AP Poll Page
Created
6/9/02;
Updated
10/5/08

 



Wildcat Football
Associated Press Weekly Poll
Rankings, 1936-Present

The Associated Press began its weekly football poll in 1936, coinciding with Northwestern's fifth Big Ten title.   Since the poll began, NU has appeared in the final season rankings eight times.  However, it has appeared in the AP Poll at some point in the season for many more years.  Here is a complete listing of every week that NU has been ranked by the AP.  Weeks during which NU was ranked #1 are listed in purple.

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) began publishing team standings in 1998.  Weeks during which the BCS ranked NU are highlighted (in green) in the Comments column.  If NU was not ranked by the AP Poll for a given week, that week is not listed (even if NU received points in the poll), except when the BCS ranked the 'Cats during that week.  If the BCS ranked NU, the week is given, as are the AP points (if any) that NU received.
 

 
1936 - A.P. Top 20 Final Rank: 7th
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
1
10/19/36
4
145
.
3-0-0
.
2
10/26/36
3
258
.
4-0-0
.
3
11/2/36
1
412
31
5-0-0
After beating #1 Minnesota.
Minn. still received 10 1st pl. votes.
4
11/9/36
1
435
31
6-0-0
.
5
11/16/36
1
337
17
7-0-0
.
6
11/23/36
7
151
.
7-1-0
.
7 (Final)
11/30/36
7
130
.
7-1-0
.

1937 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 20
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
1
10/18/37
7
165
.
3-0-0
Not ranked wk. 2.
3
11/1/37
19
6
.
4-1-0
Not ranked again in '37.

1938 - A.P. Top 20 Final Rank: 17th
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
1
10/17/38
18
23
.
2-0-1
.
2
10/24/38
12
55
.
3-0-1
.
3
10/31/38
7
406
.
4-0-1
.
4
11/7/38
17
29
.
4-1-1
.
5
11/14/38
16
23
.
4-1-2
.
6
11/21/38
15
35
.
4-2-2
Rose despite loss.
7
11/28/38
19
15
.
4-2-2
.
8 (Final)
12/5/38
17
15
.
4-2-2
.

1940 - A.P. Top 20 Final Rank: 8th
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
1
10/14/40
4
898
1
2-0-0
.
2
10/21/40
7
592
.
3-0-0
.
3
10/28/40
8
639
1
4-0-0
.
4
11/4/40
10
316
.
4-1-0
.
5
11/11/40
10
276
.
5-1-0
.
6
11/18/40
10
105
.
5-2-0
.
7
11/25/40
7
396
.
6-2-0
.
8 (Final)
12/2/40
8
323
.
6-2-0
.

1941 - A.P. Top 20 Final Rank: 11th
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
1
10/13/41
5
496
1
2-0-0
.
2
10/20/41
13
96
.
2-1-0
.
3
10/27/41
9
231
.
3-1-0
.
4
11/3/41
10
197
.
3-2-0
.
5
11/10/41
8
287
.
4-2-0
.
6
11/17/41
10
204
.
4-3-0
.
7
11/24/41
9
183
.
5-3-0
.
8 (Final)
12/1/41
11
167
.
5-3-0
.

1943 - A.P. Top 20 Final Rank: 9th
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
1
10/4/43
19
18
.
1-1-0
Not ranked wk. 2.
3
10/18/43
17
34
.
2-1-0
.
4
10/25/43
15
35
.
3-1-0
.
5
11/1/43
12
106
.
4-1-0
.
6
11/8/43
8
285
.
5-1-0
.
7
11/15/43
9
121
.
5-2-0
.
8
11/22/43
8
197
.
6-2-0
.
9 (Final)
11/29/43
9
233
.
6-2-0
.

1945 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 20 Poll
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
4
10/29/45
20
24
.
2-2-1
Only ranked in 4th poll.

1946 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 20 Poll
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
1
10/7/46
10
177
.
2-0-0
.
2
10/14/46
10
203.5
.
3-0-0
.
3
10/21/46
8
418
.
3-0-1
.
4
10/28/46
6
659
.
4-0-1
.
5
11/4/46
17
50
.
4-1-1
Not ranked again in '46.

