College Football Preseason Top 25 Rankings Post-2019 Early Signing Period

[ACT ONE]

Surprise! Kentucky nowhere to be found. I get it, "respect has to be earned" but hopefully these guys thrash Virginia Tech and send a message for next year. Oh, Merry Christmas to all of Cats Illustrated!

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...-2019-early-signing-period?share=other#slide0

 

[dyersburgcatfan]

But Tennessee and Indiana are in. Just how much disrespect can we get? But I'm not sure we should be in. Too many uncertainties. Will Gatewood be eligible to play? Will Terry be 100 %? But what I don't understand is how TN gets in. They did have a good recruiting class, but they also lose some of their best talent.

 

[Nelson4211]

But Tennessee and Indiana are in. Just how much disrespect can we get? But I'm not sure we should be in. Too many uncertainties. Will Gatewood be eligible to play? Will Terry be 100 %? But what I don't understand is how TN gets in. They did have a good recruiting class, but they also lose some of their best talent.

TN doesn’t have a good recruiting class? Arent they ranked like 12th or close?

 

[dyersburgcatfan]

TN doesn’t have a good recruiting class? Arent they ranked like 12th or close?

Read it again. I said UT did have a good recruiting class. BUT they lose a lot of talent next year. And how many of their new recruits will contribute next season? To be fair, I don't know what they have in this year's red shirts. Maybe they should be a top 25, but imo they don't deserve that a any more than we do.

 

[Nelson4211]

Read it again. I said UT did have a good recruiting class. BUT they lose a lot of talent next year. And how many of their new recruits will contribute next season? To be fair, I don't know what they have in this year's red shirts. Maybe they should be a top 25, but imo they don't deserve that a any more than we do.

Sorry. Must have missed that. Well they shouldn’t be a top 25 based on a recruiting class. I’d say we should be a top ten based on our returning starters and our recruites.

 

[The-Hack]

Recruits seldom impact initial ratings, unless you have a Bama/Clemson haul of 5 Stars.

We should get serious consideration for preseason based upon having 17 starters return and finishing top 20 in defense, possibly top 10.

 

[JASUN74]

Recruits seldom impact initial ratings, unless you have a Bama/Clemson haul of 5 Stars.

We should get serious consideration for preseason based upon having 17 starters return and finishing top 20 in defense, possibly top 10.

Exactly right Hack!! If a few things work out right for us this off season, man we’ve got real reason to be hopeful for a top ten kinda season. As mentioned above, Wilson being healthy, Gatewood getting to play, Robinson 100% and ready for a huge year, etc! A lot of things to be optimistic about for sure. Also, Merry Christmas my brother. Merry Christmas to everyone here.

 

[VT/UK Rondo]

Dont want to say I told you so...but i did. Dont matter who wins the bowl game, VT will be preseason top 25 and UK wont. You dont erase decades of winning/losing with a few up or down seasons and one good/bad recruiting class. Perception is everything.

 

[Sparkaces1]

Anybody that doesn’t put UK preseason Top 25 doesn’t know much about football. Top 10 defense, best punter in the country. Top ten offensive line and very solid running backs! If Wilson can be more than a game manager and a dynamic receiver emerges then we are talking top 10!

 

[seccats04]

Anybody that doesn’t put UK preseason Top 25 doesn’t know much about football. Top 10 defense, best punter in the country. Top ten offensive line and very solid running backs! If Wilson can be more than a game manager and a dynamic receiver emerges then we are talking top 10!

So far TW has only been a game manager and our only dynamic receiver is going to the NFL. But our defense may be good enough to get us in the top 10-15. Plus our running game has been legit and may be even better next year now that Smoke and CRod got some experience to go along with Rose and Tisdale plus two really good incoming recruits. If Oliver can become a go to WR then we may be onto something on offense. We have the best P in America but we need to find a K. Hopefully the kid from Henry Clay accepts our PWO offer.

 

[HerrosHeroes]

Good!
Goooooood!
Everything is going according to plan!
Bwah ha ha ha ha!!!!!

 

[UKFlounder]

So what is the perception of Indiana football (first 8-win season since 1993) who is in this top 25?

You dont erase decades of winning/losing with a few up or down seasons and one good/bad recruiting class. Perception is everything.

 

[ACT ONE]

So what is the perception of Indiana football (first 8-win season since 1993) who is in this top 25?

I know that’s a real head scratcher there!

 

[VT/UK Rondo]

So what is the perception of Indiana football (first 8-win season since 1993) who is in this top 25?

