Even if the Big Ten won’t be playing football this fall there still will be preseason rankings to react to and analyze.
Though not necessary, the AP informed its weekly poll voters that the rankings are allowed to include teams not from the three conferences currently set to play this fall–those three being the ACC, SEC and Big 12.
Well, the Badgers fall into the group of the teams set to not play a season and by all accounts were going to be ranked in the nation’s top-25, or even top-20.
One writer at least–Stadium’s Brett McMurphy–was even higher on the Badgers than that, and still has them ranked No. 10 in his preseason poll.
My @AP_Top25 preseason ballot. Poll out Monday! We were told to consider teams WHETHER THEY PLAY OR NOT
1-Clem
2-OhSt
3-Bama
4-UF
5-OU
6-Ore
7-PSU
8-LSU
9-UGA
10-Wis
11-A&M
12-ND
13-USC
14-Aub
15-ISU
16-Texas
17-OkSt
18-Mich
19-UNC
20-UCF
21-Wash
22-Utah
23-Iowa
24-Tenn
25-VT— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 20, 2020
As seen above Paul Chryst’s unit is the No. 3-ranked team in the Big Ten behind Ohio State at No. 2 and Penn State at No. 7.
How these rankings progress while 60 percent of the Power Five plays games is yet to be seen. But according to McMurphy’s preseason the Badger unit is the best the program has entered a season with since the 2018 team–one which obviously fell short of preseason expectations.
I guess if you aren’t playing you can’t fall in the rankings right? I guess only time will tell.
To continue to follow the developments surrounding the Big Ten season and college football in general check back in to BadgersWire every day and follow the site on twitter @TheBadgersWire.