The Associated Press Top 25 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 the years, but no news organization has been ranking teams and naming a major college football national champion longer than the AP. It has been the Top 10, Top 20 and, since 1989, the Top 25.
With the preseason poll set to be released on Monday, Aug. 11., here is how it works:
AP Top 25 voters are writers and broadcasters who cover college football for AP members and other select outlets. AP employees do not vote, but they do choose the voters. In recent years, the number of voters has been around 60, and they come from all over the country.
The goal is to have every state with a Football Bowl Subdivision school represented by at least one voter, and the total of number of voters from each state tends to increase with the number of FBS teams. There are also spots reserved for national voters.
There was a time when voters called, emailed and faxed their votes to the AP. Long ago, the ballots were tabulated by hand.
Now voting is done online and all the tabulation is automated.
There is a 1-25 point system, with a team voted No. 1 receiving 25 points down to 1 point for a 25th-place vote. After that, it's simple: The poll lists the teams with the most points from 1 to 25 and others receiving votes are also noted.
Except for the first two polls and the final poll after the national championship game, the Top 25 rankings are released on Sunday afternoons. That gives voters time to assess the results of Saturday's games ahead of the poll release at 2 p.m. Eastern.
The AP allows wide latitude for voters to determine their rankings. They are urged to base their votes on performance, not reputation or preseason speculation; to avoid regional bias, for or against; to pay attention to head-to-head results; and to make significant changes if desired. Teams on NCAA probation are eligible for the AP poll.
AP poll voters also participate in the selection of AP honors. Coach and player of the year voting is done on a top three basis, with 3 points for first-place, 2 for second and 1 for third. The voters also select both the preseason and postseason AP All-America teams, a tradition that this year turns 100.
In the early days of college football, polls declared national champions before postseason games; not until 1968 did the AP begin releasing a final poll after bowls were played. Years of controversy followed, with endless arguments over how to determine a true champion.
After back-to-back seasons with split titles in 1990 and 1991 came two decades of different systems: the Bowl Alliance, Bowl Coalition and Bowl Championship Series all tried to pair the two best teams in the country to play for the title. Those organizations relied on a combination of polls, computer rankings and strength of schedule, a formula that has been tweaked many times but remains a sore spot to this day.
The BCS turned into the College Football Playoff in 2014 with a four-team postseason that was the first time major college football had something that felt and acted like a true bracket. Now the CFP is up to 12 teams — and looking to expand again — and the AP Top 25 is still ranking the top teams.
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
FILE - Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik (2) throws a pass during an NCAA college football game against South Carolina, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Clemson, S.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman, FIle)
Ohio State wide receiver Brandon Inniss participates in a drill during NCAA college football practice in Columbus, Ohio, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — In a city that often seems to be staggering from one crisis to the next, the sudden resignation of police Chief Brian O’Hara after a finding he likely interfered in a misconduct investigation has left Minneapolis searching again for a way forward.
O’Hara was an outsider brought in with a mandate to reform the police department after the 2020 killing of George Floyd, which led to federal and state investigative findings of excessive force and racist policing practices. O’Hara had spent most of his career in Newark, New Jersey, where he instituted changes after that department was put under a federal consent decree for patterns of excessive force and unconstitutional stops and searches.
The challenges in Minneapolis were clear before O'Hara arrived in late 2022. For a time, it had seemed the department itself might not survive. In 2021, more than 43% of voters supported disbanding the department as the city reeled from Floyd’s killing and the massive protests and widespread rioting that followed.
Policing experts had noted the monumental task that faced the city’s next police chief, who would have to rebuild community trust and a department whose morale had dipped so low that it was hemorrhaging officers.
“I don’t think there was a bigger challenge to any American city than what Minneapolis faced when he arrived,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of a Washington think tank, the Police Executive Research Forum. “They had gone from 850 to 500 officers, violent crime was significantly up, trust with the community was broken, a police station had burned down and a federal consent decree would face the next chief. Then you had the politics of Minneapolis.”
Coming in as an outsider to lead a large department is daunting, even without being asked to reform and rebuild, said Renée Hall, president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives who moved from Detroit to lead the Dallas Police Department from 2017 to 2020.
“It’s extremely challenging to walk into an organization, where you don’t even know where the light switches are, where the bathrooms are. And that’s just the basics,” Hall said. “You have to learn the officers, the community, the politics of that particular city, and try to learn and navigate the existing relationships, like unions or officer associations and who is tied to whom and who is fighting for whom.”
Hall said outside hires can face resentment from those within an organization who supported internal candidates. They also have to earn the trust of the community, which she said takes time.
After the police disbandment measure failed, O'Hara joined the bureaucracy of a deeply progressive city that is regularly buffeted by political battles between the mayor and the City Council, and among council members.
Those battles were on full display Wednesday, when a City Council news conference about O'Hara's resignation quickly turned into an opportunity for the council's resolute progressives to attack Mayor Jacob Frey, who has long portrayed himself as a “pragmatic progressive.”
The resignation “is a symptom of a much larger problem, which is simply that Mayor Frey continues to be unable to effectively manage the Minneapolis Police Department,” said Council member Robin Wonsley, a cornerstone of the council's progressive bloc.
Frey, who just weeks ago pushed to have O'Hara reappointed as chief, fired back at criticism that he didn’t move aggressively enough when allegations of the chief's potential misconduct emerged.
“I don’t make decisions based on rumors and anonymous complaints,” he said in a statement, adding that he would work with the council to find a replacement. “I took action promptly after receiving the investigative report. … Decisions this serious have to be grounded in facts, evidence and completed investigations. Anything less would be irresponsible.”
O'Hara did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday. His attorney, Doug Kelley, released a statement touting successes during O'Hara's tenure, including diversifying and increasing the department's ranks, the decreasing violent crime rate and mitigating violent clashes during the immigration crackdown.
“The circumstances of Chief O’Hara’s departure should not define his service," Kelley wrote. "He was proud to serve Minneapolis, remains grateful to the officers and community partners who did difficult work under extraordinary pressure, and hopes the city continues moving forward. He understandably looks forward to returning to his young family in New Jersey.”
The resignation came just months after Minneapolis was plunged into the national spotlight amid a federal immigration surge that left three civilians shot, two fatally. O'Hara faced criticism he hadn't done enough to stop the crackdown.
Violence plagued the city in 2025, including deadly attacks on state politicians in the Minneapolis suburbs; gunfire that erupted at a popular city picnic spot; and a shooting during Mass at the Church of the Annunciation that left two children dead and more than a dozen people injured. O’Hara called the church attack a “ truly unthinkable tragedy. ”
Critics say dozens of complaints were filed against O'Hara, from accusations that he was rude to the public to the recent investigation into an ultimately unproven allegation he had a sexual relationship with a city employee. Most of the complaints have not been made public, and 17 complaints are still being investigated. Investigators closed 17 more without any disciplinary actions.
An independent investigator did not find evidence to substantiate the alleged sexual relationship with a city employee, but a second report released this week said O'Hara likely deleted the employee's contact from his phone during the investigation and that he talked to another employee about the probe despite being told it was not to be discussed.
That recent report led to a written reprimand; Frey told O'Hara he would be disciplined and that he could be terminated. Frey said O'Hara chose to resign instead.
Lauer reported from Philadelphia.
Minneapolis City Council Members, from left, Jason Chavez, Robin Wonsley and Council President Elliot Payne speak to reporters about the resignation of Police Chief Brian O'Hara on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 at City Hall in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)
FILE - Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara speaks during a news conference, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck, File)
