Following a one-point loss to the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl, the Wisconsin Badgers finished at No. 13 in the 2019 season’s final edition of the Amway Coaches’ Poll, released Tuesday.
The Badgers would have guaranteed a top-10 finish had they won, but their inability to protect the ball proved decisive in a 28-27 defeat in their first Rose Bowl appearance since the January 2013 game against Stanford. Wisconsin won 10 games and a Big Ten West championship, which will continue to be minimum standards of achievement in Madison. The Badgers were unable to reach a higher standard, which will remain a point of frustration in an offseason which — while it won’t be miserable — certainly could have been a lot happier with wins over Ohio State and Oregon in the final month of the season.
Wisconsin is one of six Big Ten teams to land in the final Amway Coaches’ Poll. The Big Ten Conference didn’t get everything it wanted out of the bowl season, chiefly Ohio State’s and Wisconsin’s close losses in the Fiesta and Rose Bowls, part of the New Year’s Six. However, the bowl wins by Minnesota in the Outback over Auburn and Iowa in the Holiday over USC solidified the Big Ten’s expanded residence in the last top 25 of the Amway Coaches’ Poll until the 2020 preseason.
Ohio State finished No. 3, a deserved ranking after outplaying No. 2 Clemson for large portions of the Fiesta Bowl but falling short. Ohio State was far better than Oklahoma, the other team to lose in the College Football Playoff semifinals this season. The Sooners — who lost to No. 1 national champion LSU — were No. 6 behind No. 4 Georgia and No. 5 Oregon.
Wisconsin — a lot like Ohio State — outplayed its bowl opponent for most of the game, but made huge mistakes to put its fate in the hands of the refs, who didn’t make friendly calls on highly disputed plays. Wisconsin was bitterly unlucky to lose to Oregon, but it certainly made enough mistakes that it can’t entirely lay blame for its loss at the feet of the zebras. The Badgers will have to live with and accept their No. ranking in the final Amway Coaches’ Poll.
Penn State, which defeated Memphis in the Cotton Bowl — also a New Year’s Six game — finished ahead of Wisconsin at No. 9.
Minnesota was No. 10 after its bowl win, giving the Big Ten three top-10 teams in the poll.
Iowa finished 15th after smashing USC, and Michigan finished 19th after losing to Alabama in the Citrus Bowl. The six Big Ten teams in the top 25 were therefore all in the top 20.