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Top 25: Week Ten

The Tar Heels are on the move again after a victory over Pitt.

Pittsburgh v North Carolina Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images

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