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Wisconsin Football: Predicting the Badger’s spot in the Top 25

By Christian Borman

Oct 23, 2020; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; the Wisconsin Badgers gather on the field prior to the game against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 23, 2020; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; the Wisconsin Badgers gather on the field prior to the game against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports /
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Where will Wisconsin football land in the latest Top 25 polls?

Heading into Week 8 of college football, the Wisconsin football team was tied at 14 with North Carolina in the AP Top 25 Poll. The Badgers remained in the polls the past seven weeks, even though they weren’t playing yet. They started at 12 in the preseason poll, but when the Big Ten wasn’t expected to play this fall, no Big Ten teams appeared in the Top 25.

By Week 5, the Big Ten had announced that they were returning. The Big Ten teams returned to the polls and the Badgers were 19th. After a few teams ahead of them lost, Wisconsin football moved up to 16 without even playing a game. They remained there until Week 8, this past week, where they moved all the way up to 12, again, without playing a game.

So really, for not playing a game for several weeks, the Badgers only dropped a couple of spots from their original spot in the Preseason AP Top 25.

The Big Ten was in action this past weekend and it was glorious. Wisconsin and Illinois got to kick it off on the Big Ten Network. Since it was the first Big Ten game, I imagine a lot of fans were watching, whether they were Badger fans or not. The Badgers had a very nice game, coming out and hanging 45 points on the Illini, while the defense didn’t give any points up. The only points Wisconsin gave up were on a turnover by the offense.

This game should help Wisconsin football move up the polls. There were a lot of eyes on their impressive win. So let’s take a look at what happened ahead of Wisconsin and where the Badgers could fall in the Top 25 after Week 8.

I don’t think the top six teams will change. Clemson, Alabama, Notre Dame, Georgia, Ohio State, and Oklahoma State are all likely to stay. All of these teams won on Saturday, except for Georgia who had a bye this week.

Texas A&M was at 7 this week but also had a bye. I would imagine they stick at 7, but I could see number 9 Cincinnati jumping up to 7 after they soundly defeated 16th ranked SMU. Number 8 Penn State lost to Indiana in a crazy game, so it is likely they will fall behind the Badgers.

At 10 was Florida, who also didn’t play this week. Sitting at 2-1, I could see them slipping a spot or two. Miami came in at 11 and defeated Virginia at home. BYU was at 12 and moved to 6-0 on the season after they demolished Texas State, 52-14, so they won’t drop.

The final spot ahead of Wisconsin is 13, which is held by Oregon, who won’t play their first game for a few weeks. Wisconsin also has competition at 14 because they are were tied with North Carolina, who defeated number 21 NC State, 48-21.

So what will happen with Wisconsin in the rankings? Here is how I think the polls will shake out up to Wisconsin.

  1. Clemson (6-0)
  2. Alabama (5-0)
  3. Notre Dame (5-0)
  4. Ohio State (1-0)
  5. Oklahoma State (4-0)
  6. Georgia (3-1)
  7. Cincinnati (4-0)
  8. Texas A&M (3-1)
  9. Miami (5-1)
  10. Florida (2-1)
  11. BYU (6-0)
  12. North Carolina (4-1)
  13. Wisconsin (1-0)

Unfortunately, I don’t think Wisconsin moves up much here. Having only played one game (and against Illinois) will hurt them. North Carolina was a top-5 team last week before they lost. They rebounded by soundly defeating another ranked team.

Once the season goes on, I fully expect Wisconsin football to jump up a bit. They have a favorable schedule and eventually, the teams ahead of them will beat each other up and knock each other down the rankings.

But for now, I think the 13th spot is a reasonable expectation this week. We’ll find out later today where Wisconsin will be for Week 9 when they travel to Nebraska to take on the Huskers.