Kentucky football drops in AP Poll's Week 4 Top 25 Rankings

Kentucky dropped three spots in the latest Coaches Poll. The Associated Press wasn’t any kinder to the Wildcats.

On Sunday afternoon, Kentucky fell one spot in the Week 4 AP Poll Top 25 rankings and is now slotted at No. 33 in the country while receiving 10 points. Coming into the weekend, UK was ranked 32nd and received five points in the AP Poll before taking care of Akron 35-3 on Saturday at Kroger Field. In spite of that, the 32-point margin of victory wasn’t enough in the eyes of the voters to move the ‘Cats up.

Looking at the rest of the AP Top 25, Georgia and Michigan hold down the top two spots, respectively, for the third straight week. Tennessee was the biggest mover, falling 12 spots to No. 23 following a loss to Florida on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Gators leaped all the way to No. 25 by beating the Volunteers. Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee are joined in the Top 25 by fellow SEC programs LSU (No. 12), Alabama (No. 13), and Ole Miss (No. 15).

BREAKING: Week 4 College Football AP Poll🚨https://t.co/OoQa6z0YcF pic.twitter.com/lFjuShx9VS

— On3 (@On3sports) September 17, 2023

As for the Week 4 Coaches Poll, which was released one hour before the AP Poll, Kentucky moved down three spots from No. 27 to No. 30. Below is the entire updated Top 25 rankings.

Week 4 AP Poll

1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. Texas (+1)
4. Florida State (-1)
5. Southern California
6. Ohio State
7. Penn State
8. Washington
9. Notre Dame
10. Oregon (+3)
11. Utah (+1)
12. LSU (+2)
13. Alabama (-3)
14. Oregon State (+2)
15. Ole Miss (+2)
16. Oklahoma (+3)
17. North Carolina (+3)
18. Duke (+3)
19. Colorado (-1)
20. Miami [FL] (+2)
21. Washington State (+2)
22. UCLA (+2)
23. Tennessee (-12)
24. Iowa (+1)
25. Florida (NR)

Others Receiving Votes: Clemson 76, Missouri 72, Kansas St. 54, TCU 21, Fresno St. 17, Kansas 15, Tulane 13, Kentucky 10, Maryland 4, BYU 3, Wisconsin 2, Syracuse 2, Louisville 1, Auburn 1.

ESPN’s updated rankings

With another week in the books, ESPN has updated its Football Power Index (FPI) rankings. Kentucky plummeted in the FPI following last week’s 28-17 win over EKU, falling from No. 26 all the way down to No. 41. But after beating Akron by 32 points, the Wildcats are back on the rise — although just barely. The FPI now has UK ranked 40th in the country.

However, ESPN’s updated SP+ rankings have Kentucky just inside the Top 25 at No. 24 overall. The SP+ rankings are meant to be “predictive and forward-facing”. The post-week three rankings rate UK’s offense as the 57th best in the country with a top 10-ranked defense (6th) and special teams (3rd).

Meanwhile, Akron (1-2), which came into Saturday ranked 131 out of 133 in the FPI, is now officially considered the worst Division I football team after dropping two spots to dead last. The Zips rank 130th in the latest SP+ rankings.

Kentucky’s next opponent, the Vanderbilt Commodores (2-2), moved down five spots to No. 93 in the latest FPI update after losing on the road 40-37 to UNLV on Saturday. The ‘Dores began the season with two wins against Hawaii and Alabama A&M, but have since lost in back-to-back weeks to Wake Forest and UNLV. Vandy is far and away the worst team in the SEC when it comes to FPI — the second-closest school being Arkansas at No. 42. Vanderbilt also ranks 77th in this week’s SP+ rankings.

Kickoff between Kentucky and Vanderbilt is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 23 at noon EST in Nashville on the SEC Network.