NC State ranked above Clemson in Week 5 AP poll

In a turn of events we all predicted, NC State makes its triumphant return to the AP Top 25 after the clutch win over (former) top 10 opponent Clemson.

Precedent saved the Tigers much in the same way it saved the unc fighting rams earlier this season, as top 10 teams rarely lose their ranking after losing a single loss to unranked opponents. Speaking of which, the blues clues crew received a lone vote after getting routed by Georgia Tech. A week after pushing Clemson to the brink, GT may be pretty good after all. Either that or the ACC is just upside down and nobody knows who’s going to come out on top yet. Clemson dropped from 9th to 25th and has somehow found itself the lowest ranked ACC team. They continue their streak of 107 consecutive AP Top 25 appearances, but drop out of the top 10 for the first time since 2017. This 97 week streak is the third longest of all time. Nobody has any allusions to the inevitable Clemson bounce back, they won’t finish the season unranked, but another ACC loss on their record could sure help NC State’s chances in being in the ACC Atlantic driver’s seat.

ncaa.com

NC State returns to its well-worn spot of 23rd in the country, equivalent to the “let’s see if these are for real” vote of confidence. This position is good enough to the be the highest ranked ACC team, though. I actually think Wake Forest deserves to be at least a spot or two above the Wolfpack. If this trend continues, I’m not sure my nerves can take a ranked State-Wake matchup in Winson, especially after I barely survived last night, but I’m getting WAY ahead of myself. A lot of football to be played before then, let’s just enjoy having that little number next to NC State’s name for as long we can.