Georgia Bulldogs joins elite No. 1 club

The No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press college football poll has been in the possession of just a few elite teams over the last six seasons.

Alabama (63 times), Clemson (23), Ohio State (10) and LSU (eight) were the only teams to reach No. 1 from 2015 through Saturday.

Georgia joined that group Sunday, reaching the top spot in the AP poll presented by Regions Bank for the first time since being preseason No. 1 in 2008. It has been 39 years since the Bulldogs were No. 1 in a regular-season poll.

Georgia was one of four teams to be No. 1 in the 1982 season, holding that spot for the final five weeks of the regular season before losing to Penn State in a Sugar Bowl that decided the national championship.

The last time as many as four teams held No. 1 in a season was 2014, when defending national champion Florida State, Mississippi State and Alabama were atop the polls during before Ohio State won the College Football Playoff.

Since then no more than three teams have been No. 1 in any season.

The record for No. 1 teams in a season is seven in 1981. The were six No. 1 teams in 2008. As famously crazy as the 2007 season was, only four teams reached No. 1. There were nine different No. 2s that year, including California, South Florida, Boston College and Kansas. Yeah, it was weird.

This season has felt more unpredictable than recent ones, and Texas A&M's upset of preseason No. 1 Alabama on Saturday night was the peak. An unranked team had not beaten No. 1 since 2008, when Oregon State knocked off Southern California.

The Trojans dropped eight spots after that late September road loss. Alabama wasn't punished as much by the voters this week, falling only to No. 5.

Reality Check understands that historical greatness buys a program some credibility, but thinks the Tide might have been cut too much slack.

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