The perception is they return everybody on offense and have an opening game against Wisconsin in what will be a top 25 matchup while UK loses their top rusher, receiver and kick returner, has questions at QB and opens with Toledo. Bowden returns to UK and they are top 25.

 

[THE_OAK]

AS long as we are ranked at the end of the season, that's all that matters to me. Pre-season rankings mean absolutely nothing to me.

 

[anon_013cn8yrfncx2]

Just stay under the radar for now. Plenty of time to make others believers.

 

[uofkFTW18]

The perception is they return everybody on offense and have an opening game against Wisconsin in what will be a top 25 matchup while UK loses their top rusher, receiver and kick returner, has questions at QB and opens with Toledo. Bowden returns to UK and they are top 25.

What does opening against Wisconsin have to do with their ranking? Not sure I understand your point with that one.

You mention that Indiana returns everybody on offense. Have you not looked at what we return on defense? We lose 2 starters(I’m not counting Kash because Oats played just as much if not more than him towards the end of the year) from a unit that was very, very young and very, very good. We do lose Lynn on offense which is big, but bring back all of our running backs and 4 of 5 starters on an offensive line that was one of the best in the country. If you’re going to argue that IU’s returning squad is a reason why they’re ranked then you have to argue that UK’s returning squad is a reason for them to be ranked because we lose a grand total of 5 starters.

Look, I understand why UK isn’t ranked. It doesn’t surprise me or bother me. It’s about perception and Kentucky still isn’t perceived well despite the improvements we’ve made. But, to me at least, if Indiana deserves to be ranked preseason then I think UK does too.

 

[VT/UK Rondo]

What does opening against Wisconsin have to do with their ranking? Not sure I understand your point with that one.

You mention that Indiana returns everybody on offense. Have you not looked at what we return on defense? We lose 2 starters(I’m not counting Kash because Oats played just as much if not more than him towards the end of the year) from a unit that was very, very young and very, very good. We do lose Lynn on offense which is big, but bring back all of our running backs and 4 of 5 starters on an offensive line that was one of the best in the country. If you’re going to argue that IU’s returning squad is a reason why they’re ranked then you have to argue that UK’s returning squad is a reason for them to be ranked because we lose a grand total of 5 starters.

Look, I understand why UK isn’t ranked. It doesn’t surprise me or bother me. It’s about perception and Kentucky still isn’t perceived well despite the improvements we’ve made. But, to me at least, if Indiana deserves to be ranked preseason then I think UK does too.

Not defending indiana. I actually didnt even know they were going to a bowl much less entering the preseason ranked. I haven't even thought much about their basketball since Bobby Knight. I'm not even sure how to perceive the Hoosiers now.
You better believe the talking heads are going to use early season matchups against top 25 teams to boost ratings. I'm not saying it's all they base the rankings on but an unranked indiana vs a unranked Wisconsin isnt going to draw the viewers that they would if they were ranked.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Surprise! Kentucky nowhere to be found. I get it, "respect has to be earned" but hopefully these guys thrash Virginia Tech and send a message for next year. Oh, Merry Christmas to all of Cats Illustrated!

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...-2019-early-signing-period?share=other#slide0

Four or five on those teams that our resume would be better than, but the problem is solved by winning .

 

[uofkFTW18]

Not defending indiana. I actually didnt even know they were going to a bowl much less entering the preseason ranked. I haven't even thought much about their basketball since Bobby Knight. I'm not even sure how to perceive the Hoosiers now.
You better believe the talking heads are going to use early season matchups against top 25 teams to boost ratings. I'm not saying it's all they base the rankings on but an unranked indiana vs a unranked Wisconsin isnt going to draw the viewers that they would if they were ranked.

I see what you're saying with regards to boosting ratings. It's something I could see them doing even though I think it'd be silly. But the nature of a preseason top 25 before the damn postseason is over is even sillier so I guess I shouldn't be surprised by anything the media does at this point.

 

[johnnyrockets]

From outside looking in, we went 7-5 this year, were totally one dimensional on offense, and are losing the guy who single handedly saved us from 4-8.

I doubt many people are aware of how good our defense was and even fewer are aware how much of that defense returns.

It's very likely we exceed preseason expectations nationally next year--just a question of whether that'll be enough to be ranked. There are lots of good teams out there that will be playing good ball.

