Kentucky’s off week didn’t cost it in the polls. If anything, the Wildcats got a little stronger on paper.
After sitting idle, Will Stein’s team climbed one spot in the Associated Press Top 25 to No. 8, and that sets up Saturday’s rivalry showdown with Tennessee as one of the biggest in program history. The Volunteers are No. 16, making this just the fourth time in 122 all-time meetings that both border rivals have been ranked when they met.
The shakeup around Kentucky was limited. Only one team ranked ahead of the Wildcats last week lost on Saturday, and that was Ohio State, which dropped from No. 2 to No. 11 after an upset by unranked USC. Alabama, which had been directly behind Kentucky, also did not play.
Even with wins from teams sitting just behind them last week, Kentucky stayed put ahead of Texas, Ole Miss, Texas Tech and Wake Forest, who were ranked 11th through 14th before Saturday.
This is Kentucky’s highest AP ranking since Sept. 26, 2022, when it checked in at No. 7 after opening 4-0. That team’s early rise didn’t last, with the Wildcats losing three of their next four and sliding out of the poll.
The current spot also lands Kentucky in rare company. The program has been ranked in the AP top 10 only nine times: 1949, 1950, 1951, 1964, 1965, 1977, 2007, 2022 and 2026.
The AP poll will keep rolling weekly, but Sunday’s update is the last one that serves as the main ranking reference before the College Football Playoff committee takes over. The committee releases its first in-season rankings on Tuesday, and those rankings will decide the playoff field before being updated each Tuesday through the end of the regular season.
The final committee ranking comes out Dec. 6.
Kentucky has appeared in the playoff committee’s first ranking only twice since the playoff era began in 2014. In 2018, the Wildcats were ninth in that opening release, two spots ahead of their No.
11 AP ranking that week. In 2021, they were 18th in both polls.
The road ahead is loaded. Tennessee starts a stretch of three straight games against AP-ranked opponents for Kentucky.
Florida comes to Lexington next week at No. 25, and then the Wildcats head to No. 19 Missouri on Nov.
Kentucky also moved up in the coaches poll, climbing from No. 8 to No. 7 on Sunday. The last time the Wildcats were ranked that high in that poll was Oct. 5, 1964.
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Kentucky Faces A Huge Tennessee Chance With The Vols Still Unsettled
Kentuckys next trip back onto the field comes with plenty more than bragging rights attached. When the Wildcats head to Tennessee on Nov. 7, theyll do so with both teams sitting in the thick of the SEC race, Kentucky tied for first and the Vols trying to stay close enough to keep their own championship hopes alive.
The stakes stretch well beyond one November afternoon, with the outcome carrying real weight for the league title picture and the College Football Playoff conversation. Tennessee still has one major question hanging over the matchup, too, as the Vols continue sorting through two candidates at quarterback and the uncertainty adds another layer to an already pivotal game. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Gets An Early Chance To Silence Doubts At Tennessee
Kentucky heads into Week 10 with a chance to answer plenty of questions in one of the SECs oldest rivalries. The Wildcats are 7-1 overall and 5-1 in league play, but the early betting line still has Tennessee as a 6.5-point favorite, a reminder that respect around this team has not quite caught up with the record.
Tennessee brings a 6-2 mark and a 3-2 SEC record into a matchup that has long tilted in the Volunteers favor. The series dates to 1893, Tennessee has won the last five meetings, and Kentucky now gets an early chance to change the tone of the rivalry while giving doubters something harder to dismiss. [Read more 🡒]
Kentuckys Spotlight Stretch Just Added More Stakes For Florida
Kentuckys November run is starting to take on a bigger stage, and the SECs latest game-time announcement only adds to the intrigue. The Wildcats are set for a primetime ESPN slot against Tennessee on Nov. 7, and now the league has placed the Florida matchup on Nov. 14 in the same window, with kickoff slated for somewhere between 6 and 7 p.m. ET pending final confirmation after this weekends results.
For Kentucky, it means another spotlight game in a stretch that will ask a lot of the team and keep the attention fixed squarely on what happens in Lexington. Florida has long been one of the more watched dates on the schedule, and with the Wildcats already lined up for consecutive night games, the stakes around that mid-November meeting only feel higher as the full slate continues to come into view. [Read more 🡒]