The Wisconsin Badgers have returned to the top 25 of national college football analyst Josh Pate’s weekly rankings.
The Badgers rocketed up to No. 19 overall after their second consecutive blowout victory — the latest a 42-7 win over Rutgers. Wisconsin leaped an entire 20-25 group of SMU, Louisville, Arkansas, Utah, Florida and Boise State.
Related: Badgers Wire staff predictions for Wisconsin Badgers at Northwestern football
Pate lists Wisconsin as his seventh-best Big Ten team, behind Ohio State (No. 1), Oregon (No. 4), Penn State (No. 9), USC (No. 15), Iowa (No. 17) and Indiana (No. 18).
He also emphasis that the list is a power rating as opposed to a power ranking — much like ESPN SP+. It works to evaluate a team solely based on its quality and not on its resume. That explains Ohio State’s place at No. 1 despite losing at Oregon on Saturday.
Here is Pate’s full top 25:
https://twitter.com/JoshPateCFB/status/1846359028231729543
All metric systems have significantly upgraded the Badgers after their back-to-back blowout wins. Wisconsin fans feel as if the team has turned the corner, and most rating systems agree with that sentiment.
Next up for the Badgers is a road trip to Evanston, Illinois on Saturday to face the Northwestern Wildcats. A third consecutive decisive win would push the Badgers to 5-2 on the season and 3-1 in Big Ten play, and could see the team enter the AP Top 25 for the first time this season.
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