Kentucky and Louisville football not in coaches’ top 25, but Cards’ lead on Cats is wide

USA Today released its preseason coaches poll for college football Monday and its top 25 didn’t include Kentucky or Louisville. And, of note, the gap in points received by the Wildcats and Cardinals was quite wide. Georgia is the preseason No. 1 team, followed in the top 10 by Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State and Florida State.

Five other SEC teams — nine in all — made the top 25, including Missouri (11th), LSU (12th), Tennessee (15th), Oklahoma (16th) and Texas A&M (20th). Outside the top 25, Louisville was 27th in the voting with 95 points, and Kentucky was 37th with 12. Back to the SEC, Auburn was the 10th league team in the voting with 25 points (32nd overall) while Florida (11 points) and South Carolina (10) slightly trailed the Wildcats.

Kentucky’s coming off a 7-6 season that included a 38-31 win at Louisville and a 38-35 loss to Clemson in the Gator Bowl. The Cardinals were 10-4 overall in 2023, including a 7-1 record in the ACC and a 42-28 loss to Southern California in the Holiday Bowl.