For the second straight week Wisconsin dropped one spot in the Associated Press top-25 poll.
The Badgers opened the season at No. 4, moved to No. 5 after Week 2 and are now No. 6 following Week 3's games.
The vast majority of voters kept Wisconsin in the same position on their ballot as the previous week, but while only one voter moved the Badgers up (Dylan Sinn, from 5 to 4), 18 slid UW down. This caused Wisconsin to go from 1,258 points in Week 2 to 1,227 in Week 3.
Why?
We mentioned this last week, but some of it is a market correction, per se. Ohio State is likely a big factor in this. I know one AP voter I talked with before the season said he was moving the Buckeyes down on his preseason ballot because of the uncertainly surrounding Urban Meyer's situation. Many of those who moved Wisconsin down this week have Ohio State ranked higher on their ballot.
But Ohio State (which went from 1,262 points to 1,288) certainly isn't the only reason.
Oklahoma, with big wins over Florida Atlantic and UCLA, also got a bump this past week, going from 1,251 points to 1,263, and is another team often ranked ahead of Wisconsin on ballots.
In addition, half of the voters who moved Wisconsin down dropped the Badgers more than one slot, and of those four have UW ranked seventh or lower:
Matt Brown, from 5 to 7, has Auburn 5 and Ohio State 6.
Steve Virgen, from 3 to 8, has Auburn 3, Clemson 4, Georgia 5, Notre Dame 6 and Oklahoma 7.
Brett McMurphy, from 7 to 9, has Stanford (wins over San Diego State and USC) 7 and Notre Dame (close wins over Michigan and Ball State, which was 2-10 last year) 8.
Joey Kaufman, from 7 to 11 (!), has Washington (1-1, with its win over FCS North Dakota) 7, Notre Dame 8, LSU 9 (wins over Miami and FCS Southeastern Louisiana) and Stanford 10.
Granted, Wisconsin's schedule has not been filled with powerhouses, which isn't helping its cause. Expect more of the same next week if the Badgers beat BYU … then wait and see what happens if UW can go into Iowa and beat the Hawkeye in a night game. A victory there should give the Badgers some poll cred.
Here’s the complete rankings from this week with a comparison to the voting from the preseason and Week 2:
| Voter | Week 3 | Week 2 | Preseason |
| Bob Asmussen, Champaign News-Gazette | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Conor O'Neill, Winston-Salem Journal | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Ryan Aber, The Oklahoman | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Steve Batterson, Quad City Times | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Adam Jude, Seattle Times | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| Andy Greder, St. Paul Pioneer Press | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Blake Toppmeyer, Knoxville News Sentinel | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Brandon Marcello, 247 Sports | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| Brian Howell, Daily Camera | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Don Williams, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Dylan Sinn, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| Eric Hansen, South Bend Tribune | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Lauren Brownlow, WRAL Baltimore | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Michael Lev, Arizona Daily Star | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Pat Dooley, Gainesville Sun | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Robert Cessna, Bryan-College Station Eagle | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Sean Manning, The Dominion Post | 4 | 4 | n/a |
| David Briggs, Toledo Blade | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Garry Smits, Florida Times-Union | 5 | 5 | n/a |
| Gary Horowitz, Statesman Journal | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| John Bednarowski, Marietta Daily Journal | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Johnny Miller, WBZ Radio | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Matt Baker, Tampa Bay Times | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| Sam McKewon, Omaha World-Herald | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| Scott Hamilton, Winston-Salem Journal | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Tom Murphy, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Tony Parks, KZNS Salt Lake City | 5 | 4 | 6 |
| Aaron McMann, Mlive Media Group | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| Ben Jones, Tuscaloosa News | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| Ferd Lewis, Honolulu Star-Advertiser | 6 | 4 | 7 |
| Jason Galloway, Wisconsin State Journal | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Jerry DiPaola, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Jim Alexander, The Press Enterprise | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| Keith Sargeant, NJ.com | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Marc Weiszer, Athens Banner-Herald | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| Matt McCoy, WTVN-AM Columbus | 6 | 6 | 3 |
| Rob Long, WJFK-FM Washington, D.C. | 6 | 6 | 8 |
| Robert Gagliardi, Laramie Boomerang | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press | 7 | 7 | 9 |
| Chuck Carlton, Dallas Morning News | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Dave Southorn, Idaho Statesman | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Garland Gillen, WVUE-TV New Orleans | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Grace Raynor, The Post and Courier | 7 | 7 | 5 |
| Matt Brown, The Athletic | 7 | 5 | 4 |
| Mike Barber, Richmond Times-Dispatch | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| Neill Ostrout, Journal Inquirer | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| Rachel Richlinski, WLBT/FOX 40 | 7 | 7 | 13 |
| Scott Rabalais, The Advocate | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Soren Petro, WHB Kansas City | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| Steve Layman, WTVF-TV Nashville | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Brent Axe, Syracuse Media Group | 8 | 8 | 4 |
| Chris Murray, Reno Gazette-Journal | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| Kellis Robinett, Wichita Eagle | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Rece Davis, ESPN | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| Steve Virgen, Albuquerque Journal | 8 | 3 | 3 |
| Brett McMurphy, Stadium Network | 9 | 7 | 3 |
| John Clay, Lexington Herald-Leader | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury News | 9 | 8 | 3 |
| Kirk Bohls, Austin American-Statesman | 9 | 9 | 6 |
| Bill Landis, Cleveland Plain Dealer | 10 | 10 | 8 |
| Joey Kaufman, Southern Cal News Group | 11 | 7 | 5 |
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
