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A bit of a frustrating stretch in UNC sports continued this past week, with all of football, men’s, and women’s basketball all taking various annoying losses. As a result, all three have taken a fall in their various AP Top 25 rankings. With the dust settled on last week’s action, let’s check in on where things stand.
Football
With the football regular season over and bowls on the horizon, this will be the last update of the football AP Top 25, at least until bowl season is over.
AP Top 25
- Georgia (62 first place votes)
- Michigan (1)
- TCU
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Utah
- USC
- Penn State
- Clemson
- Kansas State
- Washington
- Florida State
- Tulane
- Oregon
- LSU
- Oregon State
- UCLA
- Notre Dame
- South Carolina
- Texas
- UTSA
- Troy
- Mississippi State
- NC State
Where is UNC?
After a great start to the season that saw the Tar Heels climb within striking distance of the top 10, they’ll end the year where they started it: unranked. Carolina fell from the top 25 after the ACC Championship Game loss to Clemson. They weren’t too far away from clinging onto the last spot, but they’ll end the regular season as the unofficial #26.
Biggest Winners
Utah had the biggest jump of the week, moving up five spots after their Pac-12 Championship Game domination of USC. Elsewhere, shoutout to Tulane, who moved up four spots and will be the G5 representative in the New Year’s Six bowls.
Biggest Losers
In terms of spots, UNC actually didn’t fall all that far, as they were #24 last week. LSU had the biggest drop of the week, falling five spots after getting crushed by Georgia in the SEC title game.
Conference Breakdown
- Pac-12: 6
- SEC: 6
- ACC: 3
- Big 12: 3
- Big Ten: 3
- AAC: 1
- Conference USA: 1
- Independent: 1
- Sun Belt: 1
Men’s Basketball
AP Top 25
- Houston (37 first place votes)
- Texas (14)
- Virginia (3)
- Purdue (8)
- UConn
- Kansas
- Tennessee
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Arizona
- Auburn
- Baylor
- Maryland
- Indiana
- Duke
- Kentucky
- Illinois
- Gonzaga
- UCLA
- Iowa State
- Creighton
- San Diego State
- Mississippi State
- TCU
- Ohio State
Where is UNC?
Haha, well... The four-straight losses have now seen the Tar Heels go from #1 in the country to unranked in just two weeks. Carolina received just a solitary top 25 vote, so they almost went straight out of the “others receiving votes” category too. There’s obviously still lots of season left, but things aren’t pretty right now.
Biggest Winners
Maryland’s undefeated start under first-year coach Kevin Willard included a win over Illinois over the weekend. As a result, the Terrapins moved up nine spots this week and are now up to #13.
Biggest Losers
UNC is obviously a strong contender here, but they have some competition. Creighton fell 14 spots after taking a three-straight losses, including one to Nebraska.
Conference Breakdown
- SEC: 6
- Big 12: 5
- Big Ten: 5
- ACC: 2
- Big East: 2
- Pac-12: 2
- AAC: 1
- Mountain West: 1
- WCC: 1
Marquee Matchups This Week
- #17 Illinois (6-2) vs. #2 Texas (6-0) in New York - Tonight at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN
- #8 Alabama (7-1) at #1 Houston (8-0) - Saturday at 3:00 PM ET on ABC
- #13 Maryland (8-0) vs. #7 Tennessee (7-1) in Brooklyn - Sunday at 4:30 PM ET on FS1
Women’s Basketball
AP Top 25
- South Carolina (29 first place votes)
- Stanford
- Ohio State
- Indiana
- Notre Dame
- UConn
- Virginia Tech
- North Carolina (tied for #8)
- NC State (tied for #8)
- Iowa State
- LSU
- Arizona
- UCLA
- Michigan
- Utah
- Iowa
- Oregon
- Creighton
- Baylor
- Maryland
- Arkansas
- Gonzaga
- Oklahoma
- Kansas State
- Villanova
Where is UNC?
Women’s basketball was yet another team that went the wrong way, but they at least remained in the top ten. A road loss to Indiana did cause the Heels to fall a bit, but their drop was only two spots.
Biggest Winners
Arkansas had the biggest jump of the week, going from unranked to #21 after improving to 10-0.
Biggest Losers
Louisville went from #18 to the unofficial #28 after their struggles to start the season continued. The Cardinals are now 5-4 after taking an upset loss to Middle Tennessee State over the weekend.
Conference Breakdown
- Big Ten: 5
- Pac-12: 5
- ACC: 4
- Big 12: 4
- Big East: 3
- SEC: 3
- WCC: 1
Marquee Matchups This Week
- #10 Iowa State (6-1) at #16 Iowa (6-3) - Wednesday at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN2
- South Florida (8-2) at #8 NC State (7-1) - Sunday at 2:00 PM ET on ACC Network
- #6 UConn (6-1) at #20 Maryland (7-3) - Sunday at 3:00 PM ET on ABC
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