Kentucky football moves up in latest top-25 rankings

Kentucky’s football team had the weekend off with a bye, but it still managed to move up four spots to 14th in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings released Sunday afternoon. Eight ranked teams losing Saturday helped the Cats make their move.

UK (5-1, 3-1 Southeastern Conference), which next plays at home against Vanderbilt on Saturday night, ranked as high as 13th two weeks ago before a loss at Texas A&M dropped them to 18th last week.

Georgia, UK’s opponent on Nov. 3, dropped from second to eighth after Saturday’s 36-16 loss at LSU. The Tigers moved up eight spots to fifth.

Kentucky gained three spots, from 20th to 17th, in the coaches’ poll.

The Cats are in a three-way tie in the loss column in the SEC East. Georgia and Florida, which loss to UK 27-16 on Sept. 8, are both 4-1 in conference play. The Bulldogs and the Gators both have the upcoming weekend off before playing Oct. 27 in Jacksonville, Fla.

Alabama remained at No. 1 in the AP poll, followed by Ohio State. The Crimson Tide received all but one of the 61 first-place votes with the Buckeyes getting the other. Clemson was third and Notre Dame was fourth. LSU jumped eight spots after handing Georgia its first loss of the season.

The SEC led the way with seven teams in this week’s AP rankings, followed by the Big Ten with six. Three teams each are in the poll from the American, Big 12 and Pac-12 conferences.

Kentucky wasn’t the only team to have the week off and make a big move up in the poll. No. 16 N.C State gained four spots and No. 20 Cincinnati moved up five.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Vanderbilt at Kentucky

7:30 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network)

This story was originally published October 14, 2018 at 2:13 PM.