Saturday’s 20-13 win over then No. 16 Miami marked the fifth time in five tries this season that the UNC football team won as an unranked team.

In two games as a member of the top 25, the Tar Heels have faltered each time.

Head coach Larry Fedora will need that statistic to change now that UNC has re-entered the AP poll this week at No. 22.

The Tar Heels are one of four ACC teams among the rankings, joining No. 3 Clemson, No. 7 Louisville and No. 13 Florida State.

UNC is the only team from the Coastal Division to be ranked.

After a second straight loss, Miami slid from its spot at No. 16 all the way out of the top 25. This after being ranked as high as No. 10 following a 4-0 start.

The other ACC member to leave the polls was Virginia Tech–who fell victim to a major upset against Syracuse and, much like UNC did last week, slipped from No. 17 to the outside looking in.

With four schools–No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Michigan, No. 8 Nebraska and No. 10 Wisconsin–among the top ten for a second straight week, the Big Ten remains the strongest league at the top.

Led by No. 1 Alabama and No. 6 Texas A&M, the SEC has twice as many ranked teams as any other league, however. The reappearance of No. 25 LSU in the polls gives the SEC eight teams in the mix.

Luckily for the Tar Heels, though, their next game comes against a Virginia team that has limped to a 2-4 record under new head coach Bronco Mendenhall. In each of UNC’s losses–to Georgia and Virginia Tech–its opponents entered the game as members of the top 25 themselves.

That certainly won’t be the case this weekend, as the Tar Heels continues their quest for a second straight ACC Coastal Division title.

 

FULL RANKINGS HERE

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