 

[ACT ONE]

Indiana hasn’t done anything to earn any preseason accolades

 

[gobigblue812]

It's Bleacher report

 

[sluggercatfan]

From outside looking in, we went 7-5 this year, were totally one dimensional on offense, and are losing the guy who single handedly saved us from 4-8.

I doubt many people are aware of how good our defense was and even fewer are aware how much of that defense returns.

It's very likely we exceed preseason expectations nationally next year--just a question of whether that'll be enough to be ranked. There are lots of good teams out there that will be playing good ball.

Just WIN!!!

 

[Smashcat]

So what is the perception of Indiana football (first 8-win season since 1993) who is in this top 25?

Good point.

 

[sam_o]

rankings mean nothing

keep recruiting great players, coach them up and the results take care of themselves

 

[Noogavol10]

Recruiting rankings mean next to nothing in. Initial rankings. You have to win games. There are 7 teams in the SEC recruiting better than Kentucky this year and not to mention previous years and you have to play 3-4 of them every year.

 

[Dncmaxwell]

Disappointed that South Carolina is not in this poll..

I thought it was a requirement to have them in all preseason polls, regardless of how bad they are.

 

[NoDef]

Keep handling average opponents like we did Vandy and UofL and we will eventually get ranked. The problem that the 10 win team had in the follow up polling was that a lot of the wins were not by impressive amounts and the people doing the polls want to see large margin of victories against the average opponents. That why the top 25 is littered with teams scoring lots of points. Just the way it is .

 

[VT/UK Rondo]

Disappointed that South Carolina is not in this poll..

I thought it was a requirement to have them in all preseason polls, regardless of how bad they are.

Miami. The "swag" is back every year.

 

[JASUN74]

Dont want to say I told you so...but i did. Dont matter who wins the bowl game, VT will be preseason top 25 and UK wont. You dont erase decades of winning/losing with a few up or down seasons and one good/bad recruiting class. Perception is everything.

I’m happy that you feel good about your program man but no one in the country thinks, talks, or cares about Virginia Tech football. Sorry!! No one here is worried about you all and you’re the one that keeps bringing this up.

Honestly, if not for Michael Vick, no one besides that fan base would even know they have a team. Especially in SEC Country!! Best of luck to you on the 31st though. It’s going to be a good game I believe and hopefully everyone comes out healthy and injury free on both sides.

The only reason we’re not being ranked preseason next year is because of injuries this year to some of our most important players!! Arguably the most important, Our Starting Quarterback, Terry Wilson, coming off a Ten win season was hurt in the first couple games or we’d have won ten already this year going for number 11 and wouldn’t even be talking about V Tech!!

I understand you and other fan bases wanting us to be the fly by night team, but we’ve been building a powerhouse SEC program the last five or six years and it’s not turning back. Also, of course it takes time to get respect, we don’t need to be told like we’re children. Believe it or not, we love our Football Program to.

One more thing, the VT/UK thing, pick a school my brother!! Lol. I’m just messing with you a little bit , but seriously, vt is just another one of those teams you flip the channel on when they’re playing. How are you even trying to say they are some football school and we’re not?? Is it because it’s the only sport that anyone there cares about? Well sorry again, but a person can like multiple sports! Just because we’re the greatest Basketball program in the country doesn’t mean we don’t love our SEC FOOTBALL PROGRAM to.

Kentucky: 34
Virginia Tech: 20

 

[The-Hack]

Remind me not to piss Jason off!

Hell, I’m glad of the football perception of Tech.

Beats the hell out of hearing basketball bs during our bowl game, and a victory over Tech might just turn the key to a preseason ranking for next year.

 

[VT/UK Rondo]

I’m happy that you feel good about your program man but no one in the country thinks, talks, or cares about Virginia Tech football. Sorry!! No one here is worried about you all and you’re the one that keeps bringing this up.

Honestly, if not for Michael Vick, no one besides that fan base would even know they have a team. Especially in SEC Country!! Best of luck to you on the 31st though. It’s going to be a good game I believe and hopefully everyone comes out healthy and injury free on both sides.

The only reason we’re not being ranked preseason next year is because of injuries this year to some of our most important players!! Arguably the most important, Our Starting Quarterback, Terry Wilson, coming off a Ten win season was hurt in the first couple games or we’d have won ten already this year going for number 11 and wouldn’t even be talking about V Tech!!

I understand you and other fan bases wanting us to be the fly by night team, but we’ve been building a powerhouse SEC program the last five or six years and it’s not turning back. Also, of course it takes time to get respect, we don’t need to be told like we’re children. Believe it or not, we love our Football Program to.

