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For the first time in six months, we will get to watch a UNC sporting event this Saturday.
With COVID-19 reeking havoc on the sporting landscape, we have not gotten a chance to see a Tar Heel team take the field/court/etc for a while, but that’s soon to change. On Saturday, Carolina football will host Syracuse to begin what will be a very weird college football season.
There’s going to be a lot different about this college football season, including two fifths of the power five conferences not playing. However, one thing that we are getting as normal is the AP Poll.
Despite several teams already kicking off on Saturday and this upcoming week technically being week two, the AP did not release a new poll, therefore let’s take a look at the preseason rankings and where the Tar Heels landed to kick things off.
AP Top 25
- Clemson Tigers (38 First Place Votes)
- Ohio State Buckeyes (21)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (2)
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Oklahoma Sooners
- LSU Tigers (1)
- Penn State Nittany Lions
- Florida Gators
- Oregon Ducks
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Auburn Tigers
- Wisconsin Badgers
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Texas Longhorns
- Oklahoma State Cowboys
- Michigan Wolverines
- USC Trojans
- North Carolina Tar Heels
- Minnesota Golden Gophers
- Cincinnati Bearcats
- UCF Golden Knights
- Utah Utes
- Iowa State Cyclones
- Iowa Hawkeyes
- Tennessee Volunteers
Where is UNC?
The Tar Heels come in 18th in the preseason poll, but as you may heard or noticed above, that includes teams that will not be playing this season. If you factor the conferences not playing out, which includes the Big Ten and Pac-12, then UNC would move up to #12. The AP left these teams in for the preseason, but is factoring them out when play begins.
Other than the inclusion of some lower ranked teams to replace the non-playing conferences, there likely wouldn’t have been much change if there had been a new poll. None of the top 25 were in action over the weekend.
Conference Breakdown
- ACC: 3 (Including 2020 only member Notre Dame)
- American: 2
- Big Ten: 6
- Big 12: 4
- Pac-12: 3
- SEC: 7
Top 25 Matchups This Week
- Syracuse at #18 North Carolina (Saturday 12 PM ET on ACC Network)
- Louisiana Lafayette at #23 Iowa State (Saturday 12 PM ET on ESPN)
- Duke at #10 Notre Dame (Saturday 2:30 PM ET on NBC)
- Missouri State at #5 Oklahoma (Saturday 7 PM ET)
- #1 Clemson at Wake Forest (Saturday 7:30 PM ET on ABC)
- Tulsa at #15 Oklahoma State (Saturday 7:30 PM ET)
- UTEP at #14 Texas (Saturday 8:00 PM ET on Longhorn Network)