Badgers aren’t ranked after major win over Penn State
· Yahoo Sports
The Wisconsin Badgers secured the biggest win of the Luke Fickell era on Saturday when it upset the No. 13 Penn State Nittany Lions on the road. It was one of the more impressive wins of any team so far this season, and it came after the Badgers were down 17.
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Wisconsin scored multiple touchdowns over the final minutes of the second half, while its defense made a number of key stops to give the Badgers the upset and improve their record to 3-1 on the season.
Given the magnitude of the win, many thought the Badgers would get ranked in Week 5 of the AP Poll. But Wisconsin narrowly missed out, ending up as the top team receiving votes. Here’s the full ranking:
1. Texas
2. Georgia
3. Notre Dame
4. Miami
5. Ohio State
6. Indiana
7. Alabama
8. Florida
9. Ole Miss
10. BYU
11. LSU
12. Texas Tech
13. Utah
14. Iowa
15. Oregon
16. Mississippi State
17. Tennessee
18. USC
19. Oklahoma State
20. Houston
21. SMU
22. Boise State
23. UCLA
24. Kentucky
25. Missouri
The AP Poll has been quite controversial this season, and this week’s was no different. Easily the most shocking was Missouri remaining in the Top 25.
While the Tigers are 3-1, they just blew a lead in a 31-24 loss to Mississippi State. And they haven’t had a key win yet. Instead, they beat two bad teams (Arkansas Pine-Bluff and Kansas) and struggled against Troy. Wisconsin’s win over Penn State (plus the same 3-1 record) feels like a better resume.
Kentucky is also 3-1, and they also don’t have a ranked win, as Texas A&M has looked rough, dropping out of the rankings entirely this week. Their other two wins came against Youngstown State and South Alabama, while the Wildcats also lost 45-17 to Alabama.
There are several Big Ten teams in this week’s version of the rankings. While Penn State fell out completely from No. 13 and Michigan fell from No. 18 after their loss to Iowa, there are six teams from the conference in the AP Top 25: Ohio State (No. 5), Indiana (No. 6), Iowa (No. 14), Oregon (No. 15), USC (No. 18), and UCLA (No. 23).
Ohio State’s lone loss has been to No. 1 Texas so far. Indiana narrowly avoided a disaster against Northwestern this weekend, but were only bumped down one spot. Iowa climbed three spots after beating Michigan. Oregon moved up five spots for beating USC, who fell from No. 12 to No. 18. And USC was a new entry, as they massacred Maryland 54-3 to start 4-0 in the Bob Chesney era.
A win next weekend over Michigan State, coupled with a loss in the back end of the Top 25, likely gets the Badgers into the rankings next week (and perhaps that’ll happen regardless with a win anyways). Wisconsin hasn’t been ranked since 2023, when they entered the season at No. 19 in the AP Poll.