SB Nation • 6 min read

Clemson fell out of the top 25 after their loss to Georgia Tech

The end of week three means most teams are a quarter of the way through their schedule, and it’s usually around this time that we start to get a sense of who the legit contenders are, who still has work to do, and who might have a job opening soon (happy trails, DeShaun Foster and Brent Pry).

Considering the quality of the opponent, Carolina’s win over Richmond wasn’t necessarily impressive. Still, after the TCU debacle and a performance against Charlotte that left something to be desired, it was nice

to see the Tar Heels dominate a team they were supposed to dominate.

Here’s how the rest of the country fared.

AP Top 25 After Week Three

Ohio State (55 first place votes)
Penn State (5)
LSU (2)
Miami (FL) (3)
Georgia
Oregon (1)
Florida State
Texas
Illinois
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Iowa State
Ole Miss
Alabama
Tennessee
Utah
Texas Tech
Georgia Tech
Indiana
Vanderbilt
Michigan
Auburn
Missouri
Notre Dame
USC

Where is UNC?

Still no votes for the Tar Heels, which isn’t surprising–manhandling an FCS team doesn’t typically move the needle for voters. As fellow Tar Heel Blog writer Jonathan Shuping said last week, Carolina will need a string of quality wins to earn back respect after getting embarrassed in the season opener. Notching its first power conference win of the year against UCF would be a good start.

Biggest Winners

Vanderbilt, which received just one vote in last week’s poll, entered the rankings at #20 after blowing out then-#11 South Carolina in Columbia. Georgia Tech’s walk-off win over then-#12 Clemson took them from unofficial #28 to #18. Within the top 25, Texas A&M climbed six spots to #10 after a thrilling win at then-#8 Notre Dame, and Alabama rose five spots to #14 after dominating unranked Wisconsin.

Biggest Losers

Clemson went from #12 to receiving six voting points, and South Carolina went from #11 to unofficial #28. South Florida, which got steamrolled by then-#5 Miami, dropped from #18 to unofficial #27. Notre Dame plummeted 16 spots to #24 but became the first 0-2 team to be ranked since 1988…so maybe they were also winners, in a sense?

Just FYI

TCU got 67 voting points after beating FCS Abilene Christian, putting them at unofficial #30. NC State received votes for the first time this season after a win at Wake Forest, amounting to four points.