Wisconsin back in Top 25 of the JP Poll for first time since preseason
The Badgers have reentered Josh Pate's Top 25-rated football teams.
The Wisconsin football team has seemingly turned a corner after a slow start to the 2024 season. Now that we’ve hit Week 8, the Badgers have reentered the national conversation by climbing back into the latest JP Poll.
After arguably the most dominant two-game stretch of the Luke Fickell era, where the Badgers outscored their last two opponents, Purdue and Rutgers, by a combined score of 94-13, it's beginning to look like they've started forming an identity, and are finally playing complimentary football.Â
In this week's JP Poll Top 25, the 4-2 Badgers are back in the mix, coming in at No. 19 in Josh Pate’s updated ratings—marking their first appearance on the list since the preseason. Wisconsin was initially rated at No. 23 in August.Â
"Wisconsin has suddenly reappeared in the JP Poll, and they're 19," said Pate on his college football show. "They're back to their original preseason rating. They lost the quarterback [Tyler Van Dyke] against Alabama, they got blown out against Alabama, and they've sort of righted the ship. The model has got some supreme Luke Fickell respect right now."
For those unfamiliar with the JP Poll, it’s not your typical ranking based on resumes or Associated Press standings. Instead, Pate's rating model leans heavily on neutral field favorability, analyzing which teams would be favored in a matchup without home-field advantage to tip the scales.Â
Wisconsin will travel to Evanston this weekend to play on a glorified soccer field against a 3-3 Northwestern team led by head coach David Braun, who embarrassed the Badgers 24-10 at Camp Randall Stadium last season.
As it stands, the Badgers are considered 7.5-point favorites against the Wildcats, per FanDuel SportsBook.Â
“It's a really solid football team," Fickell said of Northwestern. "I think they do the things they do really well. They're physical. They play well up front.Â
"I thought last year they controlled the line of scrimmage," Fickell continued. "And when I say they controlled the line of scrimmage, that's probably me not wanting to say that they dominated us up front on both sides of the ball, but in a lot of ways, they dominated us up front on both sides of the ball.
“I don’t know that it’s a different team. Obviously, the QB is different, and there are some personnel things that are different, but it's a very sound football team that doesn't beat themselves."
Notably, the back half of the Wisconsin Badgers schedule features some tough matchups, including games against the JP Poll’s No. 4 Oregon, No. 9 Penn State at home, and No. 17 Iowa on the road.
Wisconsin’s climb back into the Top 25 ratings feels like the start of something bigger. That said, the impending slate of games will determine just how far this program has to go in order to become a legitimate contender.
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