One more thing, the VT/UK thing, pick a school my brother!! Lol. I’m just messing with you a little bit , but seriously, vt is just another one of those teams you flip the channel on when they’re playing. How are you even trying to say they are some football school and we’re not?? Is it because it’s the only sport that anyone there cares about? Well sorry again, but a person can like multiple sports! Just because we’re the greatest Basketball program in the country doesn’t mean we don’t love our SEC FOOTBALL PROGRAM to.

Kentucky: 34
Virginia Tech: 20

Damn bro, bad Christmas? Well that 11 win healthy season last year and a win over a ranked PSU didnt get a preseason ranking so I'm not sure why anybody would be shocked at a unranked UK this year. And I'm sorry to tell you but beating a unranked VT in a bowl isnt going to help your cause. Until UK wins the SECe with some consistancy, the wins will be considered upsets and you dont gain respect with upsets. Dont be mad at me, just go beat UT, UF, UGA and USC. Until you do, the perception of UK football wont change much outside of the state. Who knows, maybe Gatewood will be UKs Vick and lead them to a title game. Give it time. Enjoy the ride.

 

[UKWildcats#8]

This is something from Bleacher Report...and some of you are actually giving a rat's ass about it. It is a meaningless poll by a meaningless person.

UK will be ranked in the top 25 if they beat FL on the road early next season. If not, we won't be. It is as simple as that.

 

[ACT ONE]

Damn bro, bad Christmas? Well that 11 win healthy season last year and a win over a ranked PSU didnt get a preseason ranking so I'm not sure why anybody would be shocked at a unranked UK this year. And I'm sorry to tell you but beating a unranked VT in a bowl isnt going to help your cause. Until UK wins the SECe with some consistancy, the wins will be considered upsets and you dont gain respect with upsets. Dont be mad at me, just go beat UT, UF, UGA and USC. Until you do, the perception of UK football wont change much outside of the state. Who knows, maybe Gatewood will be UKs Vick and lead them to a title game. Give it time. Enjoy the ride.

While I don't completely disagree with you i do have to ask, how does Indiana get ranked pre-season? What's their football history? Did I miss something? (yes I know it's just bleacher report)

 

[JASUN74]

Damn bro, bad Christmas? Well that 11 win healthy season last year and a win over a ranked PSU didnt get a preseason ranking so I'm not sure why anybody would be shocked at a unranked UK this year. And I'm sorry to tell you but beating a unranked VT in a bowl isnt going to help your cause. Until UK wins the SECe with some consistancy, the wins will be considered upsets and you dont gain respect with upsets. Dont be mad at me, just go beat UT, UF, UGA and USC. Until you do, the perception of UK football wont change much outside of the state. Who knows, maybe Gatewood will be UKs Vick and lead them to a title game. Give it time. Enjoy the ride.

O brother it was a great Christmas. Thanks, I hope you had a good one to bud. Anyway, I am enjoying the ride and talking about it with other Kentucky Football fans on a Kentucky Football site. I still have no idea what you’re trying to accomplish here!! You keep talking about Virginia Tech being something special as a big time Football school and we will never be a football school!! This is wrong!!

When asked why you think that, and Kentucky is only and always just a Basketball School, you keep going back to Kentucky needing to Win the a East a few years in a row, and beat blah, blah, blah! To me and most football fans in the SEC, we are a team on the rise and are very much a Football school too.

Just because the basketball team is historically great doesn’t take anything away from what we’re doing in Football. If You really think that Only people in Kentucky even know we have a team, you may need to pay a little more attention. Now maybe in that little area in Virginia where they’re Tech fans, yeah those 7 or 8 people probably don’t think about Kentucky Football!! Lol.

You are right about one thing though, beating Virginia Tech In football sure isn’t going to be any kind of news. Now you better believe I want to win the game, same as anyone we play! I’ve been a fan of this program for a long long time, if you would’ve said that Kentucky isn’t a Championship Level football school yet, I would’ve been cool with that! But saying we aren’t a football school, well, that’s just your personal opinion.

Since I’m still in the Christmas mood, I’ll just go ahead and say good luck with the game and you have a good one my friend.

 

[fabcat]

I’ve often wondered how people could be a“Fan”of a schools Football program then a “Fan” of another schools Basketball program?
So for instance, when Kentucky plays VT in the Belk Bowl you’re for VT. But when Kentucky plays VT in BB you’re for Kentucky. Just seems odd to me.

