USA Today / CNN Top 25#Top 25 trophy

The USA Today / CNN Top 25 football poll was a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football teams. The poll was published in the nascent national newspaper USA Today, which first launched in 1982, and was distributed on parent company Gannett's newswire. Starting in 1983 the poll took on CNN as a voting and broadcast partner.{{cite news |date=September 21, 1983 |title=NU Remains No. 1 in USA/CNN Poll |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119846536/usa-today-cnn-top-25-college-football/ |work=Omaha World-Herald |access-date=February 28, 2023 |quote=Beginning this week, CNN joins USA Today's voting panel, bringing the voting base to 35 voters in 22 states. Previously, USA had only 20 voters.}}

The Top 25 poll was an alternative and competitor to the established major wire service polls: the Associated Press media poll and the United Press International poll of coaches.

At the end of each season the poll's No. 1 team was awarded the Top 25 trophy, emblematic of the poll's college football national championship. The NCAA recognizes the USA Today and USA Today / CNN polls as "major selectors" of national championships for the years 1982 and 1983–1990, and additionally denotes that the Top 25 poll's selection constitutes a "consensus national champion".

The original Top 25 poll ended prior to the 1991 season when USA Today / CNN instead took over distribution of the more distinguished AFCA Coaches Poll from UPI.{{cite news |date=June 3, 1991 |title='USA Today' gets UPI coaches' poll |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107545917/usa-today-gets-upi-coaches-poll/ |work=Austin American-Statesman |publication-place=Austin |place=Dallas |agency=Associated Press |page=D2 |access-date=August 13, 2022 |quote=The college football coaches poll, carried by United Press International since 1950, will now be distributed by USA Today.}}

National champions

The USA Today / CNN Top 25 poll selected the following college football national champions during the poll's 9 years:

Season \|\| Champion \|\| Record
class="wikitable"
1982	Penn State	11–1
1983	Miami	11–1
1984	BYU	13–0
1985	Oklahoma	11–1
1986{{Cite sign \|title=USA Today / CNN Top 25 National College Football Champion — 1986 \|date=January 4, 1987 \|type=Trophy \|publisher=USA Today / CNN \|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/citizens-voice-top-25-trophy-1986/122813923/}}{{Cite sign \|title=USA Today / CNN Top 25 National College Football Champion — 1986 \|date=April 24, 2023 \|type=Trophy \|publisher=USA Today / CNN \|location=Penn State All-Sports Museum \|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424173807/https://i.imgur.com/lkbJhDa.jpeg}}	Penn State	12–0
1987{{Cite sign \|title=USA Today / CNN Top 25 National College Football Champion — 1987 — University of Miami \|date=January 7, 1990 \|type=Trophy \|publisher=USA Today / CNN \|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-herald-1987-usa-todaycnn-top/122872918/}}{{cite news \|last=Brewington \|first=Peter \|date=January 4, 1988 \|title=Miami comfortable on throne once more \|url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/miami-comfortable-on-throne-once-more/docview/305994260/se-2 \|url-access=subscription \|work=USA TODAY \|access-date=May 6, 2024 \|quote=The Hurricanes, who defeated Oklahoma 20-14 in Friday's Orange Bowl, earned all but one first-place vote and 799 of a possible 800 points to finish No. 1 in the final USA TODAY Cable News Network Top 25 poll. [...] Florida State (11-1) received one first-place vote and was No. 2 in each poll.}}	Miami	12–0
1988{{Cite sign \|title=USA Today / CNN Top 25 National College Football Champion — 1988 — University of Notre Dame \|date=January 3, 1989 \|type=Trophy \|publisher=USA Today / CNN \|url=https://mapi.associatedpress.com/v1/items/a23f639fbfbd4c70b9f41cf57786b055/preview/AP8901030224.jpg \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227214918/https://mapi.associatedpress.com/v1/items/a23f639fbfbd4c70b9f41cf57786b055/preview/AP8901030224.jpg \|archive-date=February 27, 2023}}	Notre Dame	12–0
1989{{Cite sign \|title=USA Today / CNN Top 25 1989 National Champions — University of Miami \|date=1989 \|type=Trophy \|publisher=USA Today / CNN \|url=https://digitalcollections.library.miami.edu/digital/collection/asu0010/id/1389/rec/4 \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413203052/https://digitalcollections.library.miami.edu/digital/collection/asu0010/id/1389/rec/4 \|archive-date=April 13, 2023}}	Miami	11–1
1990	Colorado	11–1–1

Starting in 1991, USA Today / CNN took over operation of the Coaches Poll from UPI and awarded the Coaches' Trophy.

= Top 25 trophy =

The No. 1 team on the final Top 25 poll was awarded the USA Today / CNN Top 25 National College Football Champion trophy.

References

{{Reflist |refs=

{{cite book |url=http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2022/FBS.pdf |title=2022 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records |section=National Champion Major Selections (1896 to Present) |pages=112–114 |publisher=The National Collegiate Athletic Association |date=July 2022 |location=Indianapolis |access-date=January 4, 2023 |quote=The criteria for being included in this historical list of poll selectors is that the poll be national in scope, either through distribution in newspaper, television, radio and/or computer online. The list includes both former selectors, who were instrumental in the sport of college football, and selectors who were among the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) selectors.}}

{{cite book |url=http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2022/FBS.pdf |title=2022 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records |section=Consensus National Champions |page=125 |publisher=The National Collegiate Athletic Association |date=July 2022 |location=Indianapolis |access-date=January 4, 2023|quote=Since 1950 — AP, UPI, FW, NFF, USA/CNN, USA/ESPN, USA}}

}}

Category:College football rankings