College football rankings: How far will Wisconsin fall in AP Top 25 after Illinois loss?
By John Buhler
The Wisconsin Badgers lost on a last-second field goal on the road to the Illinois Fighting Illini. How far will Wisconsin fall in the next Top 25 poll?
Upsets are just part of the college football game, and we got a doozy in Week 8, as the No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers lost on the road to the unranked Illinois Fighting Illini. Illinois got past the Badgers on a game-winning 39-yard field goal off the leg of James McCourt to win in shocking fashion 24-23 in Champaign.
Wisconsin had the best defense in college football entering Saturday’s road game against Big Ten West rival Illinois. Nobody had scored more than 15 points on the Badgers in their first six games of the 2019 campaign. With a big date against the Ohio State Buckeyes on the road in Columbus next week, Wisconsin, unfortunately, overlooked Lovie Smith‘s Illini and succumbed to defeat.
The Badgers can still get to the College Football Playoff but has to beat Ohio State next week in The Horseshoe, as well as go undefeated the rest of the way, including the potential Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis vs. the team that comes out of the Big Ten East.
All we know now is that the Badgers’ loss will impact the top 10 of the upcoming Ap Top 25 Poll. Here is what the top 10 could look like after Wisconsin’s head-scratching loss in Champaign to the Fighting Illini on Saturday afternoon.
Projected AP Top 10 for Week 9
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- LSU Tigers
- Clemson Tigers
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Penn State Nittany Lions
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Florida Gators
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Auburn Tigers
The Alabama Crimson Tide will stay at No. 1 after a complete evisceration of the Tennessee Volunteers on the Third Saturday of October. Assuming the LSU Tigers take care of business against the Mississippi State Bulldogs down in Starkville, the Bayou Bengals will stay at No. 2.
Staying at No. 3 will be the Clemson Tigers, who after struggles in the first half put the division rival Louisville Cardinals out of their misery with a 45-10 victory in Louisville. After wiping the floor against the Northwestern Wildcats in Evanston 52-3 on Friday night, the Ohio State Buckeyes will stay at No. 4 for the time being. There is a chance they leapfrog Clemson into that No. 3 spot.
Moving up to No. 5 would be the undefeated Penn State Nittany Lions, assuming they can get past the No. 16 Michigan Wolverines at Beaver Stadium in University Park in primetime. Dropping a spot from No. 5 to No. 6 would be the Oklahoma Sooners, who crushed the West Virginia Mountaineers in Norman, 52-14.
On bye this week is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They’ll move up from No. 8 to No. 7 as they await their rival Michigan next week. Moving up from No. 9 to No. 7 will be the Florida Gators, who avenged their loss to LSU by beating the South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia on Saturday afternoon 38-27 in the rain.
Assuming they avenge their tough home loss to South Carolina last week, the Georgia Bulldogs will move up from No. 10 to No. 9 if they can put a whooping on the Kentucky Wildcats Between the Hedges, presumably in the rain. And with Wisconsin’s upset loss to Illinois being worse than Georgia’s home loss to South Carolina last week, the Badgers fall entirely out of the top 10.
A one-point loss on the road to a division rival won’t be enough to knock the Badgers out of the Big Ten race, but their wildest Playoff dreams are now on life support. Should they lose in Columbus next week, the Badgers might not even play for a Big Ten West division crown, as the No. 22 Minnesota Golden Gophers are still undefeated under head coach P.J. Fleck.
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