Kansas football enters AP poll at No. 19, one slot ahead of No. 20 Kansas State

Kansas is ranked No. 19 and Kansas State No. 20 in this week’s AP Top 25 college football poll.

The Jayhawks (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) have entered the AP rankings for the first time since Oct. 4, 2009. Kansas State (4-1, 2-0) was ranked No. 25 in last week’s poll.

The Big 12 also is represented by Oklahoma State at No. 7 and TCU at No. 17. Baylor is second in the “others receiving votes” category and Oklahoma last of the 15 teams in the others receiving votes category.

KU is 5-0 for the first time since the 2009 season, with wins at home against Tennessee Tech (56-10), Duke (35-27) and Iowa State (14-11) and on the road against West Virginia (55-42, OT) and Houston (48-30).

The No. 19 ranking is Kansas’ 110th appearance on the AP Poll all-time with its highest ranking at No. 2 coming on Nov. 18, 2007. The Jayhawks previously received 125 votes in the week five AP Poll on Sept. 25.

Through five games, Kansas is averaging 41.6 points per game, which ranks No. 12 in the country, while averaging 421.8 total yards of offense.

Kansas linebacker Rich Miller was asked after Saturday’s win over ISU about the possibility of being ranked in the AP poll.

“Honestly, I told Kalon Gervin (teammate) I don’t want to be ranked even if we’re 6-0,” he said. “I love being the underdog, love keeping the chip on my shoulder. That’s how I made it this far, being the underdog. Keep up the underdog — it’s going to keep us hungry. Be careful if you keep us the underdog, though.”

Alabama is No. 1 in the AP poll, followed by Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, Clemson, USC, Oklahoma State, Tennessee, Mississippi, Penn State, Utah, Oregon, Kentucky, North Carolina State, Wake Forest, BYU, TCU, UCLA, Kansas, Kansas State, Washington, Syracuse, Mississippi State, Cincinnati and LSU.

Kansas on Sunday was ranked No. 17 in the USA TODAY/AFCA coaches poll. K-State was ranked 20th in that poll.

K-State will travel to Iowa State Saturday for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff. KU will play host to TCU at 11 a.m. Saturday.