Kentucky football’s dramatic overtime win at South Carolina was not enough to win more respect in the newly released Associated Press Top 25 poll.
There was little room for movement this week since the only teams ranked in last week’s poll that lost were defeated by other top 25 teams. Missouri, which was ranked No. 25 last week, leapfrogged Kentucky thanks to its 45-17 blowout of Florida, moving all the way to No. 14. Pittsburgh, unranked last week, also jumped over Kentucky after moving to 5-0 with a 35-33 win over Virginia Tech in a matchup of unbeaten teams.
With Pittsburgh moving into the poll at No. 25, Kentucky fell to the top team in the “also receiving votes” category.
Kentucky has not beaten a team ranked in this week’s poll but beat Texas A&M on the road when the Aggies were ranked in the top 10. Texas A&M dropped out of the poll last week after a blowout loss to LSU but righted the ship Saturday with a 34-7 win over Arkansas.
There are more opportunities ahead for Kentucky to prove itself against ranked foes, starting this week with the homecoming matchup against No. 10 LSU. Kentucky then opens November with three straight games against currently ranked teams: No. 15 Tennessee, No. 16 Florida and No. 14 Missouri.
Kentucky has beaten three top-10 teams since 2023, but all those wins came on the road. Against LSU this week, UK will look for its first win over a top-10 team at home since the 2021 win over No. 10 Florida.
UK did move into the top 25 of the Coaches Poll for the first time this season on Sunday at No. 25.
This story was originally published October 4, 2026 at 2:09 PM.
Source: www.kentucky.com
