The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll started in 1936, the brainchild of former sports editor Alan J. Gould.

The number of teams ranked, the number of voters on the panel and how the ballots are tabulated has fluctuated over the years, but no news organization has been ranking teams and naming a major college football national champion longer than the AP. It has been the Top 10, Top 20 and, since 1989, the Top 25.

With the preseason poll set to be released on Monday, Aug. 11., here is how it works:

Who are the voters?

AP Top 25 voters are writers and broadcasters who cover college football for AP members and other select outlets. AP employees do not vote, but they do choose the voters. In recent years, the number of voters has been around 60, and they come from all over the

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