By R.L. Bynum

Virginia’s upset of North Carolina at Kenan Stadium on Saturday night assured that the Tar Heels’ stay in the top 10 would be brief.

UNC (6–1, 3–1 ACC), the second-highest ranked team in last week’s AP Top 25 football poll to lose, plummeted seven spots to No. 17 in the poll released on Sunday afternoon.

Carolina also fell seven spots to No. 17 in the Coaches Poll.

Since the Tar Heels were in the top 10 for all 18 AP polls in 1997, peaking at No. 4 and finishing 11–1, their three stays in the Top 10 since then were brief. They fell from:

— No. 10 in the 2021 preseason poll to No. 24 after a 17–10 opening-game loss at Virginia Tech,
— No. 5 to No. 14 on Oct. 18, 2020, after a 31–28 loss at Florida State and two weeks in the top 10 and
— No. 10 to No. 15 in the final 2015 poll after a 49–38 bowl loss to Baylor and two polls in the top 10.

That 1997 season was the last of Coach Mack Brown’s first stint at UNC. The season before that, Carolina was in the top 10 for four consecutive weeks, peaking at No. 6 and finishing No. 10 with a 10–2 record.

Before that, UNC was in the top 10 for six consecutive weeks in 1983 under Coach Dick Crum — including No. 3 for three weeks — when it finished unranked and 8–4.

Crum’s teams were in the top 10 in the first two 1982 polls (No. 5 both weeks; finished 8–4), for seven consecutive weeks in 1981 (peaking at No. 3; finished 10–2) and four straight weeks in 1980 (as high as No. 6; finished 11–1).

Before the Crum era, UNC went decades without being ranked in the top 10.

The Tar Heels were No. 6 for three consecutive weeks in 1949 (finishing 7–4, winning the Southern Conference title and losing to Rice in the Cotton Bowl) after being in the top 10 for all nine 1948 polls (including No. 1 on Oct. 11, finishing second in the Southern Conference, going 9–1–1 and losing to Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl).

Carolina still has a shot to earn a spot in the ACC championship game with victories in its final four regular-season league games. UNC is one of four teams with one loss behind No. 4-ranked and league-leading Florida State (7–0, 5–0): Louisville (6–1, 3–1), Duke (5–2, 2–1) and Virginia Tech (3–4, 2–1).

The only higher-ranked team to fall was Penn State, which dropped from No. 7 to No. 10 after a 20–12 road loss to No. 3 Ohio State.

Duke also slipped in the poll, falling from No. 16 to No. 20 after losing 38–20 at Florida State.

Three other teams in last week’s poll also lost: Tennessee (which fell from No. 17 to No. 21 after a 34–20 loss at Alabama; the Crimson Tide moved from No. 11 to No. 9), USC (which dropped from No. 18 to No. 24 after a 34–32 home loss to Utah; the Utes moved up from No. 14 to No. 13) and Iowa (which was No. 24 but dropped out of the poll after a 12–10 loss to Minnesota.)

Steve Wiseman of The News & Observer dropped UNC to No. 16. Kate Rogeson of WTVD voted the Tar Heels No. 17 and Jordan Crammer of WNCN had them No. 19.

Dave Preston of WTOP in Washington voted UNC the highest at No. 13. Dave Reardon of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser had the Tar Heels the lowest at No. 25.

Miami (5–2, 1–2), which beat Clemson at home on Saturday night 28–20 in two overtimes, Minnesota (4–3) and Syracuse (4–3, 0–3) are the only teams UNC has faced with a winning record.

UNC’s seven opponents have a combined 22–27 record after South Carolina (2–5) lost 34–12 at Missouri, Appalachian State (3–4) lost 28–21 at Old Dominion and Pittsburgh (2–5, 1–3) lost 21–17 at Wake Forest.

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AP Top 25

Rank	Team (1st-place votes)	Poll points	Previous	Record
1	Georgia (38)	1,536	1	7-0
2	Michigan (19)	1,504	2	8-0
3	Ohio State (3)	1,454	3	7-0
4	Florida State (3)	1,408	4	7-0
5	Washington	1,325	5	7-0
6	Oklahoma	1,267	6	7-0
7	Texas	1,150	8	6-1
8	Oregon	1,133	9	6-1
9	Alabama	1,071	11	7-1
10	Penn State	999	7	6-1
11	Oregon State	922	12	6-1
12	Ole Miss	889	13	6-1
13	Utah	868	14	6-1
14	Notre Dame	718	15	6-2
15	LSU	687	19	6-2
16	Missouri	594	20	7-1
17	North Carolina	506	10	6-1
18	Louisville	420	21	6-1
19	Air Force	395	22	7-0
20	Duke	371	16	5-2
21	Tennessee	306	17	5-2
22	Tulane	248	23	6-1
23	UCLA	243	25	5-2
24	USC	193	18	6-2
25	James Madison	167	NR	7-0

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Florida 34, Liberty 17, Kansas St. 16, Miami 12, Fresno St. 8, Oklahoma St. 5, Toledo 3, Kentucky 2, Rutgers 2, UNLV 1, Wisconsin 1.

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ACC standings

Team	ACC	All
X — No. 5 Florida State	8–0	12–0
X — No. 9 Louisville	7–1	10–2
N.C. State	6–2	9–3
Georgia Tech	5–3	6–6
Virginia Tech	5–3	6–6
Clemson	4–4	8–4
North Carolina	4–4	8–4
Duke	4–4	7–5
Miami	3–5	7–5
Boston College	3–5	6–6
Syracuse	2–6	6–6
Pittsburgh	2–6	3–9
Virginia	2–6	3–9
Wake Forest	1–7	4–8

Friday’s result
Miami 45, Boston College 20
Saturday’s games
Kentucky 38, No. 9 Louisville 31
Duke 30, Pittsburgh 19
Syracuse 35, Wake Forest 31
No. 1 Georgia 31, Georgia Tech 23
Virginia Tech 55, Virginia 17
Clemson 16, South Carolina 7
No. 5 Florida State 24, Florida 15
N.C. State 39, North Carolina 20
Next Saturday’s ACC championship game in Charlotte
No. 9 Louisville vs. No. 5 Florida State, 8 p.m., ABC

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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