AP Top 25 college football poll: Washington cracks top 5, UNC in top 10, Duke moves up

With the college football season at its midpoint, the ACC boasts of two top-10 teams with another climbing close to places it hasn’t been in half a century.

ACC-leading Florida State remained at No. 4 in Sunday’s new poll, while fellow unbeaten North Carolina moved up two spots to No. 10 after beating Miami, 41-31, on Saturday night.

This is the Tar Heels’ best ranking since they were No. 10 in the 2021 preseason poll. The last time UNC (6-0, 3-0) was in the top 10 later than September was 2020, when the Heels reached No. 5 during October of that pandemic season.

Duke (5-1, 2-0 ACC) moved up one slot to No. 16 after it beat N.C. State, 24-3, with back-up quarterback Henry Belin playing in place of injured starter Riley Leonard. The Blue Devils were last this high in the poll 1994. Duke hasn’t been better than No. 16 since 1971.

The Blue Devils get a chance to make that move when the play at No. 4 Florida State (6-0, 4-0) on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.

Elsewhere in the top 10, Washington crashed into the top five after its 36-33 win over Oregon on Saturday. The Huskies (6-0, 3-0 in Pac-12) moved up two spots to No. 5, edging past Oklahoma (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) as the Sooners fell one spot while on their open week.

Georgia, Michigan and Ohio State stayed in the poll’s top three spots.

Louisville remained the ACC’s fourth ranked team despite losing 38-21 at Pittsburgh on Saturday night. That loss dropped the Cardinals (6-1, 3-1 ACC) seven spots to No. 21. Clemson and Miami received poll votes but aren’t ranked.

Missouri (6-1), Air Force (6-0), Tulane (5-1) and Iowa (6-1) entered the poll as Kansas, Kentucky and Washington State fell out after losing to unranked teams. Miami also fell out of the poll following its loss to UNC.

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While the teams at the top of the Associated Press Top 25 rankings posted mostly lopsided wins on Saturday, a College Football Playoff challenger emerged out west.

No. 7 Washington’s 36-33 win over No. 8 Oregon moved the Huskies into the top five in the new poll. And Washington (6-0) is certainly in position to move up further in the coming weeks.

That’s because No. 3 Ohio State (6-0), after blasting Purdue, 41-7, on Saturday, faces a showdown with No. 7 Penn State (6-0). The Nittany Lions prepared for that game by hammering Massachusetts, 63-0, on Saturday.

One of those teams will take their first loss when they play this Saturday. I’m moved Washington up to No. 6 this week because I think they belong on the same tier as Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State and Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, Oregon’s narrow loss should leave the Ducks (5-1) as the nation’s best 1-loss team. On my ballot, that means North Carolina (6-0) moves up to No. 8 after beating Miami, 41-31, on Saturday, one spot ahead of the Ducks.

Texas, which had a week off, stays at No. 10 with Alabama (6-1) just behind at No. 11. The Tide was unimpressive in beating mediocre Arkansas, 24-21, but none of the teams directly behind them on my ballot managed to take advantage.

Mississippi didn’t play this weekend. Duke (5-1) throttled N.C. State, 24-3, but that’s not enough to vault the Blue Devils past Alabama.

Southern California (6-1) finally got its inevitable comeuppance, losing 48-20 at Notre Dame (6-2) as the Trojans porous defense finally proved too much for its explosive offense to overcome.

Louisville (6-1) was brought back down to earth with a humbling, 38-21 loss at Pittsburgh (2-4). UCLA (4-2) drops after a 36-24 loss at Oregon State (6-1).

So the Beavers are now at No. 13, followed by Duke and Utah.

Notre Dame is my two-loss team ranked the highest based on its wins over USC and Duke. The Irish’s loss to Ohio State is forgivable. Its no-show loss at Louisville last week is not so the ceiling for now is at No. 16.

USC falls to No. 17 on my ballot and I think the Trojans will drop more unless they get their defense in order.

The bottom five spots in the ballot needed major changes.

Kentucky (5-2) is out after losing 38-21 to Missouri. That puts the Tigers (6-1) back in my top 25.

Kansas (5-2) is gone after a 39-32 loss at Oklahoma State. Same for Washington State (4-2), which absorbed a 44-6 beating from Arizona (4-3) on Saturday. I had Wyoming at No. 25 last week, so the Cowboys (5-2) disappear after losing 34-27 to Air Force.

That vaults the Falcons (6-0) on to my top 25. Other newcomers are Iowa (6-1) and American Athletic Conference leader Tulane (5-1).