1948 - A.P. Top 20 Final Rank: 7th
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
1
10/4/48
3
1025
21
2-0-0
.
2
10/11/48
3
1172
25
3-0-0
.
3
10/18/48
10
182
.
3-1-0
.
4
10/25/48
9
325
.
4-1-0
.
5
11/1/48
10
371
.
5-1-0
.
6
11/8/48
8
575
.
6-1-0
.
7
11/15/48
7
652
.
6-2-0
Rose despite loss.
8
11/22/48
7
730
.
7-2-0
.
9 (Final)
11/29/48
7
1421
.
7-2-0
AP did not conduct post-season polls.

1949 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 20 Poll
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
1
10/3/49
20
11
.
1-1-0
Not ranked in poll #2.
3
10/17/49
13
125
.
2-2-0
Not ranked again in '49.

1950 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 20 Poll
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
4
10/16/50
20
92
.
3-0-0
Not ranked until 4th poll.
5
10/23/50
9
333
.
4-0-0
Not ranked again in '50.

1951 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 20 Poll
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
4
10/15/51
18
28
.
3-0-0
Not ranked until 4th poll.
5
10/22/51
13
122
.
4-0-0
Not ranked again in '51.

1953 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 20 Poll
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
3
10/5/53
18
29
.
2-0-0
Only ranked in 3rd poll.

1958 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 20 Poll
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
5
10/13/58
17
29
.
3-0-0
Not ranked until 5th poll.
6
10/20/58
8
618
3
4-0-0
.
7
10/27/58
11
178
.
4-1-0
.
8
11/3/58
4
815
.
5-1-0
.
9
11/10/58
13
166
.
5-2-0
.
10
11/17/58
20
76
.
5-3-0
.

1959 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 20 Poll
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
1
9/14/59 (p.s.)
10
441
6
0-0-0
.
2
9/21/59
10
164
.
0-0-0
.
3
9/28/59
2
647
20
1-0-0
.
4
10/5/59
2
1041
30
2-0-0
.
5
10/12/59
2
1006
10
3-0-0
.
6
10/19/59
2
1171
23
4-0-0
.
7
10/26/59
2
1474
25
5-0-0
.
8
11/2/59
2
1596
30
6-0-0
.
9
11/9/59
6
1311
2
6-1-0
.
10
11/16/59
8
411
1
6-2-0
Not ranked again in '59 (!).

1960 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 20 Poll
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
1
9/12/60 (p.s.)
14
41
.
0-0-0
.
2
9/19/60
14
40
.
0-0-0
.
3
9/26/60
6
188
1
1-0-0
Not ranked again in '60.

1962 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 10 Poll
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
5
10/15/62
8
165
3
3-0-0
Not ranked until 5th poll.
6
10/22/62
3
390
8
4-0-0
.
7
10/29/62
1
494
34
5-0-0
After Notre Dame win.
8
11/5/62
1
442
24
6-0-0
.
9
11/12/62
9
119
.
6-1-0
Not ranked again in '62.

1963 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 10 Poll
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
1
9/16/63 (p.s.)
6
297
.
0-0-0
.
2
9/23/63
7
197
5
1-0-0
.
3
9/30/63
4
264
1
2-0-0
Not ranked in poll 4.
5
10/14/63
10
103
.
3-1-0
.
6
10/21/63
9
141
.
4-1-0
Not ranked again in '63.

1970 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 20 Poll
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
8
10/26/70
20
18
.
3-3-0
Not ranked until poll 8;
not ranked in polls 9-10.
11
11/16/70
18
20
.
5-4-0
.
12
11/23/70
18
33
.
6-4-0
.
13
11/30/70
19
23
.
6-4-0
Not ranked again in '70.

1971 - Not Ranked in Final A.P. Top 20 Poll
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
1
9/6/71 (p.s.)
20
58
1
0-0-0
Not ranked in polls 2-13.
14 (Reg. Seas. Final)
12/6/71
19
16
.
7-4-0
Not ranked in final poll.

1995 - A.P. Top 25 Final Rank: 8th
Poll Wk.
Date
Rank
Points
1st Place Votes
Record
Comments
4
9/10/95
25
121
.
1-0-0
Not ranked until poll 4;
not ranked in polls 5-6.
7
10/1/95
25
147
.
3-1-0
.
8
10/8/95
14
682
.
4-1-0
.
9
10/15/95
11
917
.
5-1-0
.
10
10/22/95
8
1087
.
6-1-0
.
11
10/29/95
6
1216
.
7-1-0
.
12
11/5/95
5
1288
.
8-1-0
.
13
11/12/95
5
1295
.
9-1-0
.
14
11/19/95
4