Kentucky football sits outside of Week 5 AP Poll Top 25 rankings

After beating Vanderbilt 45-28 on Saturday, the Kentucky Wildcats will enter Week 5 of the college football season just outside of the national rankings.

On Sunday afternoon, the Associated Press updated its rankings following Week 4 action. In it, Kentucky moved up six spots from No. 33 to No. 27 in the country. The Wildcats received 41 points in the updated poll, trailing only Kansas State as the two teams outside of the Top 25. Seven Southeastern Conference programs cracked this week’s Top 25, headlined by top-ranked Georgia. Louisville, still undefeated at 4-0, is also on the rise at No. 29.

Kentucky’s next opponent, the Florida Gators, moved up from No. 25 to No. 22 despite narrowly beating UNC Charlotte (1-3) by a final score of 22-7 on Saturday. SEC Nation will be in town for that matchup when the Wildcats host Florida at Kroger Field on Saturday, Sept. 30 at noon EST on ESPN.

BREAKING: Week 5 College Football AP Poll🚨https://t.co/Czxhow2AJ1 pic.twitter.com/vKP4TSJbOy

— On3 (@On3sports) September 24, 2023

The Week 5 Coaches Poll was released an hour prior to the AP Poll. Kentucky was bumped up three spots to No. 27 in the nation in the latest Coaches Poll update. You can view the entire Week 5 AP Poll below.

Week 5 AP Poll

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

Others Receiving Votes: Kansas St. 57, Kentucky 41, Colorado 32, Louisville 32, UCLA 28, Maryland 20, TCU 17, Tulane 11, Syracuse 8, Wisconsin 6, Air Force 6, Clemson 5, Texas A&M 5.

ESPN’s updated rankings

After falling in ESPN’s Football Power Index during the first couple of weeks, Kentucky is back on the right path one-third into the regular season. 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.

As for ESPN’s updated SP+ rankings — a “predictive and forward-facing” analytics model — Kentucky was bumped up one spot to No. 23 in the country. Although the offense improved from No. 57 to No. 48 compared to last week’s rankings, both the defense (No. 6 down to No. 10) and special teams (No. 3 down to No. 15) took a slight hit.

Florida, Kentucky’s next opponent, fell six spots in the FPI to No. 31 and two spots in the SP+ rankings to No. 32. According to the SP+ rankings, the Gators boast the nation’s 40th-best offense, 21st-best defense, and 40th-best special teams unit.