The ACC adds a ranked team after top 25 upheaval

Only #1 Ohio State received the same ranking as last week.

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

When your team struggles through a season, it can be easy to get caught up in that at the expense of enjoying some of the fun things happening elsewhere in the sport.

That’s why I’m really hoping Carolina fans are able to zoom out from the mess unfolding in Chapel Hill enough to recognize that we’re in the middle of a massively entertaining season of college football.

Four top-10 teams lost this week, the third time that’s happened this year. A total of nine ranked teams went down – the most since

2022 – with four losing to unranked opponents. And, if you get any entertainment from the coaching carousel, a record nine FBS head coaches have now been fired since the start of the season, after Florida’s Billy Napier and Colorado State’s Jay Norvell got the boot on Sunday.

All of this week’s on-field chaos means the new AP poll looks almost completely different from last week, with 24 of 25 teams changing positions. Let’s dive in.

AP Top 25 (Released 10/19)

Ohio State (60 first place votes)
Indiana (6)
Texas A&M
Alabama
Georgia
Oregon
Georgia Tech
Ole Miss
Miami (FL)
Vanderbilt
BYU
Notre Dame
Oklahoma
Texas Tech
Missouri
Virginia
Tennessee
South Florida
Louisville
LSU
Cincinnati
Texas
Illinois
Arizona State
Michigan

Where is UNC?

Biggest Winners

Vanderbilt jumped seven spots to #10 after an exciting win over then-#10 LSU, giving the Commodores their first top-10 ranking since 1947. Georgia Tech climbed five spots to #7 after outlasting Duke in Durham, the highest ranking for the Yellow Jackets since 2009. Louisville entered the poll for the first time this season at #19 after going on the road and knocking off then-#2 Miami. Three other teams reentered the rankings: Illinois at #23 despite having a bye, Arizona State at #24 after a thrilling win over then-#7 Texas Tech, and Michigan at #25 after overpowering Washington.

Biggest Losers

Memphis and Nebraska went from #22 and #25 to receiving zero votes after losing to UAB and Minnesota respectively. USC went from #20 to unofficial #26 after losing at then-#13 Notre Dame. Utah went from #23 to unofficial #27 after losing at then-#15 BYU. Within the top 25, LSU fell 10 spots to #20 (its lowest ranking of the season) after losing at Vanderbilt, and Miami and Texas Tech both dropped seven spots to #9 and #14 respectively after losing to Louisville and Arizona State.