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The college poll archive is a fascinating deep dive if you’re into the history of college football and basketball’s AP poll. It has the last time every team in America has been ranked or even received a vote. If you’re a Purdue fan and men’s basketball, that is good. Purdue has currently been ranked in basketball for 15 straight weeks and if it had not fallen out very briefly for one week after the Bahamas this past season we would be at 57 consecutive weeks, the second longest in school history and the 4th longest active streak.
For football... not so much. By not appearing in the presason poll the Boilermakers have not been in the top 25 for 174 consecutive weeks dating back to the September 30, 2007 poll when we were 23rd for one week. How strange was that poll? Well, Purdue was ranked and Alabama was not. Neither was Florida State, Michigan State, or Penn State. California was 3rd, South Florida was 6th, Boston College was 7th, Kentucky was 8th, Hawaii was 16th, and Rutgers was 21st.
2007 was weird.
Anyway, the first AP Poll of 2018 is out and, as expected, Purdue is not ranked, nor did it receive any votes. (Teams in bold are on Purdue’s schedule this year.)
- Alabama (42) 1,505
- Clemson (18) 1,476
- Georgia 1,350
- Wisconsin 1,271
- Ohio State 1,256
- Washington 1,215
- Oklahoma 1,173
- Miami (FL) 1,027
- Auburn 1,013
- Penn State 1,012
- Michigan State 877
- Notre Dame 804
- Stanford 778
- Michigan 773
- USC 543
- TCU 533
- West Virginia 511
- Mississippi State 450
- Florida State 384
- Virginia Tech 351
- Central Florida 312
- Boise State 292
- Texas 216
- Oregon 148
- LSU 106
Others Receiving Votes: South Carolina 96, Florida 68, Utah 60, Oklahoma St. 51, FAU 38, Arizona 28, NC State 22, Texas A&M 21, Boston College 18, Northwestern 13, Kansas St. 10, Iowa St. 8, Houston 6, Memphis 3, Troy 2, Iowa 2, Kentucky 1, Arkansas St. 1, Fresno St. 1
The good news is we have a great chance to at least receive votes right away. By playing Northwestern and Boston College in the first four weeks we can take their votes. Purdue has not even received a vote since getting five votes in September 23, 2012 poll. The only Power 5 teams that have not been ranked longer than Purdue are Syracuse (263 weeks) and TSiB(395 weeks).
We also host No. 4 Wisconsin and No. 5 Ohio State, meaning there is a decent chance they could be No. 1 overall when they come to West Lafayette. Purdue has not played the No. 1 ranked team since losing to Notre Dame 37-11 in South Bend on 9/29/1990. Purdue has not hosted the No. 1 overall team since hosting the Irish a year earlier in a 40-7 loss. Purdue’s last win over No. 1 was November 6, 1974 when it upset Michigan 16-14 at home.