AP voter explains why he has Badgers at No. 14

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With two teams ahead of it in the Associated Press top-25 poll losing -- both then-No 3 Oklahoma and then-No. 7 Michigan were defeated at home-- the Wisconsin Badgers moved up the requisite two spots in this week's poll, from No. 9 to No. 7.



Wisconsin gained nearly 100 votes in the process and all but two AP voters had the Badgers in the top 10, compared to 17 who had UW outside the top 10 last week.

Eight voters have Wisconsin in the top five, with one, the Albuquerque Journal's Rick Wright penciling in the Badgers at No. 4. Interestingly, the Omaha World-Herald's Sam McKewon, who had a front-row seat for Saturday's Wisconsin victory over Nebraska, moved the Badgers up two spots on his ballot from last week to No. 5.

But at the other end of the ballot, both Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times and the San Jose Mercury Nwws' Jon Wilner left Wisconsin in the same spot they had the Badgers in Week 6 -- at Nos. 12 and 14, respectively.

In his weekly explanation of his ballot, Baker didn't bring up Wisconsin.

Wilner also posts his ballot online every week and he gave his reasoning for placing the Badgers so low. For Wilner, who had Wisconsin at No. 5 in his preseason ballot and No. 3 after the first game of the season, says it is all about who the Badgers have played.

"… the schedule thus far does not justify a spot in the top 10," Wilner wrote. "Utah State, Florida Atlantic, BYU, Northwestern and Nebraska is a fairly soft quintet.

"It won’t get much better for the Badgers, who face Purdue, Maryland, Illinois and Indiana over the next month.

"They get Michigan in November but don’t play Ohio State or Penn State because of the Big Ten rotation.

"That schedule is one of the reasons I slotted the Badgers for No. 5 preseason: They should win 10 or 11 games."

No matter what you think of Wilner's ranking -- and he is an outlier among AP voters -- his explanation is valid, at least for his thinking. Wisconsin hasn't exactly played a murderer's row (especially when you compare it to UW's 2016 schedule). It's hard to imagine any of them having been charged with a felony.

Here's the complete look at the Week 7 ballots along with the previous two weeks for comparison: