On a week when only No. 1 held steady, the AP poll made plenty of moves that didn’t sit right, and a few teams ended up with a legitimate gripe about where they landed.
Houston is the clearest case. The Cougars absorbed a hard double-overtime loss one week after knocking off Notre Dame, but that kind of result has not been a deal-breaker for everyone else.
Ohio State, Georgia, and Notre Dame have all taken losses that went down to the wire, and all of them are still ranked above Houston. The Cougars fell from No. 2 to No. 8, which was expected to some extent.
But landing six spots behind several other one-loss teams, including the one they beat a week earlier, feels harsh.
The Big 12 got treated rough too, and Texas Tech may have been hit the hardest. The Red Raiders were coming off a first loss, a two-score defeat to Cincinnati, and dropped from No. 8 to No.
- That put them behind several two-loss teams: Alabama, Texas, and Ole Miss.
Alabama had lost by 16 points a week earlier, Texas had fallen to a pair of then-unranked teams, and Ole Miss had been blasted by more than three scores in the Florida loss. By comparison, Tech’s placement looks light.
Tennessee also took a frustrating tumble. The Vols suffered a late loss to South Carolina and slid five spots, even though the same Alabama team Tennessee beat by 16 points last week now sits six places ahead of them.
South Carolina has already been a problem for poll logic this season, with Kentucky’s win in Columbia earlier in the year followed by a drop in the rankings. Still, Tennessee landing behind the other two-loss SEC teams was a strange call.
Wisconsin was the final team with a real case. The Badgers just barely cracked the top 25 after moving to 5-2 and taking down the previously No.
16 USC Trojans. They had already beaten the then-No.
13 Penn State Nittany Lions. In both cases, the ranking fallout for the losers made Wisconsin’s wins look less impressive than they should have.
But with losses only to Notre Dame and UCLA, the Badgers have put together a solid season, and a win at Iowa next week could leave them staring at a 10-2 finish. For now, though, they probably belong higher than No.
In Other News...
Mike Tressel Picked The Perfect Weekend To Make Wisconsin Fans Notice
Mike Tressel got a bit of national recognition this week after CBS Sports named him defensive coordinator of the week for the way Wisconsin handled USC. It was the kind of performance that tends to get noticed around Madison, especially when the Badgers are trying to show their defense can still set the tone in a game against a marquee opponent.
Around the same time, two former Wisconsin defensive coordinators, Dave Doeren at NC State and Dave Aranda at Baylor, were fired from their head coaching jobs. Both have had mixed results in recent years and remain under contract with their schools, which only adds another layer to a complicated coaching tree that Wisconsin fans know well. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin's USC Win Sparked A New Debate Over Its Biggest Difference-Makers
Wisconsins win over USC gave the Badgers more than a satisfying result on the scoreboard. It also offered another look at which players were driving the game in the biggest moments, with Pro Football Focus grades and the stat sheet helping sort out who made the strongest case for impact in the 24-7 home victory.
Sebastian Cheeks stood out in a disruptive defensive effort, piling up 2.5 sacks and six quarterback pressures, while Matthew Jung led the way with six tackles and three pass breakups. Chris Brooks Jr. also made his mark with a touchdown catch, and the broader ranking of 11 players reflected just how many different Badgers contributed to one of the teams more complete performances of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin Just Made A Statement USC Fans Wont Forget
Camp Randall had the kind of night Wisconsin has been chasing for years, with the Badgers flattening No. 15 USC 24-7 behind a defense that controlled the game from start to finish. The win pushed Wisconsin to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten play, and it also sent the Badgers back into the AP Top 25 for the first time in more than three years, a reminder that this team is starting to look like a factor again.
The numbers tell the story even before the final score does. USC managed just seven points, the fewest ever by a Lincoln Riley-coached team, and the Trojans finished with minus-17 rushing yards in one of those old-school Big Ten outings Wisconsin seems to specialize in when it gets rolling. For a program trying to reestablish itself on the national stage, this was the kind of statement win that resonates well beyond one Saturday night. [Read more 🡒]