UNC and NC State move up in AP poll. Wake Forest falls 10 spots in rankings after loss
Well it turned out the rarefied air of being a top-10 team was toxic to Wake Forest.
The Demon Deacons, tied with Southern Cal for No. 10 in last week’s Associated Press football poll, promptly turned in their worst performance of the season in an embarrassing 48-21 loss at Louisville on Saturday.
Wake (6-2, 2-2 ACC) has never been ranked higher than No. 10 in the AP poll. The Deacons have reached that level for one week in each of the past two seasons and lost their next game both times.
Predictably, Wake tumbled 10 spots to No. 20 in Sunday’s new poll.
Meanwhile, No. 17 North Carolina (7-1, 4-0 ACC) jumped four spots after the Tar Heels moved closer to an ACC Coastal Division title and a championship game date with No. 5 Clemson (8-0, 6-0 ACC) by rallying to beat Pittsburgh, 42-24, in Chapel Hill.
UNC is the second-highest ranked team among ACC schools thanks to Wake Forest’s loss and Notre Dame thumping Syracuse, 41-24, at the JMA Wireless Dome. That’s two losses in a row for the No. 22 Orange (6-2, 3-1 ACC), who fell six spots in the poll.
No. 21 N.C. State (6-2, 2-2 ACC) moved up three spots after rallying for Thursday night’s white-knuckle, 22-21, win over Virginia Tech at home. The Wolfpack and Demon Deacons clash Saturday night in Raleigh with the winner staying ranked and the loser likely falling out of the poll.
The real shakeup in this week’s poll came in the bottom 10 teams after losses caused then-No. 19 Kentucky (44-6 to No. 3 Tennessee), then-No. 20 Cincinnati (25-21 to UCF) and then-No. 25 South Carolina (23-10 to Missouri) to fall out of the rankings.
No. 23 Liberty (7-1), having only lost 37-36 at Wake Forest this season, moved into the poll for the first time this season along with No. 24 Oregon State (6-2) and No. 25 UCF (6-2).
Latest AP poll football rankings
Rk. | Team |
1 | Georgia |
2 | Ohio State |
3 | Tennessee |
4 | Michigan |
5 | Clemson |
6 | Alabama |
7 | TCU |
8 | Oregon |
9 | USC |
10 | UCLA |
11. | Mississippi |
12 | Utah |
13 | Kansas State |
14 | Illinois |
15 | LSU |
16 | Penn State |
17 | North Carolina |
18 | Oklahoma State |
19 | Tulane |
20 | Wake Forest |
21 | NC State |
22 | Syracuse |
23 | Liberty |
24 | Oregon State |
25 | UCF |
Steve Wiseman’s latest AP Top 25 ballot
| 1 | Georgia |
| 2 | Ohio State |
| 3 | Tennessee |
| 4 | Michigan |
| 5 | Clemson |
| 6 | TCU |
| 7 | Alabama |
| 8 | Oregon |
| 9 | USC |
| 10 | UCLA |
| 11 | Mississippi |
| 12 | Kansas State |
| 13 | Utah |
| 14 | Penn State |
| 15 | Illinois |
| 16 | Tulane |
| 17 | North Carolina |
| 18 | Oklahoma State |
| 19 | LSU |
| 20 | Wake Forest |
| 21 | N.C. State |
| 22 | Notre Dame |
| 23 | UCF |
| 24 | Cincinnati |
| 25 | Syracuse |
This story was originally published October 30, 2022 at 11:15 AM.