UNC football ranked in the first AP Top 25 poll. Here’s where they’ll start the season

C.L. Brown
·2 min read

North Carolina received its second preseason top 10 nod after being ranked 10th in the Associated Press Top 25 poll on Monday. The Tar Heels were ranked ninth in the USA Today/AFCA Coaches Top 25 Poll released last week.

The last time the Heels were ranked in the top 10 to start a season was in September of 1997, when they were ranked seventh to start coach Mack Brown’s final season of his first tenure in Chapel Hill.

The AP poll is voted on by a panel of 62 media members from across the nation. Not much separated Carolina from being even higher. UNC received 999 points, which kept it just behind No. 8 Cincinnati with 1,014 points and No. 9 Notre Dame with 1,009 points.

Alabama, the defending national champions, was voted No. 1 for the fourth time in the past six preseason polls. The Crimson Tide received 47 first place votes. Each of the top five ranked teams received at least one first-place vote starting with No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Clemson, which received six each; No. 4 Ohio State, which got one; and No. 5 Georgia, which received three.

No. 14 Miami joined Clemson and the Heels as the only other ACC team represented in the polls. N.C. State (14) and Boston College (5) were among 19 teams that also received votes in the poll.

Carolina plays host to the Hurricanes on Oct. 16 in a game that could ultimately decide the Coastal Division. The Heels travel to Notre Dame on Oct. 30 in their only other scheduled game against a team ranked in the preseason top 25.

Associated Press Top 25 poll

(First place votes)

1. Alabama (47)

2. Oklahoma (6)

3. Clemson (6)

4. Ohio State (1)

5. Georgia (3)

6. Texas A&M

7. Iowa State

8. Cincinnati

9. Notre Dame

10. North Carolina

11. Oregon

12. Wisconsin

13. Florida

14. Miami

15. USC

16. LSU

17. Indiana

18. Iowa

19. Penn State

20. Washington

21. Texas

22. Coastal Carolina

23. Louisiana-Lafayette

24. Utah

25. Arizona State