Yes, Alabama won again, but something happened for the first time since 1963 when the top 3 teams in the AP poll were 1. Texas, 2. Navy, 3. Illinois.

There are 19 teams that have dominated the top of the college football ranks in recent years. Since BYU won their MNC, in the 31 years since, those 19 teams have all the MNCs and have 84 of the 93 top 3 AP finishes. Most years they capture all 3 of the top 3 spots. Other than TCU who has two, they are the only schools to have finished in the top 3 more than once in that time. And they are the only schools to have finished in the top 5 more than two times during that time as well (39 total teams have finished in the top 5 at least once in the 31 years).

This year, two outsiders made the top 3:
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Stanford

The 19 teams are USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, Florida St., Miami, Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio St., Penn St., Nebraska, Auburn, LSU, Tennessee, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Georgia.

Interesting. Goes to show the kind of impact that the Clemson QB has had on that stat.