Top 25: Week Ten

We’re starting to get into crunch time in the college football season. Scenarios for conference titles and playoff berths are beginning to take shape. UNC’s win over Pitt has them within reaching distance of an ACC Coastal Division title, which they theoretically could clinch as early as this weekend.

This week will also begin the weekly release of the College Football Playoff rankings. The definitely always perfect and never controversial rankings will release their first set tonight, and UNC will almost certainly be in the mix somewhere. However, before those get unveiled, we do have a new batch from a different source that has already been released after the weekend’s action. The newest edition of the AP Top 25 rankings are out, so let’s see where things stand in that poll after the dust settled on Saturday.

AP Top 25

1. Georgia Bulldogs (30 first place votes)
2. Tennessee Volunteers (18) (tied for #2)
3. Ohio State Buckeyes (15) (tied for #2)
4. Michigan Wolverines
5. Clemson Tigers
6. Alabama Crimson Tide
7. TCU Horned Frogs
8. Oregon Ducks
9. USC Trojans
10. UCLA Bruins
11. Ole Miss Rebels
12. Utah Utes
13. Kansas State Wildcats
14. Illinois Fighting Illini
15. LSU Tigers
16. Penn State Nittany Lions
17. North Carolina Tar Heels
18. Oklahoma State Cowboys
19. Tulane Green Wave
20. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
21. NC State Wolfpack
22. Syracuse Orange
23. Liberty Flames
24. Oregon State Beavers
25. UCF Golden Knights

Where is UNC?

The win over Pitt has the Tar Heels up four spots to #17 this week. In terms of votes and ranking points, Carolina is now pretty much as close to the top ten as they are from the #26 spot.

Biggest Winners

The Heels were among the biggest jumpers of the week, but there are two teams that had clearly the biggest gains of the week. One is Kansas State, who after a dominant 48-0 win over previously #9 Oklahoma State, moved up nine spots to #13. The other is UCF, who got in at #25 thanks to a win over Cincinnati despite not getting any votes at all last week.

Biggest Losers

Wake Forest’s ridiculous eight turnover game and loss to Louisville saw them fall ten spots, going from a top 10 team to #20. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State fell the same number of spots that K-State moved up, dropping nine and falling to #18.

Conference Breakdown

• ACC: 5
• Pac-12: 5
• SEC: 5
• Big Ten: 4
• Big 12: 3
• AAC: 2
• Independent: 1

Marquee Matchups This Week

• #2 Tennessee (8-0, 4-0 SEC) at #1 Georgia (8-0, 5-0 SEC) - Saturday at 3:30 PM ET on CBS
• #6 Alabama (7-1, 4-1 SEC) at #15 LSU (6-2, 4-1 SEC) - Saturday at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN
• #20 Wake Forest (6-2, 2-2 ACC) at #21 NC State (6-2, 2-2 ACC) - Saturday at 8:00 PM ET on ACC Network

Coaches Poll

1. Georgia (45 first place votes)
2. Ohio State (13)
3. Tennessee (5)
4. Michigan
5. Clemson
6. Alabama
7. TCU
8. Oregon
9. USC
10. Ole Miss
11. UCLA
12. Utah
13. Illinois
14. Kansas State
15. North Carolina
16. Penn State
17. LSU
18. Oklahoma State
19. Wake Forest
20. NC State
21. Tulane
22. Syracuse
23. Liberty
24. Kentucky
25. UCF