AP Top 25 college football poll: Oklahoma State jumps in, North Carolina returns

North Carolina suffered its punishment and, after punishing the Campbell Camels on Saturday, returned to the Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday.

After being unranked last week, the Tar Heels are back in at No. 24 following a 59-7 win over Campbell that halted their two-game losing streak.

UNC (7-2) had reached No. 10 in the polls before losing 31-27 to Virginia and 46-42 to Georgia Tech the previous two Saturdays despite being a double-digit favorite to win both games. The voters that docked them for those unsightly performances agreed to give the Heels another look this time.

Elsewhere, the top nine teams from last week’s Top 25 remained in place, with Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and Florida State leading the way. All nine teams won on Saturday.

Oklahoma State’s 27-24 upset win over Oklahoma caused the Sooners (7-2) to fall seven spots to No. 17. That made room for No. 10 Mississippi (8-1) to enter the top 10.

Oklahoma State vaulted from unranked to No. 15 in the new poll following a memorable rivalry win.

Louisville moved up to No. 11 after it manhandled Virginia Tech, 34-3. With Florida State (9-0, 7-0 ACC) having wrapped up one spot in next month’s ACC championship game, the Cardinals (8-1, 5-1 ACC) are in prime position to earn the right to play the Seminoles.

The No. 24 Tar Heels, who play rival Duke (6-3, 3-2 ACC) Saturday at 8 p.m., are the only other ACC team ranked. Duke received votes to earn four poll points, while N.C. State and Clemson each received one vote but also didn’t make the top 25.

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While a clear separation is obvious among college football’s top two tiers, the real work in putting an AP Top 25 ballot together lies in the muddled middle and further down.

Five undefeated teams — Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State and Washington — occupy the top five positions. Six one-loss teams follow them, with Oregon and Texas leading the way.

Next come the two-loss teams, and a newcomer burst its way into the conversation on Saturday.

Oklahoma State rightfully fell off the national radar in September when it suffered back-to-back losses to South Alabama and Iowa State. Those losses don’t look any better today.

But the Cowboys (7-2) have since won five games in row, with two wins over ranked teams. The second of those impressive wins came Saturday with a 27-24 rivalry win over Oklahoma.

The Sooners, once flying high in the top 5 after a win over Texas, are on their own two-game losing streak. They now join the group of two-loss teams that should be ranked somewhere between 12 and 20 in the poll. Kansas (7-2) is another Big 12 team in that group.

The big question comes with some three-loss teams like Notre Dame (7-3), LSU (6-3) and Kansas State (6-3).

The Irish own a win over Southern California (7-3) plus road wins over two other Power 5 league teams — Duke (6-3) and N.C. State (6-3) — with winning records. No shame in losing 17-14 to Ohio State (9-0) and the 33-20 loss at Louisville (8-1) is only bad in the margin.

Saturday’s loss to middling Clemson (5-4) is another matter and will cause some voters to drop the Irish from their ballots. Pro Football Focus still has the Irish No. 7 in its power rankings based on analytics, so I’m giving them one more loss before pulling the plug.

LSU’s three losses have come to three top-10 teams: Florida State, Alabama and Mississippi. The Tigers have a win at Missouri, another team ranked in the top 25. PFF.com has LSU No. 11 in its power rankings. Like Notre Dame, the talent is real for LSU. But the Tigers are still one loss away from dropping out.

Kansas State fell one play short of a huge upset, losing 33-30 at Texas in overtime. Normally when a team ranked the 20s loses, it drops off ballots. But the Wildcats deserve to stay, relative to other teams under consideration. (Looking at you, North Carolina.)

Kansas State’s three losses are all by three points or less and are to fellow ranked teams: Missouri, Oklahoma State and Texas. Their six wins have all been lopsided. This is a good team even before considering its PFF.com power rating of No. 15.

UCLA, USC and Air Force all fell off my ballot this week, with Oklahoma State, Fresno State (8-1) and Arizona (6-3) moving in. Arizona has defeated ranked teams in each of the last three weeks, including Saturday night’s 27-10 win over UCLA.