In 1950, the Associated Press released a preseason college football poll for the first time. It had been ranking teams, starting midseason, for 14 years, and the venture proved popular enough to expand the reach a bit.
Granted, the accuracy of that initial poll was shaky. Preseason No. 1 Notre Dame would go just 4-4-1, while No. 12 USC would go just 2-5-2 -- perhaps not the only time in the history of the sport that these two teams have started out overrated. But the best teams at the end of the year (Oklahoma, Army and Texas went a combined 25-1, and Texas' only loss was to Oklahoma) were all ranked in the top six in the preseason.