NONE OR ONE

Since 1978, 140 teams have placed in the Power Points Standings top four and another 187 teams needed a favorable outcome in just one more game to finish in top four whether it be as a result of winning a game they lost or tied or receiving help from another team. Listed below is the breakdown of the AP rank for those 327 teams.

AP RANK BREAKDOWN
1-35
2-34
3-32
4-32
5-32
6-23
7-23
8-24
9-22
10-18
11-14
12-8
13-9
14-4
15-4
16-1
17-1
18-2
19-3
20-2
NR-4*
*All occurred in years in which AP only ranked top 20 teams.

LOSSES BREAKDOWN (Ties count as 0.5 losses)
0.0-62
0.5-4
1.0-124
1.5-21
2.0-94
2.5-5
3.0-15
3.5-2

FYI FACTS
1-Seven AP top four teams did not make Power Points Standings top four or finish one game outcome removed from the same. Four of these teams did not play a full schedule versus FBS competition.
2-"Mid-Majors" account for 28 of the 327 teams. BYU (8) and Boise State (6) account for 14 of the 28 mid-major teams (50%).
3-BYU (5) and Boise State (4) account for 9 of 11 PPS top four finishes among mid-majors. Former mid-majors TCU and Utah account for the remaining two.
4-Only 1984 BYU, 2009 TCU and 2010 TCU finished in the AP top four among mid-majors since 1978.
5-1984 accounts for five of the 11 lowest AP ranks and 1984 and 2011 combine for eight of the 12 lowest AP ranks.