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AP Top 25 Polls: Week of 12/7

The Tar Heels football team is back in the rankings.

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

We are now past maybe the busiest UNC sporting week of the year. The basketball team was in action three times in the Maui Invitational, while the football team had a very late regular season game as part of this weird season.

This week won’t be as packed, although both teams will be in action again. Before that happens, let’s take a look at where things stand in the top 25 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. Florida Gators
  7. Cincinnati Bearcats
  8. Indiana Hoosiers
  9. Miami Hurricanes
  10. Iowa State Cyclones
  11. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
  12. Georgia Bulldogs
  13. Oklahoma Sooners
  14. BYU Cougars
  15. Northwestern Wildcats
  16. USC Trojans
  17. Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuans
  18. Tulsa Golden Hurricane
  19. Iowa Hawkeyes
  20. North Carolina Tar Heels
  21. Colorado Buffaloes
  22. Liberty Flames
  23. Texas Longhorns
  24. Buffalo Bulls
  25. Wisconsin Badgers

Where is UNC?

After the win over Western Carolina, the Tar Heels are back in the rankings and up to #20. Last week, they were essentially #26, getting the most votes of anyone not ranked. Thanks to their win and losses that dropped several teams out of the top 25, they’re back in and will take part in an all-top 20 game this weekend against Miami.

Biggest Winners

Carolina’s six spot jump is among the biggest of the week. Others include Iowa moving up five and Tulsa improving by four. Also shoutout to Coastal Carolina, up three spots, after winning maybe the game of the year against BYU.

Biggest Losers

BYU was on the other end of that game and dropped six spots, while Wisconsin also had a big fall with seven spots. However, the biggest of the week belongs to Marshall who went from #15 to unranked after inexplicably getting shut out by Rice.

Conference Brakdown

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

Marquee Top 25 Games

  • #20 North Carolina (7-3) at #9 Miami (8-1) - Saturday at 3:30 PM ET on ABC
  • #7 Cincinnati (8-0) at #18 Tulsa (6-1) - Saturday 4 PM ET on ESPN2
  • #25 Wisconsin (2-2) at #19 Iowa (5-2) - Saturday at 3:30 PM ET on Big Ten Network or FS1

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. Wisconsin Badgers
  14. Texas Longhorns (tied for #13)
  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 Buckeyes
  23. Arizona State Sun Devils
  24. San Diego State Aztecs
  25. Louisville Cardinals

Where is UNC?

The basketball top 25 doesn’t come out until Monday, so we don’t know exactly where they’ll land after the Maui Invitational loss to Texas until later today. You would expect a drop of some sort, but so many teams have already taken losses, and for several of them, worse ones than losing to the also ranked Longhorns.

UPDATE: UNC comes in at #16 in the new AP Poll, down 2 spots from its previous ranking of #16 after its loss in the Maui Invitational final to newly #13 Texas.

Biggest Winners

The aforementioned Longhorns moved up 4 spots from a ranking of #17, joined by Michigan State, who after handily beating Duke went up from #8 to #4. San Diego State and Louisville also jumped into the Top 25 after continuing their strong starts.

Biggest Losers

College basketball continues to be chaotic: Oregon and Kentucky fell from #21 and #20 respectively out of the poll altogether after losses to unranked squads, with Kentucky not even receiving votes after their humiliation at the hands of Georgia Tech and John Calipari’s first ever 1-3 start. Among teams that are still ranked this week, Wisconsin’s loss to in-state rival Marquette dropped them from #4 to #13.

Conference Breakdown

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

Marquee Top 25 Games

  • #8 Creighton at #5 Kansas - Tuesday at 5 PM ET on ESPN
  • #16 North Carolina at #3 Iowa - Tuesday at 7:30 PM ET on ESPN
  • #6 Illinois at #10 Duke - Tuesday at 9:30 PM ET on ESPN

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