Kentucky football moves up in Coaches Poll; still receiving votes

Following a 45-28 road victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday, Kentucky football is back to moving up in the national rankings.

Although the Wildcats won’t go into this week as a top-25 team, they’ll do so just on the outside. When the Week 5 Coaches Poll was released on Sunday afternoon, Kentucky came in ranked No. 27 while receiving 87 total points. That was a three-spot increase from last week’s position of No. 30. UK trails only Fresno State (93 points) among schools receiving votes.

Kentucky’s next opponent, the Florida Gators, moved up from unranked to No. 23 despite narrowly beating UNC Charlotte (1-3) by a final score of 22-7. SEC Nation will be in town for that matchup when the Wildcats host Florida on Saturday, Sept. 30 at noon EST on ESPN.

NEW: Week 5 College Football Coaches Poll🔥

More: https://t.co/PpNVepivRk pic.twitter.com/iq1XRzr7uQ

— On3 (@On3sports) September 24, 2023

The Week 5 AP Poll will be released later this afternoon. Kentucky came into Saturday’s game receiving 10 total points in the Week 4 AP Poll, placing them at 33rd in the country. Below is the entire updated Week 5 Coaches Poll.

Week 5 Coaches Poll

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

Schools Dropped Out: No. 19 Colorado; No. 22 Iowa; No. 23 Clemson; No. 25 UCLA.

Others Receiving Votes: Fresno State 93; Kentucky 87; Texas Christian 54; Maryland 39; UCLA 36; Texas A&M 36; Louisville 36; Clemson 35; Syracuse 32; Colorado 29; Air Force 24; Iowa 16; Tulane 11; Wyoming 8; Marshall 2; James Madison 2; Liberty 1; Georgia St. 1.

ESPN’s updated FPI projections

After falling in ESPN’s Football Power Index through the first couple of weeks, Kentucky is back on the right path. Following the win over Vandy, the Wildcats are now ranked No. 36 in the updated FPI — a four-spot increase from last week. Kentucky’s projected average win-loss record also improved from 6.7-5.3 entering the weekend to 7.0-5.0 as of Sunday afternoon.

The Wildcats’ FPI numbers across the board are much better than they were just two weeks ago. Kentucky now holds an 85.7 percent chance of winning at least six games (up from 77.3 percent last week) with a 3.0 percent chance of winning the SEC East (2.3 percent last week). Vanderbilt fell from No. 93 to No. 99 in the FPI with Saturday’s loss.

Florida, Kentucky’s next opponent, dropped six spots in the FPI to No. 31 after its ugly win over UNC Charlotte.