To mark the 100th anniversary of The Associated Press’ annual All-America college football team, AP will unveil an all-time team comprised of the top players from the past century.
The all-time team will be announced on AP lines on Thursday, Aug. 14, at 12 p.m. ET and posted on the AP’s college football poll page, the AP News app and at @AP_Top25 on X, formerly Twitter. AP also will provide analysis and additional details across the AP News platform.
The announcement will come ahead of this year’s preseason All-America team, which will be released on Aug. 18, and shortly after the release of the preseason AP Top 25 poll on Aug. 11.
“The AP All-America team is one of the longest-running traditions in college football and we are excited to celebrate it by unveiling the all-time team,” said Barry Bedlan, AP’s sports products director. “The names on this roster are among those who shaped the sport and considered among the greatest to ever play.”
The all-time All-America team will be selected by AP’s college football reporters, some of whom have covered the sport for more than 30 years. The first AP All-America team was named after the 1925 season, a decade before the first Heisman Trophy. Players on that first team included Illinois running back Red Grange and Michigan quarterback Benny Friedman. Since then, a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters across the country have helped select the team each year.
This year also marks the 90th season of the weekly AP Top 25 poll, which is selected by a panel of more than 60 of the nation’s top writers and broadcasters covering the sport.
The first regular-season poll will be released Tuesday, Sept. 2. Weekly polls will be released each Sunday during the rest of the season, with the final poll moving at 12 p.m. ET on Jan. 20, the day after the College Football Playoff National Championship in Miami Gardens, Florida. AP will be providing real-time insights during each poll release of the season through a live blog accessible through AP’s college football poll page and the AP News app.
The same panel also will pick the preseason All-America players for each position for the first and second teams.
The AP Top 25 is determined using a simple points system based on how each voter ranks college football’s best teams. A team receives 25 points for each first place vote, 24 for second place and so on through to the 25th team, which receives one point. The rankings are set by listing the teams’ point totals from highest to lowest. The mathematical formula is the same as the one used for the AP Top 25 rankings for college men’s and women’s basketball.
Follow the poll and all related sports coverage, including this season’s AP Player of the Week and AP Player of the Year honorees, on Facebook and X.
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Nicole Meir
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The Associated Press
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