For the second time in three weeks, the No. 6 team in college football has been upset. This time, it’s Wisconsin falling to BYU and now they’ll fall in the AP Top 25.
Wisconsin missed the game-tying field goal with less than a minute remaining in the fourth quarter to lose to BYU, 24-21. BYU, a 23-point underdog used a pair of timeouts to ice Lou Groza candidate, Alex Gaglione, who pushed the 42-yard try wide left.
The Badgers began the year as a potential College Football Playoff team as the highest ranked Big Ten team in the preseason AP Top 25.
Fast forward three weeks later and Wisconsin’s playoff hopes may already be dashed unless they run the table and win the Big Ten Championship. In the short-term, Paul Chryst’s team is about to plummet in the AP Top 25 poll that will come out Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.
DOWN GOES NO. 6 WISCONSIN! pic.twitter.com/Ooo2oSwR8f
— ESPN (@espn) September 15, 2018
Just how far will Wisconsin fall in the Top 25 after losing to BYU?
At the time of publishing, there are games in progress and games yet to be played, but it’s safe to say Wisconsin will fall well out of the top 10 and will most likely settle in the mid-teens. That will amount to about an 8-10 spot drop in the rankings.
Here’s how I think the Top 10 shakes out. This means I have Ohio State, Auburn and Washington winning their games tonight.
- Alabama
- Clemson
- Georgia
- Ohio State
- Oklahoma
- Stanford
- LSU
- Penn State
- Washington
- Notre Dame
The next tier is where things get tricky because Virginia Tech and West Virginia had their games canceled due to Hurricane Florence. Previously No. 6 Auburn lost by 1 on a field goal as time expired to LSU, who will move into the top 10, so I think they’ll be ahead of Wisconsin by virtue that their loss was better. And I think No. 15 TCU will lose to Ohio State later tonight. Neither of those teams should be penalized for losing to those quality opponents, unlike Wisconsin who lost as 23-point favorites.
Therefore, I have
All four of those teams ahead of Wisconsin in some order and No. 16 Mississippi State is one of the most underrated teams in the country who should be ranked ahead of the Badgers.
I think the floor for Wisconsin is No. 16 with the best-case scenario slotting Wisconsin in the 11-12 range.