Early preseason college football rankings are out, and Kentucky’s nowhere to be found
The University of Kentucky football program has made great strides under Mark Stoops in many areas, but its perception nationally has seemingly yet to improve much.
Kentucky is nowhere to be found among the “way too early” preseason top 25 rankings that tend to populate the internet each year immediately following the national championship game. These are very much subject to change, but barring drastic transfers or season-altering injuries, there’s little reason to expect too much variation between the lists that come out this week and those that arrive in the summer.
It’ll be up to the Wildcats — who are expected to return 17 starters (eight on offense, seven on defense and two specialists) and multiple other big contributors from an 8-5 team — to defy the lack of expectations. Below is a sampling of the rankings that have been published, along with some notable takeaways from them.
ESPN: At a glance, Mark Schlabach’s ranking is one of the most detailed and transparent currently available for public consumption.
Stadium: Longtime college football reporter Brett McMurphy ranked his top 30 teams heading into 2020 and did not mention the Wildcats. Among the teams ahead of them? Mississippi, which went 4-8 and plays in the same division as Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M — all of whom landed in McMurphy’s top seven. Good luck, Lane Kiffin.
247Sports: Brad Crawford is one of several national college football writers who have Tennessee in their preseason top 25 lists. There’s good reason to think highly of the Volunteers — they return several starters and ended 2019 on a hot streak — but there’s also room for them to be the 2020 equivalent of the 2019 South Carolina Gamecocks.
Sporting News: If you approach top 25 rankings as an exercise in “which teams can best challenge for their conference title” and not just “which teams are the best teams,” then it’s easy to see why Louisville is and will appear on so many top 25 lists — the Atlantic Coast Conference is Clemson and everyone else, and U of L should again be among the conference’s better also-rans. If UK were in the ACC, it’d be high on all of these lists.
Athlon Sports: It’s not the top 25, but Steve Lassan included Kentucky among his “other teams to watch” — a category below a list of five teams that barely missed his top-25 cut — along with rival Louisville. “Coach Mark Stoops’ squad should have one of the SEC’s top offensive lines and defenses next fall,” Lassan wrote.
Dallas Morning News: Five editors, writers and special contributors made up the Dallas Morning News’ early ranking, in which Kentucky did not receive a single vote; Indiana and Louisville tied for 27th place.
Detroit Free Press: Their rendition isn’t wildly different from most except that it isn’t done with words, but single still images of the respective teams. None of those images include blue and white Kentucky uniforms.
The Athletic: Mack Brown left a sizable impression on the minds of many writers during his first year at North Carolina, which finished 7-6 and cracked numerous top 25 lists, including Stewart Mandel’s.
CBS Sports: Dennis Dodd is even higher on Louisville than most — he has the Cardinals ranked No. 16 overall, right after Rose Bowl runner-up Wisconsin and ahead of Texas. The only team from Tennessee in his early ranking is Memphis, though.
Washington Post: Patrick Stevens of the WaPo listed his top 25 and five more that just missed the cut; Kentucky did not make those that missed the cut.
College Football News: Virginia Tech is another popular pick in these top 25 lists. Kentucky defeated the Hokies, 37-30, in the Belk Bowl, and returns more starters in 2020.
Toledo Blade: David Briggs is among several pundits who believe nearby Cincinnati could be the nation’s best Group of Five program next season.
USA Today: Paul Myerberg ranked his top 25 teams and listed nine other teams that were in consideration for the top 25. Louisville and Tennessee were in that mix, but Kentucky was not.
Bleacher Report: A panel of five writers couldn’t determine a definitive top 25 — there was a three-way tie for 24th place between Iowa State, Utah and Virginia Tech.
The Game Haus: This website was established in 2015 and, before undertaking this exercise, was the only one I hadn’t heard of. It specializes in esports coverage but does provide some coverage of traditional sports. List author Joe DiTullio is the only person I’ve found who included Kentucky in their top 25, at No. 25. Neither Louisville nor Tennessee was on his list, so The Game Haus may have instantly made some fans in Lexington.
“Mark Stoops has been one of the best coaches in college football,” DiTullio wrote. “Without a quarterback for the latter part of the season, a wide receiver led them to eight victories. With a great offensive line and a quarterback under center next season (presumably Terry Wilson), Kentucky could replicate their success.”
