LEXINGTON, Ky. — For the first time since 1978, the University of Kentucky football team appears in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll. The Cats are also ranked in the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Top 25 preseason poll. 

What You Need To Know

  • Kentucky football named to AP Preseason Poll

  • It is their first appearance since 1978

  • The Cats are also ranked in the USA TODAY coaches poll

  • The team will play eight home games this season

Coach Mark Stoops’ team is ranked No. 20 in the AP poll, only their fifth appearance ever. They are No. 21 in the USA TODAY coaches poll.

The Cats are coming off their second 10-win season in the past four years and have won a school-record fourth straight bowl game. Stoops’ squad finished 2021 with a 10-3 record capped with a victory in the Vrbo Citrus Bowl. Several starters are back on offense and defense and Coach Stoops also has his kicking specialists back.

UK will play eight home games in 2022. The home schedule includes SEC matchups with South Carolina, Mississippi State and defending national champion No. 3 Georgia. The Cats will play Louisville on Nov. 26 at Kroger Field.

Tickets are available online for games at UK. 

Alabama tops the first AP preseason poll, and Ohio State and Georgia followed them.