NC State football up to #10 in Week 5 AP and Coaches Polls

NC State used another solid effort against an overmatched opponent to improve its national ranking. The Wolfpack moved up from #12 to #10 in the week 5 AP poll! The Wolfpack are #10 in the Coaches poll as well.

This is the Wolfpack’s highest ranking since the 2002 Philip Rivers team, the fact that this was now 20 years ago makes me feel quite old but here we are.

sports-reference.com

As always, NC State had some help to get here. The schedule broke nicely for them with lowly UConn on the schedule, providing an opportunity to put up an impressive final score in a week where two other top 10 teams lost to conference opponents. Texas A&M continued their up and down season by beating #10 Arkansas on neutral field in AT&T Stadium. And Kansas State used an otherworldy performance from QB Adrian Martinez to go into Norman and took down #6 Oklahoma. Unfortunately for in-state rival Kansas, looks like KSU winning took the spot the Jayhawks were looking to secure. Kansas has not been ranked since 2009, the longest active P5 drought. They’ve earned a ranking, but then who should drop out? Pitt or Wake Forest, perhaps?

In other historic news, this new poll sets up the first time in NC State football history it will be playing a mutually top 10 matchup when it travels to Death Valley to meet Clemson on national TV for the 87th annual Textile Bowl.

AP Poll rankings by conference:

SEC — 7 (Nos. 1, 2, 7, 8, 14, 17, 20)

ACC — 5 (Nos. 5, 10, 22, 23, 24)

Big 12 — 4 (Nos. 9, 16, 18, 25)

Big Ten — 4 (Nos. 2, 4, 11, 21)

Pac-12 — 4 (Nos. 6, 12, 13, 15)

Independent (BYU) — 1 (No. 19)

Quite literally all the lights and eyes of the college football world will be on the Pack next week to see how they handle the moment. It’s six days away and I’m already having breathing problems. But for now, rejoice in the history of the moment!

We spent all offseason thinking, “if the Pack can just get through to Clemson 4-0 maybe we’ll be in the top 10 and Gameday will be there.” All the predictions have come true so far, now they just have to walk through the door. The other side of the door is pretty fancy from what I hear. Like, leather chairs and stuff. Plus, you get a little single digit to put next to your name. It’s kind of a big deal.

UPDATE:

AP voter Thomas Murphy issued a correction to his vote, now removing unc from the “Others receiving votes” category. This accounted for the 9 random votes they got, which didn’t make any sense to anyone, so now all is right with the world (also not a big deal as mistakes happen).