I do like to watch other Football programs play. But wouldn’t call myself a fan. Same with BB. Just couldn’t see myself ever cheering for a school in one sport and against them in another. To each it’s own I guess.

As for preseason rankings. In Football they matter more so than in BB. And no way in Hell Indiana has a better Football program than UK. This is our 4th bowl in as many years. We will return 17 starters and have an elite transfer that is eligible. Plus we have another one that if eligible would make us a very good team. No one can with a straight face can prop up Indiana Football and in the same breath devalue Kentucky Football.

 

[VT/UK Rondo]

O brother it was a great Christmas. Thanks, I hope you had a good one to bud. Anyway, I am enjoying the ride and talking about it with other Kentucky Football fans on a Kentucky Football site. I still have no idea what you’re trying to accomplish here!! You keep talking about Virginia Tech being something special as a big time Football school and we will never be a football school!! This is wrong!!

When asked why you think that, and Kentucky is only and always just a Basketball School, you keep going back to Kentucky needing to Win the a East a few years in a row, and beat blah, blah, blah! To me and most football fans in the SEC, we are a team on the rise and are very much a Football school too.

Just because the basketball team is historically great doesn’t take anything away from what we’re doing in Football. If You really think that Only people in Kentucky even know we have a team, you may need to pay a little more attention. Now maybe in that little area in Virginia where they’re Tech fans, yeah those 7 or 8 people probably don’t think about Kentucky Football!! Lol.

You are right about one thing though, beating Virginia Tech In football sure isn’t going to be any kind of news. Now you better believe I want to win the game, same as anyone we play! I’ve been a fan of this program for a long long time, if you would’ve said that Kentucky isn’t a Championship Level football school yet, I would’ve been cool with that! But saying we aren’t a football school, well, that’s just your personal opinion.

Since I’m still in the Christmas mood, I’ll just go ahead and say good luck with the game and you have a good one my friend.

I've been "here" since "here" was a mere Catspause chatroom long before RIvals so I didnt just show up. I've had 3-4 different names and been here for 15 -20 yrs.
Being a dual fan isnt hard because the Hokies and Cats seldom play and have alot of the same rivalry opponents. Not everybody lives and dies in the same house and changing residency/ Crossing state lines doesnt diminish ones fan support. I've had family/ friends attend and play for both UK and VT. I've been to Commonwealth stadium, Rupp and Lane Stadium. And I'm not a bandwagon fan because I've been here through the highs and lows of both programs.
Just because I tell you what you dont want to hear doesnt mean I "hate" UK football. Quiet the opposite. I'm just not a homer and I try to post with unbiased opinions. I see UK as a much better program under Stoops but like it or not outside of the state of Kentucky, until UK starts winning the SECe the perception will be basketball school. Doesnt mean it cant or wont happen just that it hasn't yet. And spare me the "WE"blue unity crap half of these goofballs wanted Stoops gone after the UT game and gave up on bowl eligabilty after the 2nd possession of the Vandy game. Even after the beatdown of Vandy they bitched because Stoops didnt throw the ball more. And I'm here preaching stay with Stoops...stay the course.

 

[WildcatofNati]

Dont want to say I told you so...but i did. Dont matter who wins the bowl game, VT will be preseason top 25 and UK wont. You dont erase decades of winning/losing with a few up or down seasons and one good/bad recruiting class. Perception is everything.

You may be right. But this top 25 is just some blogger's top 25. It doesn't mean much more than any one of our own posters writing out a top 25 for next year.

 

[seccats04]

What does opening against Wisconsin have to do with their ranking? Not sure I understand your point with that one.

You mention that Indiana returns everybody on offense. Have you not looked at what we return on defense? We lose 2 starters(I’m not counting Kash because Oats played just as much if not more than him towards the end of the year) from a unit that was very, very young and very, very good. We do lose Lynn on offense which is big, but bring back all of our running backs and 4 of 5 starters on an offensive line that was one of the best in the country. If you’re going to argue that IU’s returning squad is a reason why they’re ranked then you have to argue that UK’s returning squad is a reason for them to be ranked because we lose a grand total of 5 starters.

Look, I understand why UK isn’t ranked. It doesn’t surprise me or bother me. It’s about perception and Kentucky still isn’t perceived well despite the improvements we’ve made. But, to me at least, if Indiana deserves to be ranked preseason then I think UK does too.

I think the biggest hesitation for voters is LB made the offense go and we were so one dimesional. Now that he's gone they don't see any difference makers on offense. We don't have any stars at RB but we have a very good stable.