Kentucky football received 160 points in the AP poll. Pittsburgh, at No. 25, received 162.
That two-point gap is all that separates the Wildcats from a ranking they held on Saturday morning. It's also what they got for winning at South Carolina the hard way.
They were down 17-0 on the road. Sellers was gashing them, the offense was lost, and the game looked over. Then Jordan Castell forced a fumble, Zouagui kicked a 42-yard field goal to make it 20-10 at the half, and Kenny Minchey found Nic Anderson for a 32-yard touchdown late in the third quarter to make it 24-20. Sellers took the lead back with a fourth-quarter touchdown pass, and Minchey drove 66 yards to set up Zouagui's tying field goal with 4:13 to play.
Overtime. South Carolina scored
first, 34-27. Minchey hit Henry Boyer from six yards out to make it 34-33.
Will Stein, a first-year head coach on the road, could have kicked and played another overtime. He went for two. Minchey threw to tight end Willie Rodriguez in the back of the end zone, and Kentucky won 35-34. It was the largest road comeback in program history. Minchey threw for 272 yards and three touchdowns. Sellers ran for 147 yards and still lost.
Kentucky is 4-1, 2-1 in the SEC. Its one loss came to Alabama, now No. 6. South Carolina is 2-3 and 0-3 in the conference.
The voters saw the 17-0 hole. A comeback doesn't erase it for them, and neither does a two-point conversion.
The league is fine without them. Nine SEC teams are ranked.Texas is No. 1 at 4-0 with 61 first-place votes, after sitting out Saturday's SEC slate.Georgia is No. 2 after beating Vanderbilt 38-14. Alabama is No. 6 after a 56-23 win over Mississippi State, Ole Miss is No. 9 andLSU is No. 10after a 63-14 win over McNeese. Missouri jumped 11 spots to No. 14 with a 45-17 win over Florida, which fell eight to No. 16.Tennessee is No. 15and Mississippi State is No. 17.
What's next:No. 10 LSU,Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, on homecoming night at Kroger Field. LSU has not won in Lexington since the Bluegrass Miracle in 2002. Kentucky has beaten the Tigers there twice since, including a triple-overtime win over the then-No. 1 team in 2007. And Anderson, who caught the go-ahead touchdown Saturday, started his career at LSU.
A second look from the voters is available. The Wildcats just have to beat a top-10 team to get it.
This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: Kentucky gets bumped from the AP Top 25 by two points
