Southern Methodist is ranked No. 1, as it has been all season. UNC is the second-highest ranked ACC team this week behind No. 2 Virginia, which defeated North Carolina in Charlottesville last month.
Saint Louis, which defeated the Tar Heels 2-1 in September, is ranked third. Stanford is fourth and St. John's is fifth. Indiana, Washington, Clemson and Rutgers round out the top 10.
North Carolina has won eight consecutive games and now is 12-2 overall this season, 3-1 in the ACC.
The Tar Heels return to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Old Dominion at Fetzer Field.
Peppers on The Sporting News' List
In its latest look at top Heisman Trophy candidates, The Sporting News rates North Carolina All-America defensive end Julius Peppers No. 4 behind UCLA's DeShaun Foster, Nebraska's Eric Crouch and Miami's Ken Dorsey.
The story says of Peppers, "It's rare that defensive players can dominate games on the college level; Peppers is a rare player."
