AP leaves Kentucky out of preseason college football poll — for now

Kentucky and Louisville might be two of the top 25 teams playing college football this fall, but if so an appearance in the Associated Press poll will have to wait.

Clemson was the preseason No. 1 in the poll released Monday, which featured nine Big Ten and Pac-12 teams even though those conferences will not play fall schedules.

The Associated Press said that all Division I teams were eligible for the preseason AP Top 25. But after the season starts, only teams scheduled to play in the fall are eligible.

That left the Cats and Cardinals among others receiving votes. Louisville totaled 32 points in the preseason poll, which ranked 31st. The Cats were 34th with 20 points.

Fifty-three schools have postponed football. In addition to the Big Ten and Pac-12, that includes all of the Mid-American and Mountain West conference schools..

That will leave 76 FBS teams from which to choose when and if the season starts early next month. Based on the voting released Monday, Kentucky would have ranked 22nd among the teams playing this fall.

Ohio State (1,504 points) was a close No. 2 behind Trevor Lawrence and Clemson (1,520), which starts atop the rankings for the second straight season. The Tigers beat the Buckeyes in a thrilling College Football Playoff semifinal last season.

Alabama is No. 3, Southeastern Conference rival Georgia is No. 4 and defending Big 12 champion Oklahoma is No. 5. Defending national champion LSU is No. 6.

The Southeastern Conference, as usual, led the way with seven teams in the Top 25, including six of the first 13 teams. In addition to Alabama, Georgia and LSU there was Florida (eighth), Auburn (11th), Texas A&M (13th) and Tennessee (25th).

If a spring season is played, the AP said it will consider doing rankings for those teams, too.