Three of NC’s Big Four in initial College Football Playoff rankings for 1st time ever

For the first time ever, three of the Big Four North Carolina schools were all ranked in the initial College Football Playoff poll released on Tuesday. North Carolina led the way at No. 17, Wake Forest was No. 21 and N.C. State ranked 22nd.

Tennessee was No. 1 overall for the first time ever, with Ohio State second and Georgia at third. Clemson was the highest ranked ACC team at No. 4, which means if the playoffs started today the Tigers would be in over undefeated and No. 5 Michigan.

N.C. State athletic director Boo Coorigan is serving as the chair of the CFP selection committee this year. He said Clemson’s 5-0 record against teams with records above .500 compared to Michigan’s 2-0 record in such matchups helped put the Tigers ahead.

“As we go through it, and as we talked about, certainly the wins at Wake, at Florida State, over N.C. State, over Syracuse really did push them over the top,” Coorigan said. “But again, there’s 220-plus games still to be played this year and there’s a lot of good football in front of us.”

A total of five ACC teams were ranked, including No. 20 Syracuse, matching the SEC and Pac-12 as the conferences with the most.

The Wolfpack and Demon Deacons are in the first release of the rankings for the second straight year. Last season, Wake began at No. 9, the highest ranking in program history, before falling back to No. 17 in the final rankings. Wake has made three appearances overall in the CFP poll including in 2019.

N.C. State started 19th last season and peaked at No. 16 before finishing at No. 18 in the final CFP poll. The Pack have made the most appearances of in-state teams in the CFP since the poll’s inception. N.C. State was ranked in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 and this season. The highest it’s ever reached was No. 14 in 2018 and its best showing in the final poll was last season.

Since the CFP poll made its debut in 2014, the highest Carolina had ever been ranked in the initial release of the poll was 19th in 2020. The highest ranking it’s ever reached was 10th in 2015 before playing and losing to Clemson in the ACC championship game. And the best showing in the final CFP poll for the Heels was at No. 12, also in 2015.

UNC has previously been included in the CFP poll in 2015, 2016 and 2020. In 2016, it started at No. 21 with a 6-2 record and advanced to No. 17 at 7-2 — but then dropped two of its last three games to close the season and finished unranked in the final CFP poll.

UNC coach Mack Brown has downplayed Carolina’s ascent in the polls since they made their first appearance in the Associated Press and the AFCA Coaches polls in Week 8 at No. 22. The Heels are currently No. 15 in the coaches poll and No. 17 in the AP Top 25. Brown has emphasized to his players that none of this matters if they don’t keep winning games.

“I said 10 years from now, people aren’t going to ask you where you were rated after game eight,” Brown said during his weekly news conference on Monday. “They’re going to ask you where you were rated at the end of the year. ... So good for you, but forget it and move on.”

The Heels, Pack and Deacons will all face each other starting with Wake (6-2, 2-2 ACC) at N.C. State (6-2, 2-2) on Saturday. UNC travels to play the Demon Deacons on Nov. 12 and the regular season finale will feature the Heels and Pack in Chapel Hill on Nov. 25.

Carolina (7-1, 4-0 ACC) is well positioned to claim just its second ACC Coastal Division crown in the final season of divisions in the league. It has a two-game lead over both Duke and Miami, who are tied for second, and holds the head-to-head tiebreaker thanks to road wins over both teams.

“We’ve gone from from being the team that nobody talked about to the one now that’s got the target on our back,” Brown said. “So we’re gonna get the best out of four good teams for the next four weeks and that’ll be a fun challenge for us.”

College Football Playoff poll