Wisconsin Football plummets in latest AP Top 25 poll

Wisconsin Football has taken a nosedive in this week’s AP Top 25, falling well outside the Top 10

After suffering an ugly loss to BYU on Saturday, there was little doubt that Wisconsin Football would take a steep fall in the updated Associated Press Top 25 rankings. The only question was how far.

Badger fans received the answer to that question yesterday when the AP released its latest poll. Unsurprisingly, Wisconsin has fallen from No. 6 in the country all the way down to No. 18.

One of the new arrivals to the Top 25 is the team that came into Camp Randall on Saturday afternoon and crushed the spirits of Badger Nation. The voters put BYU at No. 25 after the Cougars’ monumental victory over Wisconsin, and Badger fans should be hoping that BYU remains ranked as the season wears on so that the loss does not look quite so bad when it comes time to decide the four teams who will be in the College Football Playoff.

If Wisconsin wins out in the regular season and then emerges victorious in the Big Ten Championship Game, a Playoff berth will most likely come to fruition. As my colleague, Tanner, notes in his piece from earlier today, every Power 5 team that has finished with one loss or less and a conference championship has secured a spot in the Playoff in the CFP era.

That being said, even if the Badgers do achieve the remarkable feat of winning the rest of the games on their schedule, there is no guarantee that this trend will continue. If BYU goes on to win, say, less than 8 games on the season, Saturday’s loss could ultimately prove too ugly in the eyes of the Playoff committee to grant a 12-1 Wisconsin a spot, depending on the records of the other teams at the top.

Taking a look around the rest of the Big Ten aside from Wisconsin, the same four teams who held spots in last week’s AP rankings remain in this week’s version.

Ohio State holds steady at No. 4 after a very impressive 40-28 victory over a talented TCU team at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, as the Buckeyes continue to cement their status as one of the top threats to win the national championship this season. Next up is a matchup with Tulane in Columbus that should be over by the end of the first quarter.

Penn State inched up one spot to No. 10 following an easy 63-10 blowout win against Kent State. The Nittany Lions have rebounded well from their poor Week 1 performance against Appalachian State and look like a threat to Ohio State for the East Division crown. They should win easily again this week against Illinois.

Michigan stays one spot behind Wisconsin at No. 19 after a 45-20 win against SMU. The Wolverines will host a struggling Nebraska team on Saturday at the Big House.

The last Big Ten team in the Top 25 is Michigan State, who moved up one spot in the poll despite not playing a game over the weekend. The Spartans will look to move on from their tough loss at Arizona State in Week Two against Central Michigan on Saturday.

Iowa nearly entered the rankings as well after a 38-14 win over Northern Iowa, receiving 64 votes. The Hawkeyes received the most votes of any team not included in the Top 25, so it will essentially be a No. 18 vs. No. 26 showdown when they square off with the Badgers on Saturday night at Kinnick Stadium.

Wisconsin also fell in this week’s Amway Coaches’ Poll, going from No. 6 to No. 16.