Wisconsin still has more to prove after disappointing AP Top 25 release

There was a strong case to be made that Wisconsin deserves to be ranked in the AP Top 25 after four consecutive wins, with two of them on the road, and one of those road wins was a huge win over No. 2 Michigan (at the time). The Wolverines are now ranked No. 3, and the Badgers still have a top-5 win on their resume. The math actually worked out for Wisconsin to be ranked, but the Badgers literally just missed out.

Wisconsin fell just a few votes short of being in the Top 25. They are tied with St. John's as the top vote getters (outside of the Top 25) with 64 votes. However, there was and still is a strong case for Wisconsin to be inside the cut line. Here's what happened...

Wisconsin barely misses inclusion on the AP Top 25 this week, falling a few votes short

Last week, the bottom of the Top 25 all fell off; Utah State, Tennessee, and Seton Hall all lost, opening up three spots in the rankings. The math worked out that Wisconsin, being one of the top vote-getters from last week, would get in. However, they didn't, so who took their spot?

Well, Saint Louis was one of the teams that should have been ahead of Wisconsin and they did, they jumped into the rankings at No. 24. The other two teams that jumped in was Kansas who knocked off No. 2 Iowa State and then beat Baylor in the same week, jumped all the way to No. 19. The other was Miami (OH) who hasn't lost yet this year.

Thus, they just missed out. Wisconsin ideally should be ahead of both Saint Louis and Miami (OH), and if Wisconsin played either, it would win. However, it's hard in week 11 to not include an unbeaten team, and Saint Louis has won 11 in a row.

Wisconsin also needs to continue to prove that they are the real deal after an up-and-down start to the season, losing all quad-1 games until No. 2 Michigan. Now, the Badgers will have Penn State and USC this week to prove it.