Badger of Honor
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Wisconsin Football Ranks High in AP Poll

ByNoah Seligman|
MADISON, WI - OCTOBER 15: Alex Hornibrook
MADISON, WI - OCTOBER 15: Alex Hornibrook

Wisconsin Badger football earns a lofty perch in the first AP Poll of the 2017 college football season.

The inaugural Associated Press top 25 poll of the college football season is kind to Wisconsin.  The Badgers rank 9th overall with 926 ranking points.  Per usual, Alabama is the top overall team with The Ohio State narrowly edging out Florida State for the 2nd spot.

Defending Big Ten champion Penn State is 6th.  The only other Big Ten team in the AP Poll is 11th-ranked Michigan.  So that’s four Big Ten teams clustered in the AP top 11.

The good news for Wisconsin fans is that the other three ranked conference teams all reside in the Big Ten East.  The better news is the only AP-ranked team on the Badger schedule is Michigan.  The Wolverines have to visit Camp Randall this season.

Related Story: USA Today Coaches Poll and Badger Football

We now have three national college football preseason polls to consider.  Yet, they’ve been fairly consistent in their views of Wisconsin football.  Therefore, lets toss in a few “power rankings” as well to try and gain a broader composite.

A little basic arithmetic computes that average ranking of 10.6 for the Wisconsin Badgers.  As defending Big Ten East champs that seems like a fair overall score.  Wisconsin still returns a lot of valuable pieces on both sides of the ball.  In addition, the Badgers welcome some new faces to the offensive backfield who should keep the ground game churning.

Wisconsin is positioned well in the preseason polls to stay in serious contention for the college football playoff.  There be some mild ranking ripples at the top with Alabama and Florida State squaring off in week one.  The next week The Ohio State and Oklahoma meet.

Related Story: Snap Reactions to Sports Illustrated Top 25

As Jesse Temple noted on twitter, the Badgers have its highest AP rank since 2007. However, that season Wisconsin finished just 9-4 losing to Tennessee in the Outback Bowl.  Therefore, enjoy the high AP ranking now.  But much like an eye-melting solar eclipse, lets not stare at it too long.