UK not in coaches’ top 25, but they like the Cats more than SEC media
Kentucky isn’t among the the top 25 teams receiving votes in the preseason Amway/USA Today Coaches Poll, but its voters were higher on UK than the Southeastern Conference media members who voted last month in Birmingham.
UK finished with 79 total points in the first 2019 poll, the 31st-highest team in the list. Nebraska, Boise State, Mississippi State, Miami (Fla.) and Army were the teams separating UK from Northwestern, the last team ranked in the top 25.
Among teams in the SEC East Division, UK lagged behind only Georgia (ranked third overall behind No. 1 Clemson and No. 2 Alabama) and Florida (No. 8 overall). LSU (No. 6), Texas A&M (No. 11) and Auburn (No. 16) gave the SEC six total teams in the first set of rankings.
Media members picked Kentucky to finish sixth in the SEC East Division last month, ahead of Vanderbilt. UK also received more total votes from the media than Arkansas, Mississippi, and Mississippi State.
South Carolina, picked to finish fourth in the SEC East by the media, received 15 total points and Tennessee, picked to finish fifth in the division, received one point (Mississippi also received a point). Missouri, whom the media picked to finish third in the east, did not receive any votes from the coaches because it was ineligible for the poll.
Clemson received 59 of a possible 65 first-place votes. Alabama received the other six.
This year’s voting members, in alphabetical order, are: Chris Ash, Rutgers; Dino Babers, Syracuse; Craig Bohl, Wyoming; Jeff Brohm, Purdue; Neal Brown, West Virginia; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Steve Campbell, South Alabama; Rod Carey, Temple; Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina; Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech; David Cutcliffe, Duke; Mark Dantonio, Michigan State; Butch Davis, Florida International; Ryan Day, Ohio State; Manny Diaz, Miami (Fla.); Dana Dimel, Texas-El Paso; Dave Doeren, North Carolina State; Sonny Dykes, Southern Methodist; Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M; Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern; James Franklin, Penn State; Hugh Freeze, Liberty; Willie Fritz, Tulane; Scott Frost, Nebraska; Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech; Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois; Bryan Harsin, Boise State; Clay Helton, Southern California; Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky; Tom Herman, Texas; Doc Holliday, Marshall; Jay Hopson, Southern Mississippi; Mike Houston, East Carolina; Mike Leach, Washington State; Lance Leipold, Buffalo; Tim Lester, Western Michigan; Chip Lindsey, Troy; Seth Littrell, North Texas; Scot Loeffler, Bowling Green; Rocky Long, San Diego State; Chad Lunsford, Georgia Southern; Gus Malzahn, Auburn; Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio); Doug Martin, New Mexico State; Jeff Monken, Army; Phillip Montgomery, Tulsa; Dan Mullen, Florida; Ken Niumatalolo, Navy; Ed Orgeron, LSU; Gary Patterson, TCU; Chris Petersen, Washington; Jeremy Pruitt, Tennessee; Matt Rhule, Baylor; Nick Saban, Alabama; Tony Sanchez, UNLV; Kirby Smart, Georgia; Jonathan Smith, Oregon State; Frank Solich, Ohio; Jake Spavital, Texas State; Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee; Kevin Sumlin, Arizona; Dabo Swinney, Clemson; Jeff Tedford, Fresno State; Matt Wells, Texas Tech; Kyle Whittingham, Utah.
This story was originally published August 1, 2019 at 5:13 PM.
