StaTuesday: The best (and worst) Badgers preseason rankings

By Tom Dierberger
Published

The Associated Press released its preseason Top 25 list for the upcoming season on Monday, and it slotted the Wisconsin Badgers at No. 9 overall.



It marked the ninth time in program history that the Badgers have been ranked a top-10 team before their first game since the preseason poll's debut in 1950.

Of those eight complete seasons, the Badgers lived up to original expectations and finished the season in the top-10 three times: in 1959 and 1954, a pair of seven-win teams coached by Milt Bruhn and Ivy Williamson, respectively, and in 1999.

Wisconsin's best preseason rank came in 2000, just a few months after a 17-9 win in the Rose Bowl over Stanford wrapped up the 10-win 1999 season.

The biggest jump from the preseason to the final AP poll in program history was Bruhn's 8-2 team in 1962 that went from unranked to No. 2 overall, the best season-ending mark for the Badgers.

Wisconsin wasn't ranked in the AP preseason poll from 1964-93.