The latest AP Poll for both football and men’s basketball features the Hurricanes, as football is top of the poll at No. 1, while the preseason poll for men’s basketball has the ‘Canes at No. 14. This is the first time since November of 2017 that both programs cracked the Top 15 of their respective AP Polls.

Now you are probably wondering how we got here, and I am going to walk you through it.

The football team came into the 2026-27 season preseason ranked No. 7. They followed that up with a Week 1 win over Stanford 45-6. This would keep the ‘Canes at No. 7. Week 2 they played host to HBCU Florida A&M where the canes tied a program record of 77 points in a 77-7 victory, that with the help of an Ohio State loss would spring the team up to No. 5. Week 3 saw the ‘Canes go on the road to now No. 17 ranked Wake Forest where they were victorious 33-20 and that would have the ‘Canes drop to No. 6 following Ole Miss’ big win over LSU. Week 4 saw the ‘Canes back home at Hard Rock Stadium in a 52-4 win over Central Michigan and that would spring the team up to No. 4 after an Ole Miss loss to Florida. Week 5 the team would travel to Death Valley in what I called a trap game, and the team responded with a 41-13 win and that would keep the team at No. 4. That brings us to this past week in Week 6 where the team had a hard fought 2OT win over long-time rival Florida St 43-35, that and all the chaos of Week 6 would put the ‘Canes at the top of the AP Poll for the first time since December of 2002. The ‘Canes will stay at home this week as they face off with ACC member Pittsburgh on Saturday at 10 AM EDT and you can watch it on ESPN.

Now shifting over to men’s basketball, the team comes into the 2026-27 season ranked at No. 14 with it being the first time since the 2023-24 season where the team would start the season ranked. The ‘Canes headed by second year head coach Jai Lucas are coming off of a bounce back season which would see them in the second round of the NCAA Tournament where they would fall to Purdue 79-69. This was the first time the team made the tournament since 2023 and the infamous Final Four team, following the Purdue loss the team would end the season with a 26-9 record. With the showing of last years squad headed by Malik Reneau who is returning for a fifth year, plus the addition of 5-star freshman Caleb Gaskins, the ‘Canes look to make a splash in the ACC and all of NCAA Basketball this season which starts against No. 1 ranked rival Florida on Nov. 2 at 4 PM EDT. You can watch that on ESPN2 for the Orion180 Tipoff Classic.