Five college football teams from North Carolina climbed in the national rankings this week. One did so without playing.
Here’s the latest:
North Carolina Central Eagles (5-1) | FCS
Coach Trei Oliver’s team now sits at No. 9 in the AFCA FCS Top 25 — the first time Central has cracked the top 10 since reclassifying to Division I in 2011. The Eagles beat nationally ranked Elon over the weekend,. 34-23, their third victory against a CAA opponent this season.
NCCU held steady at No. 14 in the Stats Perform Top 25 (media poll) this week.
NC Central also was named the FedEx Ground FCS National Team of the Week, announced by Stats Perform on Monday. The win over Elon represented the 500th in program history. The Eagles recorded eight sacks, and quarterback Davius Richard accounted for 285 yards of offense and four touchdowns.
Central will have a bye this weekend before opening MEAC play on Thursday, Oct. 19 against Morgan State. That contest will be broadcast on ESPNU at 7:30 p.m.
Western Carolina Catamounts (5-1) | FCS
Flip Central’s rankings in the FCS coaches and media polls, and you have the Catamounts’ positioning this week. WCU sits at No. 9 in the Stats Perform rankings and No. 14 in the coaches poll.
Western has now won five straight games — and eight in a row against FCS competition — following Saturday’s 52-50 victory at Chattanooga. This is the Catamounts’ longest streak of being ranked, four weeks, since the 2017 season.
Coach Kerwin Bell’s group was nominated for the FedEx Ground FCS National Team of the Week. WCU has a bye week before hosting Furman on Oct. 21. Furman has the highest ranking among Southern Conference teams at No. 4 in the coaches poll and No. 5 in the media poll.
North Carolina Tar Heels (5-0) | FBS
The Heels climbed two spots in the Associated Press Top 25 and one spot in the AFCA Coaches poll after routing Syracuse 40-7 on Saturday. UNC now sits at No. 12 in both polls. It’s the highest ranking for coach Mack Brown’s team this season.
North Carolina will host Miami this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in what almost was a battle of unbeaten ACC teams. Miami let Saturday night’s game against Georgia Tech slip away in the final minute. The Hurricanes still hold on to No. 25 in the AP poll but fell out of the coaches rankings.
Duke Blue Devils (4-1) | FBS
The Devils had the weekend off from game action but climbed two spots to No. 17 in the AP poll and moved up three spots in the coaches poll to No. 18.
Duke returns to action Saturday night against NC State.
Lenoir-Rhyne Bears (6-0) | Division II
The team with the best overall record in the state jumped forward one spot to No. 12 in the latest AFCA coaches poll. The Bears survived in overtime at Limestone despite being outgained 516-292.
The D2Football.com (media) poll had not been released as of Monday evening.
Receiving Votes
Elon, which had beaten then No. 4/5 William & Mary on Sept. 30, dropped out of the FCS Stats Perform poll after its loss to NC Central. The Phoenix (3-3, 3-0 CAA) still received votes … Barton received one vote in the Division II coaches poll this week after beating defending SAC champion Newberry 34-17. The Bulldogs improved to 5-1 overall, 3-1 in the league.
