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AP Polls: Week of 12/14

Football was on the move after their dominant win at Miami.

NCAA Football: Western Carolina at North Carolina Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

After an action packed last couple weeks, we’ll get a little break as the college football regular season is over for UNC. Also we head towards the holidays, the basketball schedule will lighten up a bit as conference play nears.

However before all that, let’s take a look at where things stand in the latest editions of the AP Polls.

Football

AP Top 25

  1. Alabama Crimson Tide (62 first place votes)
  2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
  3. Ohio State Buckeyes
  4. Clemson Tigers
  5. Texas A&M Aggies
  6. Cincinnati Bearcats
  7. Indiana Hoosiers
  8. Iowa State Cyclones
  9. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
  10. Georgia Bulldogs
  11. Florida Gators
  12. Oklahoma Sooners
  13. USC Trojans
  14. BYU Cougars
  15. Northwestern Wildcats
  16. North Carolina Tar Heels
  17. Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns
  18. Iowa Hawkeyes
  19. Miami Hurricanes
  20. Tulsa Golden Hurricane
  21. Texas Longhorns
  22. Liberty Flames
  23. Buffalo Bulls
  24. NC State Wolfpack
  25. San Jose State Spartans

Where is UNC?

Thanks to the total beatdown they gave Miami, the Tar Heels moved up four spots and are now at #16. They are now the highest ranked team with three or more losses. That’s both an interesting fact and also a very frustrating one.

Biggest Winners

UNC’s four spot jump is the biggest move of any team this week. However, let’s give a special shoutout to San Jose State. This is just the fourth time ever that they’ve been ranked at any point in the season. Getting six wins there is a feat in a normal season, doing so when they’ve only played six games so far is pretty incredible.

Biggest Losers

Carolina is also responsible for the biggest drop of the week, as Miami fell 10 spots after their loss. Florida had a big drop themselves, moving down four spots after their loss at LSU, which they were seemingly a shoe in to win.

Conference Breakdown

  • ACC: 5
  • American: 2
  • Big 12: 3
  • Big Ten: 4
  • Independent: 2
  • MAC: 1
  • Mountain West: 1
  • Pac-12: 1
  • SEC: 4
  • Sun Belt: 2

Marquee Top 25 Games

  • Big Ten Championship Game: #15 Northwestern (6-1) vs. #3 Ohio State (5-0) - Saturday at 12 PM ET on FOX
  • ACC Championship Game: #4 Clemson (9-1) vs. #2 Notre Dame (10-0) - Saturday at 4 PM ET on ABC
  • SEC Championship Game: #11 Florida (8-2) vs. #1 Alabama (10-0) - Saturday at 8 PM ET on CBS

Men’s Basketball

AP Top 25

  1. Gonzaga Bulldogs (54 first place votes)
  2. Baylor Bears (7)
  3. Iowa Hawkeyes
  4. Michigan State Spartans
  5. Kansas Jayhawks
  6. Illinois Fighting Illini
  7. Houston Cougars
  8. Creighton Blue Jays
  9. Villanova Wildcats
  10. Duke Blue Devils
  11. West Virginia Mountaineers
  12. Tennessee Volunteers
  13. Texas Longhorns (Tied with Wisconsin)
  14. Wisconsin Badgers (Tied with Tennessee)
  15. Virginia Tech Hokies
  16. North Carolina Tar Heels
  17. Texas Tech Red Raiders
  18. Virginia Cavaliers
  19. Richmond Spiders
  20. Florida State Seminoles
  21. Rutgers Scarlet Knights
  22. Ohio State Bulldogs
  23. Arizona State Sun Devils
  24. San Diego State Aztecs
  25. Louisville Cardinals

Where is UNC?

Basketball polls come out later today, so we don’t know what’ll happen post-Iowa loss/NC Central close call. However in the last edition, they had dropped to #16 after the Maui Invitational loss to Texas. Once we have this week’s poll, we’ll update with their new ranking.

Update: UNC fell six spots and are now at #22.

Biggest Winners

Michigan State and Texas had the biggest jumps of last week, each moving up four spots.

Biggest Losers

Wisconsin dropped nine spots after their loss to Marquette. Shoutout to Kentucky, who went from #10 to #20 to unranked and receiving no votes. They won’t be getting back into the rankings this week either thanks to a loss to Notre Dame.

Conference Breakdown

  • ACC: 6
  • American: 1
  • Atlantic 10: 1
  • Big 12: 5
  • Big East: 2
  • Big Ten: 6
  • Mountain West: 1
  • Pac-12: 1
  • SEC: 1
  • WCC: 1

Marquee Top 25 Matchups This Week

  • #5 Kansas (6-1) at #17 Texas Tech (6-1) - Thursday at 7 PM ET on ESPN
  • #3 Iowa (6-0) vs. #1 Gonzaga (3-0) - Saturday at 12 PM ET on CBS
  • #22 Ohio State (5-0) vs. #16 North Carolina (4-2) - Saturday at 4:30 PM ET on CBS

Women’s Basketball

AP Top 25

  1. Stanford Cardinal (24 first place votes)
  2. Louisville Cardinals (2)
  3. UConn Huskies (2)
  4. NC State Wolfpack (2)
  5. South Carolina Gamecocks
  6. Arizona Wildcats
  7. Baylor Bears
  8. Oregon Ducks
  9. Kentucky Wildcats
  10. Texas A&M Aggies
  11. UCLA Bruins
  12. Mississippi State Bulldogs
  13. Arkansas Razorbacks
  14. Maryland Terrapins
  15. Oregon State Beavers (tied with Indiana)
  16. Indiana Hoosiers (tied with Oregon State)
  17. Northwestern Wildcats
  18. Ohio State Buckeyes
  19. Michigan Wolverines
  20. Syracuse Orange
  21. Missouri State Bears
  22. South Dakota State Jackrabbits
  23. Texas Longhorns
  24. DePaul Demons
  25. Gonzaga Bulldogs

Where is UNC?

After an excellent start, the Heels came close to getting in, but ended up as the unofficial #28. When the new edition comes out later today, they probably won’t be quite as close after taking a loss to Wake Forest.

Update: After the loss, the Tar Heels still got a couple votes, but are now way behind the #25 team.

Biggest Winners

Michigan moved up five spots after starting the season 4-0.

Biggest Losers

Gonzaga dropped seven spots and just hung on to a ranking, falling to #25 after losing to fellow ranked teams South Carolina and South Dakota State.

Conference Breakdown

  • ACC: 3
  • Big 12: 2
  • Big East: 2
  • Big Ten: 5
  • Missouri Valley: 1
  • Summit League: 1
  • Pac-12: 5
  • SEC: 5
  • WCC: 1

Marquee Top 25 Matchups This Week

  • #9 Kentucky (6-0) vs. #24 DePaul (2-2) - Wednesday at 3 PM ET
  • #20 Syracuse (4-0) vs. North Carolina (5-1) - Thursday at 8 PM ET on ACC Network
  • #22 South Dakota State (3-2) vs. #21 Missouri State (3-1) - Saturday at 2 PM ET on ESPN3