1986 NCAA Division I-A football rankings explained

Season:	1986
Preseason Number 1:	Oklahoma
Champions:	Penn State

Two human polls comprised the 1986 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-A football rankings. Unlike most sports, college football's governing body, the NCAA, does not bestow a national championship, instead that title is bestowed by one or more different polling agencies. There are two main weekly polls that begin in the preseason—the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
		National champion
		Win–loss record
		Number of first place votes
		Tied with team above or below also with this symbol

AP Poll

Coaches Poll

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "1986 NCAA Division I-A football rankings".