By R.L. Bynum
Poll voters who had doubts about North Carolina a week earlier were impressed after the Tar Heels’ 31–13 home victory over Minnesota.
UNC (3–0) moved up three spots to No. 17 in the latest AP poll, the highest rank since it was No. 17 on Nov. 5 last season after a win over Virginia, a week before peaking at No. 13 following the Nov. 12 victory over Wake Forest.
Carolina slid up one spot to No. 17 in the Coaches Poll.
The Tar Heels next try to end frustrations at Pittsburgh (8 p.m. Saturday, ACC Network), where the Panthers have won the previous two meetings in overtime (30–23 in 2021 and 34–27 in 2019). Pitt is 1–2 after losing Saturday night at rival West Virginia 17–6 in the Backyard Brawl.
Two AP ranked teams lost to unranked teams, with Florida beating Tennessee (which fell 12 spots to No. 23) 29–16 and Missouri topping Kansas State (which fell from No. 15 to unranked) 30–27.
Florida State (3–0) slipped one spot to No. 4 after struggling to win 31–29 at Boston College, which lost to Northern Illinois earlier.
Duke jumped three spots to No. 18 after moving to 3–0 with a 38–14 home victory over Northwestern. Miami moved up three spots to No. 18 after a 48–7 win over Bethune-Cookman. T
The Blue Devils have won their first three games by at least 20 points for the first time since 1994. Duke and Tar Heels are 3–0 in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1935 and 1936. Both have been 3–0 six times (also in 1953 and 1971), with Duke holding a 3–2 edge when they met in the previous five seasons.
The Tar Heels are 3–0 for the sixth time under Coach Mack Brown, and the third time since he returned to Chapel Hill in 2019.
Miami, which had the weekend off, stayed at No. 22.
Ranking UNC the highest at No. 12 are Kirk Kenney of the San Diego Union-Tribune and Mike Niziolek of the Bloomington Herald-Times in Indiana. Four voters have the Heels No. 13: Randy Johnson of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Rece Davis of ESPN, Steve Johnson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Tom Murphy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
All three North Carolina-based voters — Steve Wiseman of The News & Observer, Kate Rogerson of WTVD and Jordan Crammer of WNCN — have UNC No. 14.
Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman ranked UNC the lowest at No. 25.
AP Top 25
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Clemson 76, Missouri 72, Kansas St. 54, TCU 21, Fresno St. 17, Kansas 15, Tulane 13, Kentucky 10, Maryland 4, BYU 3, Wisconsin 2, Syracuse 2, Louisville 1, Auburn 1. Point values in parentheses indicate the number of first-place votes.
UNC schedule
| Month/ date | Opponent/event | 2023 record | UNC record in series |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | |||
| 20 | Spring game, 3 p.m. | — | — |
| August | |||
| 29 (Thurs.) | at Minnesota | 6–7 | 1–0 |
| September | |||
| 7 | Charlotte | 3–9 | 0–0 |
| 14 | N.C. Central | 9–3 | 0–0 |
| 21 | James Madison | 11–2 | 3–0 |
| 28 | at Duke | 8–5 | 65–40–4 |
| October | |||
| 5 | Pittsburgh | 3–9 | 12–5 |
| 12 | Georgia Tech | 7–6 | 22–33–3 |
| 26 | at Virginia | 3–9 | 66–58–4 |
| November | |||
| 2 | at Florida State | 13–1 | 3–17–1 |
| 16 | Wake Forest | 4–8 | 72–36–2 |
| 23 | at Boston College | 7–6 | 6–2 |
| 30 | N.C. State | 9–4 | 68–39–6 |
Photo via @UNCFootball
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