Help The Guru Play Detective

By Mel Greenberg

Maryland's trip to North Carolina and Duke in the past week gave rise to several questions.

Q. Has anyone played two different No. 1 teams back-to-back or within the same week?

A. We think so, but we're not sure.

Q. Has anyone ever beaten two No. 1s back to back?

A. Probably not. Maryland would have been the first.

However, now we have clues and it is up to you sports information directors out there or fans with media guides to help the cause.

What follows are all the in-season switches in the AP poll history except the first year.

If anyone can find people playing Delta State and Wayland Baptist back-to-back, let me know because they were the only two No. 1s in year No. 1.

After that, here are all the switches showing the date Team A became No. 1 and the date Team B took over. Anything close to someone playing those two teams in that particular two-week span, send the information along.

Some of what you'll see is easy to eliminate because the switches occurred during conference tournaments. And there are long gaps because in some years we had no switches when Connecticut, Tennessee, and Louisiana Tech, for example, went wire-to-wire.

So, hopefully if this chart cuts and pastes close to clean from our MS Word file, here is the list and thanks for your help.

-- Mel

Dates Team A Team B

1/25/77, 12/07/77 Tennessee Wayland Baptist

1/11/78, 1/18/78 Wayland Baptist LSU

2/8/78, 2/15/78 LSU Tennessee

12/12/78, 12/19/78 Tennessee Old Dominion

12/18/79, 12/25/79 Old Dominion Louisiana Tech

1/22/80, 1/29/80 Louisiana Tech Old Dominion/Texas (tie)

1/29/80, 2/5/80 Texas (from tie) Old Dominion

12/16/83, 12/23/83 Southern Cal Louisiana Tech

1/1/84, 1/8/84 Southern Cal Louisiana Tech

2/5/84, 2/12/84 Louisiana Tech Texas

11/26/84, 12/2/84 Georgia Old Dominion

1/20/85, 1/27/85 Old Dominion Texas

12/9/86, 12/16/86 Texas Tennessee

12/30/86, 1/6/87 Tennessee Texas

12/7/87, 12/14/87 Tennessee Texas

12/28/87, 1/4/88 Texas Iowa

2/22/88, 2/29/88 Iowa Auburn

3/7/88, 3/14/88 Auburn Tennessee

1/2/89, 1/9/89 Tennessee Auburn

3/6/89, 3/13/89 Auburn Tennessee

12/4/89, 12/11/89 Tennessee Louisiana Tech

12/31/90, 1/7/91 Virginia Penn State

1/7/91, 1/14/91 Penn State Virginia

2/25/91, 3/4/91 Virginia Penn State

12/8/91, 12/15/91 Tennessee Virginia

1/12/92, 1/19/92 Virginia Maryland

2/9/92, 2/16/92 Maryland Virginia

11/24/92, 12/8/92 Stanford Tennessee

12/29/92, 1/5/93 Tennessee Vanderbilt

1/26/93, 2/2/93 Vanderbilt Tennessee

3/2/93, 3/9/93 Tennessee Vanderbilt

1/18/94, 1/25/94 Tennessee Penn State

2/8/94, 2/15/94 Penn State Tennessee

1/10/95, 1/17/95 Tennessee Connecticut

11/14/95, 11/21/95 Connecticut Louisiana Tech

1/22/96, 1/29/96 Louisiana Tech Georgia

2/12/96, 2/19/96 Georgia Louisiana Tech

12/16/93, 12/23/93 Stanford Connecticut

11/6/98, 11/16/98 Tennessee Purdue

11/16/98, 11/23/98 Purdue Connecticut

1/4/99, 1/11/99 Connecticut Tennessee

2/15/99, 2/22/99 Tennessee Purdue

1/15/01, 1/22/01 Connecticut Notre Dame

2/12/01, 2/19/01 Notre Dame Tennessee

2/26/01, 3/5/01 Tennessee Notre Dame

3/5/01, 3/12/01 Notre Dame Connecticut

1/27/03, 2/3/03 Duke Connecticut

12/29/03, 1/5/04 Connecticut Duke

1/19/04, 1/26/04 Duke Tennessee

2/2/04, 2/9/04 Tennessee Texas

2/16/04, 2/23/04 Texas Connecticut

2/23/04, 3/01/04 Connecticut Tennessee

3/1/04, 3/8/04 Tennessee Duke

11/22/04, 11/29/04 Tennessee LSU

1/3/05, 1/10/05 LSU Duke

1/24/05, 1/31/05 Duke LSU

2/28/05, 3/7/05 LSU Stanford

11/28/05, 12/5/05 Duke Tennessee

1/23/06, 1/30/06 Tennessee North Carolina

2/6/06, 2/13/06 North Carolina Duke