Win over Iowa gives Badgers a little more juice with some AP voters

Wisconsin needed a bit of a credibility boost.

Breaking a two-game losing streak over then No. 18 Iowa certainly helped.



The Badgers moved up one spot -- from No. 16 to 15 -- in the latest Associated Press top-25 poll, but in the eyes of some voters the win meant more than a small bump.

Eleven AP votes pushed Wisconsin up at least four spots in their ballots compared to the previous week. Of those 11, four moved the Badgers up 5+ positions.

Garland Gillen of WVUE-TV in New Orleans had his eyes opened the most --+ he had Wisconsin at No. 14 after putting the Badgers at No. 25 on his ballot last week. Two weeks ago, Gillen didn’t have UW on his ballot at all.

Other big jumps came from the L.A. Daily News’ Mark Whicker (22 to 14) and CBS Sports Network’s Adam Zucker (21 to 14). Zucker, by the way, had UW at No. 17 two weeks ago then dropped the Badgers four spots during an off week.

Not everyone was in on the Badgers, though. Many kept Wisconsin at the same spot on their ballot while three voters moved UW down a slot. All three voters -- the Tampa Bay Times’ Matt Baker, the Dothan Eagle’s Jon Johnson and Syracuse Media Group’s Nate Mink -- all basically just slotted Minnesota somewhere up top and slid the teams below down one spot.

Wisconsin doesn’t play a ranked team in each of the next two weeks, so moving up will be a tougher case to make, other than those in front of them losing.

Here’s how all the AP voters cast their ballots in Week 12 compared to the last two weeks:

Dave Heller is the author of Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow (a Larry Ritter Book Award nominee), Facing Ted Williams - Players From the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns