College football rankings 2022: Projected Week 9 AP Top 25 after Alabama rebounds, Clemson survives, UCLA & Ole Miss stumble

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 8: No. 20-19

20. North Carolina Tar Heels

On the heels – no pun intended – of North Carolina’s rivalry win over Duke, Mack Brown and his team had the week off after making their way into the AP Top 25. And now they are looking to capitalize on that as they head into the back half of their schedule with a huge opportunity for the 6-1 Tar Heels to make some noise and come out of the ACC Coastal to face Clemson.

As of right now, UNC is the only unbeaten team in conference play out of the Coastal and, in fact, they are the only team without two losses in the division. That gives them a comfortable lead, but one that the Heels can’t get too comfortable with as they have tricky matchups against Pitt, Wake Forest and NC State looming. If Drake Maye keeps playing at the level he has thus far, though, the Heels should be able to overcome a shaky defense and earn that date with Clemson.

19. Cincinnati Bearcats

Entering the fourth quarter on Saturday, it looked as if Cincinnati was cruising to a statement win on the road against SMU, a victory they sorely needed after the Bearcats put forth a lackluster effort prior to their bye week when they narrowly got past South Florida. But then the defense let their foot off of the gas late in the game and allowed two Mustangs touchdowns in the final five minutes to get things uncomfortably close.

Thankfully for Luke Fuckell’s team, they were able to come up with a stop on the two-point conversion try from SMU that would’ve tied the game with under two minutes to play. But once again, it’s painfully obvious that this year’s Cincinnati team is a far, far cry from the one that we saw make the magical run to the College Football Playoff last year.