UNC football: Tar Heels reach highest AP Poll ranking since 1997
North Carolina jumped to No. 5 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll released Sunday. It is the football program’s best ranking since it was also fifth back in November 1997, which was coach Mack Brown’s last year before he took over the job at Texas.
“We’ve talked to the guys about, we need to buy a house in this neighborhood,” Brown said in his Virginia Tech postgame video conference on Saturday. “We haven’t been here much. We’ve been visiting the first couple of weeks in the top 10. That’s who we want to be, but have we earned it yet?”
The Tar Heels (3-0, 3-0 ACC) are fresh off a 56-45 win over then-No. 19 VT on Saturday. They jumped ahead three spots, passing Ohio State, which has yet to play a game; Florida, which lost at Texas A&M; and Miami, who lost to No. 1 Clemson. The Gators fell from fourth, the Buckeyes sixth, and the Hurricanes were seventh.
Clemson remained atop the poll followed by Alabama at No. 2 and Georgia at No. 3. Notre Dame moved up one spot to No. 4. The Heels play the Irish on Nov. 27 in Chapel Hill.
UNC travels to face Florida State on Saturday, which ironically was the team it lost to back in ‘97 when it was last ranked at No. 5. The Seminoles are nothing like their predecessors from three decades ago. FSU (1-3, 0-3) has lost its three conference games by an average of 20 points.
This story was originally published October 11, 2020 at 3:40 PM.