AP Poll: Week Six

North Carolina had a pretty good weekend, as they improved to 4-1 with a fairly dominant win over Virginia Tech on Saturday. UNC also did a good job putting in a solid performance and generally staying out of the chaos of the weekend.

While the top teams pretty much all won, 10 other ranked teams all lost, including six who took losses to lower or unranked teams. That’s caused a fairly big shakeup in the lower half of this week’s news AP Poll. Now that the dust has settled, let’s check in on where things stand in the newest set of rankings.

AP Top 25

1. Alabama Crimson Tide (34 first place votes)
2. Georgia Bulldogs (23)
3. Ohio State Buckeyes (7)
4. Michigan Wolverines
5. Clemson Tigers
6. USC Trojans
7. Oklahoma State Sooners
8. Tennessee Volunteers
9. Ole Miss Rebels
10. Penn State Nittany Lions
11. Utah Utes
12. Oregon Ducks
13. Kentucky Wildcats
14. NC State Wolfpack
15. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
16. BYU Cougars
17. TCU Horned Frogs
18. UCLA Bruins
19. Kansas Jayhawks
20. Kansas State Wildcats
21. Washington Huskies
22. Syracuse Orange
23. Mississippi State Bulldogs
24. Cincinnati Bearcats
25. LSU Tigers

Where is UNC?

In last weeks initial AP Poll release, UNC had nine ranking points, courtesy of one voter ranking them 17th. However, that turned out to be an accident, and the Tar Heels were in reality unranked and voteless. After Saturday’s win, Carolina appears to be back among the votes, and considering the 4-1 record, it seems less likely that it was an accident this team. They’re still a ways off #25, but it’s an improvement at least.

Biggest Winners

While Alabama and Georgia flipped spots, the top of the poll is mostly unchanged. However, the second half of the poll features some big changes, with seven teams that were unranked last week cracking this week’s rankings. TCU had the biggest jump, going from getting just one vote last week all the way to #17, thanks to a blowout win over Oklahoma. Also, Kansas is now ranked for the first time since 2009.

Biggest Losers

Most of the seven teams that fell out of the top 25 still end up getting at least a handful of votes. That cannot be said for Pitt, who went from #24 to nowhere after losing to Georgia Tech. Oklahoma nearly managed the same feat after getting crushed by TCU, but they did end up with two ranking points.

Conference Breakdown

• SEC: 7
• Pac-12: 5
• ACC: 4
• Big 12: 4
• Big Ten: 3
• American: 1
• Independent: 1

Marquee Matchups This Week

• #8 Tennessee (4-0, 1-0 SEC) at #25 LSU (4-1, 2-0 SEC) - Saturday at 12:00 PM ET on ESPN
• #17 TCU (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) at #19 Kansas (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) - Saturday at 12:00 PM ET on FS1
• #11 Utah (4-1, 2-0 Pac-12) at #18 UCLA (5-0, 2-0 Pac-12) - Saturday at 3:30 PM ET on FOX

Coaches Poll

1. Alabama (34 first place votes)
2. Georgia (23)
3. Ohio State (7)
4. Michigan
5. Clemson
6. USC
7. Oklahoma State
8. Tennessee
9. Ole Miss
10. Penn State
11. Utah
12. Oregon
13. Kentucky
14. NC State
15. Wake Forest
16. BYU
17. Kansas
18. TCU
19. UCLA
20. Kansas State
21. Syracuse
22. Baylor
23. Mississippi State
24. Washington
25. Arkansas