oklahoma (No. 1), Nebraska (No. 2), and Colorado (No. 3).  It’s the only time one conference occupied the three top spots in the weekly AP Poll.

It’s important to note, that independents have been ranked in the top three spots of the AP poll on 18 occasions, last occurring in the second AP Poll of the 1990 season; Miami (No. 1), Notre Dame (No. 2), and Florida State (tied No. 3).

 

Reference: College Football at Sports-Reference.com, College Poll Archive, College Football Data Warehouse