AP Top 25 college football poll: How far did North Carolina fall after upset loss?
North Carolina predictably tumbled from the nation’s top 10 when the new Associated Press top 25 college football poll was released on Sunday.
Virginia, which had yet to beat a Football Bowl Subdivision team this season, knocked off the previously unbeaten Tar Heels, 31-27, on Saturday night and UNC fell seven spots to No. 17 in the latest national poll rankings.
UNC (6-1, 3-1 ACC) is one of four ACC teams in the top 25 poll. Florida State (7-0, 5-0 ACC) solidified itself at No. 4 with its 38-20 win over Duke Saturday night. That result caused the Blue Devils (5-2, 2-1 ACC) to fall four spots to No. 20.
Louisville (6-1, 3-1 ACC), which didn’t have a game over the weekend, moved up three spots to No. 18 as it prepares to host Duke Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in a game both teams need to win in order to keep ACC championship game appearance hopes alive.
With UNC falling out of the top 10, Alabama (7-1, 5-0 SEC) moved back in for the first time since the season’s first two polls. The Crimson Tide rose two spots to No. 9 after rallying past Tennessee, 34-20, on Saturday. Alabama has won six games in a row since losing 34-24 to Texas on Sept. 9.
Iowa dropped out of the poll after it lost 12-10 to Minnesota on Saturday. That allowed James Madison (7-0) to enter the poll at No. 25.
Latest AP poll football rankings
Rk. | Team |
1 | Georgia |
2 | Michigan |
3 | Ohio State |
4 | Florida State |
5 | Washington |
6 | Oklahoma |
7 | Texas |
8 | Oregon |
9 | Alabama |
10 | Penn State |
11. | Oregon State |
12 | Mississippi |
13 | Utah |
14 | Notre Dame |
15 | LSU |
16 | Missouri |
17 | North Carolina |
18 | Louisville |
19 | Air Force |
20 | Duke |
21 | Tennessee |
22 | Tulane |
23 | UCLA |
24 | USC |
25 | James Madison |
Steve Wiseman’s ballot
A Saturday that featured one major upset and a series of near misses caused the top 10 teams in the Associated Press college football poll to change.
No. 10 North Carolina’s inexplicable 31-27 loss to a Virginia team that entered the game with only one win this season sent the Tar Heels tumbling.
Ohio State moved up to No. 3 on my ballot after its 20-12 win over another top-10 team, Penn State, while I dropped Oklahoma a couple of spots to No. 5 after it survived a scare before beating UCF, 31-29.
I slid Florida State back up to No. 4 after the Seminoles scored 21 unanswered fourth-quarter points to beat Duke, 38-20.
Washington (7-0, 4-0 Pac 12) held on at No. 6 on my ballot after needing to score 12 unanswered points to beat a bad Arizona State team, 15-7, at home. The Huskies are fortunate their College Football Playoff hopes didn’t disappear.
Other top-10 teams, like Texas and Alabama, won but not impressively. The Longhorns (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) outlasted Houston, 31-24, while the Crimson Tide (7-1, 5-1 SEC) had to rally from 13 points down at home to beat Tennessee, 34-20.
But they are in the top 10 while North Carolina is certainly not. The biggest question on my ballot this week was how far to drop the Tar Heels after such a dispiriting performance at home. I had the Tar Heels No. 8 last week and dropped them to No. 16.
The only reason UNC didn’t fall further is because other teams ranked in that neighborhood, like Southern Cal (6-2, 4-1 Pac 12), Duke (5-2, 2-1 ACC) and Tennessee (5-2, 2-2 SEC), suffered their second losses of the season.
At the bottom of the ballot, Iowa falls out after losing, 12-10, at home to Minnesota. That created space for James Madison (7-0) to enter the ballot. Hey, the Dukes own a win over Virginia that started looking far better when Saturday night’s games were done.
| 1 | Georgia |
| 2 | Michigan |
| 3 | Ohio State |
| 4 | Florida State |
| 5 | Oklahoma |
| 6 | Washington |
| 7 | Oregon |
| 8 | Texas |
| 9 | Penn State |
| 10 | Alabama |
| 11 | Mississippi |
| 12 | Oregon St |
| 13 | Utah |
| 14 | Notre Dame |
| 15 | LSU |
| 16 | North Carolina |
| 17 | Missouri |
| 18 | USC |
| 19 | Tennessee |
| 20 | Duke |
| 21 | Louisville |
| 22 | UCLA |
| 23 | Air Force |
| 24 | Tulane |
| 25 | James Madison |
This story was originally published October 22, 2023 at 11:00 AM.