Attention Voters

The Wisconsin Badgers are 5-0. But, ranking them #5 in the country is an absolute joke, even with all the loses by highly-ranked teams last weekend. I know, voters just slide undefeated teams up into spots vacated by teams dropping after losses. But, doesn't it strike you as odd that the #5 team in the country is coming off back-to-back close home wins against Iowa (which sandwiched the Wisconsin game with losses to Iowa State and Indiana) and Michigan State. This is a Wisconsin team that was tied at halftime with the Citadel Bulldogs a week after trailing UNLV 10-9 heading into the 4th quarter before escaping Vegas with a 20-13 win. I realize Wisconsin beat a Pac-10 opponent, but that was WSU in Madison ... the Cougars just lost 48-20 at Arizona.

I hear people talk about looking at the "body of work" for a team. That's a bunch of garbage. It's readily apparent that they look at records and recent results. There's a reason Wisconsin is #24 in the latest Sagarin ratings ... it's because they haven't beaten anyone and they have done so unconvincingly. It's another case of voters rewarding, or at least not punishing, lame non-conference scheduling and ignoring the play on field. The Badgers have at Illinois, at Penn State, at Ohio State and Michigan at home remaining. My guess is that they pick up a couple losses along the way, even in this year's watered down edition of the Big 10. Wisconsin should be behind unbeatens South Florida, Boston College and Kentucky. I'd probably throw them behind a few one-loss teams as well ... Oregon's loss was to Cal. Someone had to lose. Does that mean one of them should fall below mighty Wisconsin? It's asinine. Someone had to lose the South Carolina v. LSU contest as well. Does losing to one of the top 2 teams in the nation really downgrade your stock?

If Wisconsin gets by Illinois and Penn State, then maybe slide them up. If they run the table, keep advancing them. But, to grade their "body of work" as 5th in the nation at this point in the season is absolutely ludicrous.