All-Carolina College Football Poll: We can once again say UNC is as good as Coastal
What a game, and a finish, between Clemson and Notre Dame on Saturday, but let’s be real: That was not an ACC game. The Tigers’ 36-game winning streak ended, yes, but how silly is it to say that the Tigers’ 28-game conference winning streak has also ended?
Yes, Notre Dame has aligned with the ACC as a one-off for the sake of being able to put together a schedule this season. It’s a move that has benefited Notre Dame, and benefited the ACC. But did we miss the memo that the Fighting Irish has actually joined the conference in football?
At the least, the “end” of Clemson’s ACC winning streak should come with a clover-shaped asterisk. More appropriately, the streak shouldn’t be considered over at all. Notre Dame may be playing in the ACC this season, but it’s not a real member of the conference — not in football, anyway.
This is like one of those goofy things when around ACC tournament time, or before the annual championship game in football, the league honors “legends” who never actually played a single game in the ACC. Speaking of which, who will be Notre Dame’s ACC football legend this year?
Can’t go wrong with Joe Montana, but I like Rocket Ismail. He put a hurtin’ on Miami back in 1990 in that ACC classic. Onto Week 8 of the All-Carolina poll:
1. Clemson (7-1, 6-1 ACC)
Previous ranking: 1
Last week: L at Notre Dame, 47-40
Up next: at Florida State, Nov. 21
The regular season winning streak that began three years ago is over. It took going on the road at Notre Dame. It took two overtimes. It took the absence of Trevor Lawrence, due to a positive COVID-19 test. It took a lot of things, but Clemson lost in the regular season for the first time since Oct. 13, 2017. Still should be little doubt about where the Tigers are headed.
T-2. Coastal Carolina (7-0, 5-0 Sun Belt)
Previous ranking: 2
Last week: W vs. South Alabama, 23-6
Up next: at Troy, Saturday
All aboard the Chanticleers’ hype train, which is filling up more and more every week. The latest proof of Coastal’s legitness came in another stout defensive performance over the weekend. The ‘Cleers (does anyone call them that?) have allowed but 20 points in their past three games, and Troy isn’t expected to provide much resistance before a huge game against App State next week.
T-2. North Carolina (5-2, 5-2 ACC)
Previous ranking: 3
Last week: W at Duke, 56-24
Up next: vs. Wake Forest, Saturday
Who knew back in early September that the Carolinas’ Game of the Year — at least this week, until App-Coastal the next — would be UNC vs. Wake Forest? It’s true, though. The Tar Heels still have a path to Charlotte and the ACC championship game, but not without a victory here. Which version of UNC shows up this weekend?
4. Wake Forest (4-2, 3-2 ACC)
Previous ranking: 4
Last week: off
Up next: at North Carolina, Nov. 14
Can we talk real quick, again, about how silly it is that these schools — along with N.C. and Duke — play so rarely? UNC and Wake don’t have the most memorable of rivalries, but they’ve played four times since 2007 and last year’s meeting was technically a non-conference game. Nice that their encounter this year comes with some relatively high stakes.
5. Appalachian State (5-1, 3-0 Sun Belt)
Previous ranking: 4
Last week: W vs. Texas State, 38-13
Up next: vs. Georgia State, Saturday
Been a seamless transition back to the field for the Mountaineers, who went nearly a month without playing due to various virus-related developments. Since then, App has played three games and none of them have been decided by fewer than 18 points.
6. N.C. State (4-3, 4-3 ACC)
Previous ranking: 5
Last week: L vs. Miami, 44-41
Up next: vs. Florida State, Saturday
An A for effort, and a mostly commendable performance — especially offensively — in defeat against Miami. And yet we’ve seen this show so many times before, haven’t we, with the Wolfpack coming oh-so-close to a season or even program-turning victory ... only to fall just short.
7. South Carolina (2-4, 2-4 SEC)
Previous ranking: 7
Last week: L vs. Texas A&M, 48-3
Up next: at Mississippi, Saturday
Look, no one really expected the Gamecocks to beat Texas A&M, but a 45-point loss? It was South Carolina’s worst SEC defeat in more than a decade and, after that, what sort of hope is there of salvaging the season and turning it into something respectable? Gamecocks fans, how are you feeling these days about the Muschamp regime? Sound off in the comments. (If you’re reading this in print, that’s the joke.)
8. Duke (2-6, 1-6 ACC)
Previous ranking: 8
Last week: L vs. North Carolina, 56-24
Up next: vs. Wake Forest, Nov. 21
Speaking of Not Great Things, may we present Duke’s season. If you thought that dominating Charlotte the week before would provide the Blue Devils a jolt, well — you were wrong. David Cutcliffe sounded like a man in the midst of the some soul-searching on Saturday, and the question now is where does Duke find any motivation the rest of the way.
9. East Carolina (1-5, 1-4 AAC)
Previous ranking: 9
Last week: L vs. Tulane, 38-21
Up next: at Cincinnati, Friday
Woof. Three straight defeats for the Pirates since that victory at South Florida on Oct. 10, and the same question that applies above for Duke is also apt for ECU: how does a team in the midst of a lost season maintain any sort of inspiration late in this weird year of the pandemic?
10. Charlotte (2-3, 2-1, Conference USA)
Previous ranking: 10
Last week: off
Up next: vs. Gardner-Webb, Saturday
Charlotte has to be having one of the weirdest seasons of any team anywhere, and this upcoming game against Gardner-Webb is just part of the strangeness of it all. It was just scheduled last week. And it’s Gardner-Webb’s first game of the season. It just kind of begs the question: Why?
