After 7 straight wins, UNC returns to top 25

For the first time since 2009, North Carolina is ranked in November.

The Tar Heels are No. 21 in the Associated Press top 25 poll that was released on Sunday. UNC's ascent into the national rankings comes after its 26-19 victory at Pitt on Thursday night.

Before that victory, UNC (7-1, 4-0) had been the only one-loss team from Power 5 conference not to be ranked. In fact, the Tar Heels held that distinction for two weeks.

Some players, fifth-year senior quarterback Marquise Williams, for one, took the lack of recognition as a snub. Before the victory at Pitt, Williams said, “We feel like we don't get a lot of recognition.”

That changed a bit on Sunday. The appearance in the top 25 is UNC's first overall since the start of last season, when it fell out of the poll after the second week following an unimpressive victory against San Diego State.

Before Sunday UNC hadn't been ranked this late in the season since 2009, and it hadn't been ranked this highly this late in the season since 2008, when it climbed as high as No. 17 in the poll before consecutive defeats against Maryland and N.C. State knocked the Tar Heels out of the rankings.

UNC will seek a stronger finish this time around. The Tar Heels enter the final month of the regular season in sole possession of first place in the ACC's Coastal Division.

A victory next weekend against Duke, which lost against Miami on Saturday night amid one of the wildest and most improbable endings in college football history, would give the Tar Heels a commanding lead in the Coastal with only a few weeks left in the regular season.

Had Duke defeated Miami – and the Blue Devils should have won the game, based on the ACC's admission that the officiating crew made four mistakes during Miami's wild eight-lateral touchdown return – then Duke, which had been ranked No. 22, would have remained ranked.

But the Blue Devils fell out of the top 25 after their loss and, in the process, took a little bit of history with them. Had UNC and Duke both been ranked, it would have been the first time since 1939 that they would have played each other as ranked teams.

The Tar Heels held up their end, at least. Their appearance in the poll will likely quiet the talk of lack of recognition. The goal now: build on the momentum.

“People think we're irrelevant,” Williams said after the victory at Pitt. “Nobody wants to give us respect. This was our opportunity to come in here and get people's attention. And even if they don't (pay attention), we're going to keep doing what we do to keep people's attention.”

This story was originally published November 1, 2015 at 7:17 PM with the headline "After 7 straight wins, UNC returns to top 25."