College Football Rankings 2020: Projected AP Top 25, Week 3

After surviving a 2019 season where they were forced to rely on wide receiver Lynn Bowden Jr. as their starting quarterback, Kentucky might be poised to handle a coronavirus-impacted season more effectively than any other team still playing this fall. Mark Stoops proved last year that he is able to make the best of any situation thrown at the Wildcats. That resilience will boost the way voters see them as they jump into the AP Top 25 this week.

Now that Terry Wilson has recovered from the torn patellar tendon that forced Bowden into taking snaps, he looks poised to make waves in his senior season. In just over one year of starting experience, Wilson completed two-thirds of his passes and threw for 2249 yards. Wilson’s return gives the Wildcats a solid opportunity to remain a thorn in the side of their fellow SEC East rivals.

Their rivalry game against Louisville vanished for the first time since 1993 when the SEC elected to only play within the conference, as did a trio of likely victories against Eastern Michigan, Kent State, and FCS Eastern Illinois. Instead, they must now travel to Tuscaloosa in interdivisional play after the Crimson Tide were added to their expanded league schedule. That could make it tougher to truly challenge for the SEC East crown this year.