By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
For the second time in three weeks, Kentucky is ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 football poll.
Coming off a 35-34 overtime win over LSU, the Wildcats are ranked 15th in this week’s poll, a week after slipping from 24th to No. 26 after a 35-34 overtime win at South Carolina.
Kentucky is one of nine Southeastern Conference teams ranked in the Top 25. Georgia, which nipped No. 6 Alabama on Saturday, is No. 1 in the poll, replacing Texas, which fell from first to seventh after a 27-24 loss to Oklahoma on Saturday. Kentucky takes on the Sooners on Saturday in Norman.
Kentucky (5-1, 3-1 SEC) has won four in a row, including three conference games, as the players have bought into first-year coach Will Stein’s approach on both sides of the football.
“We play with a chip on our shoulder, everybody doubted us,” Kentucky defensive standout Bo Barnes said. “We’ve got a new head coach and we’re new to everything, but I’m here to say that we’re not the same team. We’re here to win, and we’re here to compete with anybody in the country.”
After posting his first signature win at Kroger Field, Stein said the team’s success so early in his tenure was mainly because of “full buy-in” from “this group.”
“You (just) just trust in the process and let our results speak for themselves,” he said. “I’m very confident in our team because I see them practice all the time. I see them make plays. I’ve been through six games with them now. I think we can continue to improve and get better. There’s plenty of things we have to clean up from tonight. We just battled and kept playing hard and that’s the sign of a team that really loves each other and is bought into the process.”
LSU dropped 12 spots in the poll from 10th to 22nd, but with two conference losses, Tigers coach Lane Kiffim isn’t going to “overreact.”
“It could be as simple as the coin toss going the other way, and they score first and then go for 2 and then we go for 2 – not going to overreact, though,” he said. “We got all these problems, but at the same time, all of these opportunities to close the game out and finish it after some bad things in the first half going the other way.”
Jon Sumrall and his Florida squad fell out after dropping a 38-19 home loss to South Carolina.
Alabama is No. 6, followed by Texas (7th), Ole Miss (No. 9) in the top 10. Missouri is 13th, followed by Tennessee (14th), Kentucky (15th), Mississippi State (16th) and LSU (22nd).
Notre Dame is ranked No. 2 in the Top 25 behind Georgia.