College football’s first month is nearly in the books, and the AP Top 25 has already started to sort itself out after Week 4.
Texas remains the team to beat. The Longhorns held on to the No. 1 spot and picked up 62 first-place votes after their win at Tennessee, while Georgia stayed right behind them with six first-place votes.
Notre Dame sits third, followed by Miami (FL), Ohio State and Indiana. Indiana also received one first-place vote.
Alabama checks in at No. 7, then Florida, Ole Miss, BYU, LSU, Texas Tech, Utah, Iowa, Oregon, Mississippi State, Tennessee, USC, Oklahoma State, Houston, SMU, Boise State, UCLA, Kentucky and Missouri round out the poll.
Florida made the biggest leap in the rankings. After beating Ole Miss in The Swamp, the Gators climbed 13 spots and moved into the top 10.
Jadan Baugh powered that win with a heavy rushing load, and Florida’s offense posted 50 points in the game. Texas also strengthened its grip on the top spot with the win over Tennessee, leaving the Longhorns with all but eight of the first-place votes.
Penn State took the hardest fall. The Nittany Lions dropped out of the Top 25 entirely after an unexpected loss to Wisconsin, falling from No. 13 to unranked.
They were still the third-highest vote-getter among teams outside the poll, but the tumble was a major one. Four teams fell out of the rankings this week after losses.
UNC still isn’t part of the conversation. The Tar Heels were already off the ballot after the loss to Clemson, and since they didn’t play last week, they remained out of the rankings and out of the vote count.
The conference split in the AP poll now looks like this: SEC with 10 teams, Big Ten with six, Big 12 with five, ACC with two, and one each from the Independent and Mountain West.
This week’s schedule features several ranked matchups. No.
7 Alabama visits No. 16 Mississippi State on Saturday at 12:00 PM ET on ABC.
No. 5 Ohio State travels to No.
14 Iowa at 3:30 PM ET on CBS. No.
8 Florida heads to No. 25 Missouri, also at 3:30 PM ET on ABC.
There’s also upset potential elsewhere. UCF goes to No.
20 Houston at 12:00 PM ET on ESPN2. Washington visits No.
18 USC at 7:30 PM ET on FOX. And No.
4 Miami (FL) takes on Clemson at 7:30 PM ET on ABC.
The Coaches Poll looks a little different at the top, with Texas leading again with 45 first-place votes. Georgia follows with 17, then Notre Dame with three. Miami (FL), Indiana, Ohio State, Alabama, Florida, BYU, Texas Tech, LSU, Ole Miss, Utah, Iowa, Oregon, Mississippi State, Tennessee, USC, SMU, Houston, Duke, Penn State, UCLA, Michigan and Missouri make up the rest of that ranking.
In Other News...
UNC Is Already In An Early Fight For A Massive 5-Star Center
A big man with a growing national market is already drawing plenty of attention, and North Carolina has made sure it is in the mix early. Dylan Betts, a five-star Class of 2028 center and 7-foot-3 prospect at IMG Academy, has taken an unofficial visit to Chapel Hill as part of a recruitment process that is quickly broadening beyond one region or one conference.
UNCs staff has been building a relationship with Betts while schools like Michigan and Illinois have already hosted him, and Alabama is also lined up for a future visit. For the Tar Heels, getting in early matters with a player of that size and ceiling, because the race for elite frontcourt talent tends to move fast once the major programs start pressing their cases. [Read more 🡒]
UNCs New Backcourt Duo Brings More Than Fans Might Expect
North Carolinas newest backcourt pairing arrived with plenty of intrigue during a recent media availability, as transfer guards Angelo Brizzi and Neo Avdalas were introduced to the Tar Heels audience. Brizzi brings a well-traveled resume, but also the kind of reliability UNC needs from a lead guard, having started all 32 games at Buffalo and finished with 14.5 points per game. Avdalas offers a different look entirely, a 6-foot-9 guard whose size and playmaking made him one of the more interesting additions in the ACC last season.
Avdalas started all 31 games at Virginia Tech, averaged 12.1 points and 4.6 assists per game, and earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors twice, which gives UNC a backcourt blend that is both experienced and unconventional. For a program always balancing immediate expectations with roster fit, the bigger question now is how quickly these two transfers can translate their production into chemistry, spacing and decision-making in Chapel Hill. [Read more 🡒]
Belichicks UNC Start Looks Worse As Passed-Over Options Keep Delivering
Bill Belichicks first season at North Carolina has already become a talking point across college football, and not in the way anyone around Chapel Hill would have wanted. As the Tar Heels try to settle in under one of the sports most famous names, the comparison game has only intensified, with other programs taking shape behind coaches who were in the same broader conversation before Belichick landed at UNC.
Those parallel developments matter because the coaches North Carolina did not hire keep stacking up results elsewhere. Jon Sumrall and Jake Dickert, in particular, have continued to build momentum, while Wake Forests early success under Dickert and quarterback Gio Lopez has only sharpened the optics. Even in games with uneven quarterback play, such as Clemsons outing from Tait Reynolds, the broader trend has been hard to miss for UNC fans watching the wider carousel. [Read more 🡒]