Did Badgers really impress AP top-25 voters?
Coming off a big win at BYU, the Wisconsin Badgers moved up in the latest Associated Press top-25 poll, from No. 10 to 9.
This prompted a couple of headline writers around the web to note how pollsters were "impressed" with Wisconsin.
But was this really the case?
Well, not really.
Wisconsin gained only 38 points from Week 3 to Week 4. Many of those came from voters moving the Badgers up one spot on their ballot.
However, 24 voters kept the Badgers right where they had them last week and six had Wisconsin lower on their ballot compared to last week. (including Safid Deem of the Orlando Sentinel, from 9 to 12).
That's 30 of the 61 voters. I'd say that, plus a minimal gain in votes, hardly constitutes impressing pollsters.
There was one voter who was definitely impressed, however. Pat Caputo of the Oakland Press had Wisconsin at No. 17 on his ballot in Weeks 2 and 3, but moved the Badgers all the way to No. 8 this week. So, yeah, he accounted for nearly one-quarter of Wisconsin's gain in the poll. Impressive.
Here's the complete look at the Week 4 ballots along with the previous two weeks for comparison:
| Voter | Week 4 | Week 3 | Week 2 |
| Garland Gillen, WVUE-TV New Orleans | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| Rob Long, WJFK-FM Washington, D.C. | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| Tony Parks, KZNS Salt Lake City | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Brent Axe, Syracuse Media Group | 7 | 8 | 6 |
| John Adams, Knoxville News Sentinel | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| John Clay, Lexington Herald-Leader | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| Lauren Brownlow, WRAL Baltimore | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| Rick Wright, Albuquerque Journal | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| Ross Dellenger, The Advocate, Baton Rouge | 7 | 8 | 6 |
| Scott Wolf, Los Angeles Daily News | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| Steve Batterson, Quad City Times | 7 | 7 | 9 |
| Adam Jude, Seattle Times | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Adam Zucker, CBS Sports Network | 8 | 9 | 14 |
| Bob Asmussen, Champaign News-Gazette | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| Chris Murray, Reno Gazette-Journal | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| Dave Foster, WZTV Nashville | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| Jason Galloway, Wisconsin State Journal | 8 | 9 | 9 |
| Kellis Robinett, Wichita Eagle | 8 | 11 | 12 |
| Kirk Bohls, Austin American-Statesman | 8 | 7 | 3 |
| Lauren Shute, SEC Country | 8 | 9 | 8 |
| Matt Charboneau, The Detroit News | 8 | 10 | 10 |
| Parrish Alford, Tupelo Daily Journal | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Pat Caputo, Oakland Press | 8 | 17 | 17 |
| Robert Cessna, Bryan-College Station Eagle | 8 | 8 | 10 |
| Sam McKewon, Omaha World-Herald | 8 | 9 | 8 |
| Aaron Suttles, Tuscaloosa News | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Andy Greder, St. Paul Pioneer Press | 9 | 9 | 10 |
| Ed Daigneault, Republican-American | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Eric Hansen, South Bend Tribune | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| Jeff Miller, Orange County Register | 9 | 9 | 11 |
| Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury News | 9 | 8 | 3 |
| Jonny Miller, WBZ Boston | 9 | 10 | 12 |
| Matt McCoy, WTVN-AM Columbus | 9 | 9 | 11 |
| Mitch Vingle, Charleston Gazette-Mail | 9 | 7 | 8 |
| Pat Dooley, Gainesville Sun | 9 | 10 | 16 |
| Robert Gagliardi, Laramie Boomerang | 9 | 9 | 10 |
| Soren Petro, WHB Kansas City | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Chuck Carlton, Dallas Morning News | 10 | 12 | 14 |
| Dave Rearson, Honolulu Star-Advertiser | 10 | 11 | 7 |
| Grace Raynor, The Post and Courier | 10 | 10 | 9 |
| Jerry DiPaola, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | 10 | 12 | 12 |
| Keith Sargeant, NJ.com | 10 | 8 | 10 |
| Marc Weiszer, Athens Banner-Herald | 10 | 10 | 11 |
| Rece Davis, ESPN | 10 | 11 | 13 |
| Scott Hamilton, Winston-Salem Journal | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Terry Hutchens, CNHI Sports Indiana | 10 | 9 | 7 |
| Bill Landis, Cleveland Plain Dealer | 11 | 11 | 10 |
| Bret Bloomquist, El Paso Times | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Brian Howell, Daily Camera | 11 | 12 | 12 |
| David Briggs, Toledo Blade | 11 | 12 | 11 |
| Gary Horowitz, Statesman Journal | 11 | 12 | 12 |
| Jason Butt, Macon Telegraph | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| Matt Brown, Sports On Earth | 11 | 13 | 15 |
| Sammy Batten, Fayettesville Observer | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| Tom Murphy, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | 11 | 12 | 12 |
| Andy Bitter, Roanoke Times | 12 | 13 | 11 |
| Dave Southern, Idaho Statesman | 12 | 14 | 13 |
| Matt Baker, Tampa Bay Times | 12 | 14 | 13 |
| Michael Lev, Arizona Daily Star | 12 | 13 | 15 |
| Ryan Aber, The Oklahoman | 12 | 12 | 8 |
| Safid Deen, Orlando Sentinel | 12 | 9 | 8 |
