Robert Willett - rmillett@newsobserver.com

GREENVILLE -- East Carolina still has its Conference USA title to defend.

The big splash against name-brand opponent from a major conference will have to wait for another year after Thursday night's lackluster 16-3 loss to No. 22 Virginia Tech.

Staff video by Travis Long, Joe Giglio, Caulton Tudor

Topic: The big Duke-Carolina football game and Virginia Tech's trip to ECU.

Quick and dirty version of the JP Top 25 this week:

BCS bowl projections:

National championship: Florida vs. Texas
Rose: Iowa vs. Oregon
Orange: Georgia Tech vs. Penn State
Sugar: Alabama vs. Cincinnati
Fiesta: USC vs. TCU

North Carolina's win, and USC's loss, cost the ACC a real shot at $4.5 million.

It's fitting to say thanks to linebacker Quan Sturdivant one day after North Carolina's biggest win of this football season.

With a spontaneous display of sportsmanship, Sturdivant became an example of what's good in college athletics after the Tar Heels' 20-17 defeat of Virginia Tech.

Staff photo by Robert Willett

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Almost five years to the day since Connor Barth kicked a 42-yard game winner to beat Miami, little brother Casey made a 21-yarder to beat No. 14 Virginia Tech on Thursday night. The Tar Heels won 20-17.

UNC led 7-0 at halftime, but found itself trailing 17-14 after quarterback T.J. Yates was picked off by Hokie Rashad Carmichael early in the fourth quarter, setting up the second of two Tyrod Taylor 1-yard touchdown runs.

Remember back last week when UNC Chapel Hill hosted its first Thursday night football game?

Well, some folks got twisted a bit out of joint over it. (Click here and read the story and the comments...)

And to be sure, the UNC-CH faculty has long played a role in the university's decision not to schedule a disruptive Thursday night game on campus.

But UNC-CH made it happen this year. And if it bothered you, you're not alone. You need look no further than Blacksburg, where your Tar Heels will tonight be squaring off against the Virginia Tech Hokies. There, too, classes are being let out early due to the game, though it's being done on less of a formal basis.

And there, too, some faculty say a Thursday football game, broadcast nationally on ESPN, essentially proves that athletics trumps academics.

The Washington Post has this topic covered in some detail in today's paper, and the story ends with this quote from a Virginia Tech prof, proving that not every academic sees the issue the same way.

A football team "does great things for the university, much more so than somebody discovering something in their PhD dissertation, which five people read. That's true, and we're going to have to live with it."

Editor's note: J.P. Giglio is one of 60 AP voters.

• JP Top 25 archive
• AP, USA Today polls
• Pollspeak (how everyone else voted)

Philosophical voting question: Should Southern California, with one loss, be ranked ahead of unbeaten teams such as Boise State, Cincinnati, TCU and Iowa?

You can see my answer below.

Editor's note: J.P. Giglio is one of 60 AP voters.

• JP Top 25 archive
• AP, USA Today polls
• Pollspeak (how everyone else voted)

1. Alabama
Record: 7-0
Last week: 2 (beat South Carolina, 20-6)
This week: Tennessee

Alabama the four years before Nick Saban got there: 4-9, 6-6, 10-2, 6-7.
Since: 7-6, 12-2, 7-0.

ATLANTA (AP) -- Virginia Tech might have lost its shot at a national championship
on another doomed trip to Atlanta.

Josh Nesbitt rushed for 122 yards and three touchdowns—the last of them tiptoeing down the sideline to finish off the fourth-ranked Hokies with 3 minutes left—as No. 19 Georgia Tech ran to a 28-23 win that threw the ACC race up for grabs while perhaps finishing off the league’s top contender in the national race.