Wisconsin Football falls in Week Two AP poll

The Associated Press came out with its Top 25 rankings for Week Two earlier today, and Wisconsin Football has taken a fall from last week.

Wisconsin Football may have beat Western Kentucky handily last week, but that victory was not enough reason for the AP voters to keep the Badgers at No.4 in their rankings today.

Despite its 34-3 win in the season opener, Wisconsin has been jumped by Ohio State in this week’s AP Top 25, moving down one spot to No.5.

The Buckeyes had a very impressive victory on Saturday, beating down Oregon State by a 77-31 margin in the absence of suspended head coach Urban Meyer. After that display of dominance, it is abundantly clear that their off-field issues will not make this team anything less than the title-contending juggernaut it always is.

The rest of the Top 5 remains the same from last week, with Alabama at the top spot followed by Clemson and Georgia. Miami (FL) fell all the way from No.8 to No. 22 after its embarrassing defeat at the hands of LSU, and Wisconsin’s Big Ten foe Penn State fell from No. 10 to No. 13 after needing an overtime period to pull out a win against Appalachian State in Happy Valley.

Notre Dame (No. 8) and Stanford (No.10) moved into the top ten in the places of the Hurricanes and Nittany Lions, respectively.

Wisconsin fans will not be pleased to see the Badgers drop in the poll despite an easy Week 1 victory. And to the benefit of their hated rivals from Ohio State no less. However, there are two things to keep in mind here.

First, while it pains me to say, after seeing what the Buckeyes did to Oregon State it’s difficult to argue that the Badgers are a better team than Ohio State at this early point in the season.  The Beavers may very well be the worst team in the Pac 12, but they are still a Power 5 program, and scoring 77 points is a remarkable achievement regardless of who you play. While it was obviously awesome as a fan to see Wisconsin at that No. 4 spot to start the season, the Buckeyes probably should have been ranked ahead of the Badgers in my opinion.

Second, the fall may wound the Badgers’ pride, but that’s about the only impact this move will have on their pursuit of a College Football Playoff berth. Nothing changes for Wisconsin: win enough games to get to the Big Ten Championship, beat their foe from the East division, and they will achieve their CFP goal.

All in all, Wisconsin is still a Top 5 team in the nation and that is something fans should still be very proud of.

There was some positive poll-related news for Wisconsin on Tuesday, as the Badgers did move up from No.7 to No.6 in the Amway Coaches Poll. In order, they trail Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State, and Oklahoma in those rankings.