Earlier today Brad Crawford of 247Sports released his “Big Ten Power Rankings ahead of the 2020 season” and had Paul Chryst‘s Badgers at No. 5.
Ahead of Wisconsin is Ohio State at No. 1, Penn State at No. 2, Michigan at No. 3 and Minnesota at No. 4.
“Wisconsin will have one of the best defenses in the country in 2020 and it will have an offense that is going to lean on that unit,” the article reads. “Quarterback Jack Coan has proven to be nothing if not efficient and as long as he continues to take care of the football, a committee approach at running back will do enough to get the job done.”
These rankings disagree with those of ProFootballFocus, Athlon Sports, ESPN and others–power rankings which listed the Badgers No. 4, No. 3 and No. 2 respectively among Big Ten teams.
Jeff Potrykus tweeted yesterday that Badger football players will be able to return to campus to begin in-person workouts in the next week or two as Big Ten schools begin to prepare for the 2020 season.
Our #Badgers football should be posted soon but sounds as if players can come back next Monday. Guessing they'll undergo physicals, COVID-19 testing, etc. before they can do anything. Other programs are limiting number of players per workout.
— Jeff Potrykus (@jaypo1961) June 1, 2020
Only time will tell if Wisconsin is truly the No. 5 team in the conference–but as of today it appears that 247Sports is the one outlet that sees it that way, not trusting Jack Coan to get the job done without the services of Jonathan Taylor, Quintez Cephus and other key pieces gone to the NFL or graduation.