Wisconsin Football Comes in at No. 12 in Coaches Poll

The USA Today Coaches Poll has been released, and the Wisconsin Football program is in at No. 12.

Watch lists have been announced, the Big Ten’s revised schedule has been released, and now, USA Today has posted their Amway Coaches Poll rankings with the Wisconsin Football program clocking in just outside of the top-10 at No. 12.

The top-10 shakes out pretty much as you’d expect. Clemson, Ohio State, and Alabama make up the top-3. Followed by Georgia, LSU, and Oklahoma. Then the top-10 is rounded out by Penn State, Florida, Oregon, and Notre Dame, all teams that everyone expects to be very good this season.

Just ahead of the Badgers at No. 11 is Auburn, and I mean just ahead as they are only 11 points in front of Wisconsin. As far as the Big Ten Conference goes, the Badgers are one of six Big Ten teams in the top-25 and the third-highest ranked team behind the aforementioned Ohio State and Penn State.

Starting the season at No. 12, the Badgers will have a great opportunity to make a push at the top-4 and the College Football Playoffs, especially with the schedule that they have. With the Big Ten reworking the football schedules, Wisconsin had Rutgers added, and overall their opponent’s 2019 record of 36-54 is the easiest in the conference.

Now, of course, as we saw last year against Illinois, no game should be taken lightly, but there is certainly a realistic possibility that the Badgers could end up 9-1 or even 10-0 this season.

On offense, the Badgers will have to replace the lost production from Quintez Cephus and Jonathan Taylor, both of whom are now in the NFL. While defensively, Wisconsin is without two big playmakers from 2019 in Zack Baun and Chris Orr, who are both also in the NFL.

However, as we’ve seen throughout the years, the Badgers just about always find a way to reload. This season their secondary is one of the best in the Big Ten, and they still have Jack Sanborn at linebacker as well as Isaiahh Loudermilk upfront.

And as always seems to be the case, there are new offensive linemen and running backs that step up. Not to mention that this season, Wisconsin has several up and coming receivers in Chimere Dike, Stephan Bracey, and A.J. Abbott vying for playing time.

It seems that with every passing year, the expectations for this Badgers team are higher than they were the year before, and that’s no different in 2020. Starting off the new season in the top-15 would put them in a great position to make a run at the playoffs.