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Top 25: Week Four

The Tar Heels are still in the top 25 after the win over Virginia.

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

While there weren’t truly any season-changing results at the top of the rankings, it was a weekend of close calls across college football.

Alabama hung on after keeping Florida out of the endzone after a potential game-tying two-point conversion. Clemson similarly needed to stuff Georgia Tech on a goalline stand to avoid an upset against the yellow Jackets. Oklahoma, Ohio State, Penn State, and Notre Dame were all also top 15 teams who played a tight game or looked iffy in an eventual win.

North Carolina eventually pulled away, but they were part of that too. The Tar Heels trailed at the half against Virginia, but outscored the Cavaliers 35-11 in the second half to eventually come away with the win.

Now that the dust has settled in week three of the college football season, let’s see where things stand in the top 25 rankings.

AP Top 25

  1. Alabama Crimson Tide (59 first place votes)
  2. Georgia Bulldogs (3)
  3. Oregon Ducks
  4. Oklahoma Sooners
  5. Iowa Hawkeyes
  6. Penn State Nittany Lions
  7. Texas A&M Aggies
  8. Cincinnati Bearcats
  9. Clemson Tigers
  10. Ohio State Buckeyes
  11. Florida Gators
  12. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
  13. Ole Miss Rebels
  14. Iowa State Cyclones
  15. BYU Cougars
  16. Arkansas Razorbacks
  17. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
  18. Wisconsin Badgers
  19. Michigan Wolverines
  20. Michigan State Spartans
  21. Notre Carolina Tar Heels
  22. Fresno State Bulldogs
  23. Auburn Tigers
  24. UCLA Bruins
  25. Kansas State Wildcats

Where is UNC?

After Saturday’s win over Virginia, the Heels stuck exactly where they were last week, at #21. They did actually gain votes from last week’s poll, but thanks to some other teams consolidating above them, they didn’t move up any slots.

Biggest Winners

Thanks to a win over a ranked team we’ll get too in a second, Fresno State went from getting just two votes to #22 in the country, which is the biggest jump of the week. Other big gains include BYU, who moved up eight spots after winning their all ranked matchup against Arizona State, and Michigan, who dominated Northern Illinois to remain unbeaten.

Biggest Losers

On the flipside of Fresno State’s win was UCLA, who fell 11 spots after their loss to the Bulldogs. That was part of a very bad week on the whole for the Pac-12. As mentioned, Arizona State lost to BYU, dropping them from the poll. Even though these ones didn’t have any top 25 impact, the conference also took another loss to a Mountain West team (Utah vs. San Diego State) and a FCS team (Arizona vs. Northern Arizona). However two ACC teams took the biggest dips of the week with Virginia Tech (#15 to the unofficial #28) and Miami (#24 to receiving no votes) both fell out of the top 25.

Conference Breakdown

  • SEC: 7
  • Big Ten: 6
  • Big 12: 3
  • ACC: 2
  • Independent: 2
  • Pac-12: 2
  • AAC: 1
  • Mountain West: 1
  • Sun Belt: 1

Marquee Matchups This Week

  • #12 Notre Dame (3-0) vs. #18 Wisconsin (1-1) in Chicago - Saturday at 12 PM ET on FOX
  • #7 Texas A&M (3-0) vs. #16 Arkansas (3-0) in Arlington, TX - Saturday at 3:30 PM ET on CBS
  • West Virginia (2-1) at #4 Oklahoma (3-0) - Saturday at 7:30 PM ET on ABC

Coaches Poll

  1. Alabama (64)
  2. Georgia (1)
  3. Oklahoma
  4. Oregon
  5. Texas A&M
  6. Iowa
  7. Clemson
  8. Penn State
  9. Cincinnati
  10. Notre Dame
  11. Florida
  12. Ohio State
  13. Ole Miss
  14. Iowa State
  15. Wisconsin
  16. BYU
  17. Coastal Carolina
  18. Arkansas
  19. Michigan
  20. North Carolina
  21. Michigan State
  22. Oklahoma State
  23. Auburn
  24. UCLA
  25. Fresno State

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