How they voted: Badgers in 2016 AP football poll (Week 15)
Playing in a conference championship game has a lot of benefits, of course. But losing also ca be costly.
In the case of the Wisconsin Badgers, besides the addition in the L column in their record, UW went down a slot in the bowl lineup and slipped in the latest Associated Press top-25 poll.
The good news, or silver lining, I guess, is that Wisconsin still gets to play in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2 and moved down just two spots in the AP poll to No. 8.
While the Badgers are at No. 8 overall, Wisconsin actually received more votes on ballots in the 9-11 range than 7-8.
There's nothing really egregious on the ballot this week -- worst was Wisconsin dropping five or six spots, but no lower than 11.
Interestingly, one voter -- Patrick Brown -- moved the Badgers up one spot, from 9 to 8, and two voters kept Wisconsin at No. 7.
We don't track the coaches poll during the year, but in their final vote the ballots are released. The Badgers were also No. 8 in that poll. No one had UW higher than No. 8 on their ballot, but Notre Dame's Brian Kelly ranked the Badgers No. 12, Washington State's Mike Leach had UW at 13 and Mississippi State's Dan Mullen amazingly ranked Wisconsin 15th (he also had Auburn 9th and LSU 11th, for what it's worth).
Former Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema, now at Arkansas, ranked the Badgers 10th. Paul Chryst had the Badgers at No. 8. Chryst had Michigan 5, Penn State 6 and Oklahoma 7. He also had Western Michigan at No. 12 (Broncos head coach P.J. Fleck is not one of the voters in the poll, by the way.)
Here's a look at this week's AP poll ballots with a comparison to last week:
| Voter | Week 15 | Week 14 |
|---|---|---|
| Bill Landis, Cleveland Plain Dealer | 7 | 7 |
| Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury News | 7 | 6 |
| Josh Kendall, The State | 7 | 2 |
| Matt Porter, Palm Beach Post | 7 | 7 |
| Mike Barber, Richmond Times-Dispatch | 7 | 5 |
| Tony Parks, KZNS | 7 | 6 |
| Andy Greder, St. Paul Pioneer Press | 8 | 5 |
| Brian Howell, Daily Camera | 8 | 6 |
| Chris Murray, Reno Gazette-Journal | 8 | 6 |
| Dana Sulonen, Opelika-Auburn News | 8 | 6 |
| Ed Daigneault, Republican-American | 8 | 4 |
| Eric Hansen, South Bend Tribune | 8 | 4 |
| Gary Horowitz, Statesman Journal | 8 | 7 |
| Jason Galloway, Wisconsin State Journal | 8 | 5 |
| Jerry DiPaola, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | 8 | 6 |
| Jimmy Burch, Fort Worth Star-Telegram | 8 | 6 |
| Joey Knight, Tampa Bay Times | 8 | 4 |
| John Clay, Lexington Herald-Leader | 8 | 5 |
| John Shinn, The Norman (Okla.) Transcript | 8 | 5 |
| Matt Charboneau, The Detroit News | 8 | 4 |
| Matt Galloway, Topkea Capital-Journal | 8 | 6 |
| Michael Bonner, Jackson Clarion-Ledger | 8 | 6 |
| Mitch Vingle, Charleston Gazette-Mail | 8 | 7 |
| Patrick Brown, Chattanooga Times Free Press | 8 | 9 |
| Robert Cessna, Bryan-College Station Eagle | 8 | 7 |
| Steve Batterson, Quad City Times | 8 | 6 |
| Steve Wiseman, Durham Herald-Sun | 8 | 7 |
| Tom Murphy, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | 8 | 6 |
| Adam Zucker, CBS Sports Network | 9 | 6 |
| Brett McMurphy, ESPN | 9 | 6 |
| Chuck Carlton, Dallas Morning News | 9 | 5 |
| Dave Southern, Idaho Statesman | 9 | 7 |
| David Briggs, Toledo Blade | 9 | 7 |
| Ed Johnson, Albuquerque Journal | 9 | 7 |
| Ferd Lewis, Honolulu Star-Advertiser | 9 | 6 |
| Graham Watson, Yahoo Sports | 9 | 4 |
| Jeff Miller, Orange County Register | 9 | 5 |
| Joe Walljasper, Columbia Tribune | 9 | 8 |
| Keith Sargeant, NJ.com | 9 | 6 |
| Kirk Bohls, Austin American-Statesman | 9 | 4 |
| Matt McCoy, WTVN-AM Columbus | 9 | 6 |
| Michael Lev, Arizona Daily Star | 9 | 6 |
| Nathan Deen, Savannah Morning News | 9 | 6 |
| Pat Caputo, Oakland Press | 9 | 6 |
| Ross Dellenger, The Advocate, Baton Rouge | 9 | 4 |
| Sam McKewon, Omaha World-Herald | 9 | 6 |
| Scott Wolf, Los Angeles Daily News | 9 | 6 |
| Adam Jude, Seattle Times | 10 | 6 |
| Bob Asmussen, Champaign News-Gazette | 10 | 6 |
| Garland Gillen, WVUE-TV New Orleans | 10 | 6 |
| Joe Dubin, WSMV-TV | 10 | 5 |
| Mandy Mitchell, WRAL-TV | 10 | 4 |
| Marc Weiszer, Athens Banner-Herald | 10 | 6 |
| Marq Burnett, SEC Country | 10 | 7 |
| Pete DiPrimio, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel | 10 | 5 |
| Rob Long, WJFK-FM Washington, D.C. | 10 | 6 |
| Robert Gagliardi, Wyoming Tribune Eagle | 10 | 6 |
| Scott Hamilton, Winston-Salem Journal | 10 | 4 |
| Brent Axe, Syracuse Post-Standard | 11 | 6 |
| Garry Smits, Florida Times-Union | 11 | 6 |
| Jonny Miller, WBZ News Radio | 11 | 5 |
Dave Heller is the author of the upcoming book Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow as well as 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
