UNC falls five spots in new AP Top 25 college football poll. Three ACC teams ranked
Tennessee’s embarrassing, 63-38, loss at South Carolina on Saturday night opened the door for the ACC to have two teams in the Associated Press Top 10 and, perhaps, one back in the top five of the rankings.
Another unsightly performance a few hours earlier, though, damaged the ACC’s case.
North Carolina blew a 17-point lead and didn’t score in the second half to lose, 21-17, at home to a Georgia Tech team with an interim coach and a losing record.
Even though Clemson hammered Miami, 40-10, and moved up two spots to No. 7 in the new poll Sunday, No. 18 UNC fell five spots and hurt the Tigers’ chances of climbing any higher.
Clemson (10-1, 8-0 ACC) and UNC (9-2, 6-1) will play in the ACC championship game Dec. 3 in Charlotte. If the Tar Heels had taken care of business against Georgia Tech (5-6, 4-4) at Kenan Stadium on Saturday, rather than being shut out in the second half, the Tigers and Tar Heels were headed for a top-10 showdown in the league title game.
Now, barring major upsets involving No. 5 Southern Cal and No. 4 TCU over the next two weeks, the ACC champion is likely headed to the Orange Bowl and not the College Football Playoff.
No. 16 Florida State (8-3) joined Clemson and UNC among ACC teams in this week’s top 25. Losses by teams ahead of the Seminoles last week allowed them to jump four spots after beating Louisiana, 49-17, on Saturday.
Elsewhere in the AP Top 25, the top four teams remained the same after Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan and TCU all survived to post closer-than-expected wins on Saturday. Tennessee fell four spots to No. 9.
USC (10-1) moved up two spots following its 48-45 win over UCLA, which fell one spot to No. 17 in the new poll.
At the bottom of the poll, UCF (8-3) fell eight spots to No. 25 after a 20-17 loss to unranked Navy. Oklahoma State (7-4) dropped from No. 24 to out of the poll after losing 28-13 to unranked Oklahoma.
Texas (7-4) moved back into the poll at No. 24.
Latest AP poll football rankings
Rk. | Team |
1 | Georgia |
2 | Ohio State |
3 | Michigan |
4 | TCU |
5 | USC |
6 | LSU |
7 | Clemson |
8 | Alabama |
9 | Tennessee |
10 | Oregon |
11. | Penn State |
12 | Washington |
13 | Notre Dame |
14 | Utah |
15 | Kansas State |
16 | Florida State |
17 | UCLA |
18 | North Carolina |
19 | Tulane |
20 | Mississippi |
21 | Cincinnati |
22 | Oregon State |
23 | Coastal Carolina |
24 | Texas |
25 | UCF |
Steve Wiseman’s latest AP Top 25 ballot
| 1 | Georgia |
| 2 | Ohio State |
| 3 | Michigan |
| 4 | TCU |
| 5 | USC |
| 6 | Clemson |
| 7 | LSU |
| 8 | Tennessee |
| 9 | Alabama |
| 10 | Oregon |
| 11 | Penn State |
| 12 | Washington |
| 13 | Notre Dame |
| 14 | UCLA |
| 15 | Utah |
| 16 | Tulane |
| 17 | Mississippi |
| 18 | Kansas State |
| 19 | Florida State |
| 20 | Cincinnati |
| 21 | North Carolina |
| 22 | Coastal Carolina |
| 23 | Oregon State |
| 24 | Texas |
| 25 | Troy |
This story was originally published November 20, 2022 at 11:50 AM.