AP Poll, since 1970: 1970: Nebraska 1971: Nebraska 1972: USC 1973: Notre Dame 1974: Oklahoma 1975: Oklahoma 1976: Pittsburgh 1977: Notre Dame 1978: Alabama 1979: Alabama 1980: Georgia 1981: Clemson 1982: Penn St. 1983: Miami 1984: BYU 1985: Oklahoma 1986: Penn St. 1987: Miami 1988: Notre Dame 1989: Miami 1990: Colorado 1991: Miami 1992: Alabama 1993: Florida State 1994: Nebraska 1995: Nebraska 1996: Florida 1997: Michigan 1998: Tennessee 1999: Florida State 2000: Oklahoma 2001: Miami 2002: Ohio State Note that there's obviously been different UPI champions in some years, particularly 1979, when USC was crowned, as they had beaten Alabama during the regular season. Some call that USC team the best ever. That's the team that LSU almost beat, in arguably the greatest game ever at Tiger Stadium. A very questionable (some say bogus, non-existent) penalty against LSU on 4th down in the final minutes sustained a USC drive, and USC wound up winning 17-12)
The mean old Sooners just seem to get in the way all the time. And then the Buffalo's when UT had their shot.
Growing up, Texas never was powerful. The Ags pounded them every year, along with many others. Of course, they reply, UT was having a down decade and A&M only won because of cheating. In my lifetime, UT was never a concern until about 1998. When I was young, the Ags' toughest scheduled opponent was LSU. All of a sudden, enter Mack Brown and people come out of the wood-work wearing orange!!! Poor Mack...what high expectations he has on him. If you were new to college football and talked to just one Longhorn, you would think college football was invented in Austin!!! When they start losing (as they have had many chances with recruiting, etc.) all of the orange will quietly disappear faster than it reappeared from the closets of the 1960s.
