Wisconsin now a top-three team in Amway Coaches, AP Top 25 polls

A 31-0 blowout win over Minnesota, along with a couple of losses by Alabama and Miami at the top, allowed the Wisconsin Badgers to move up in two major polls.

Wisconsin is now No. 3 in both the Amway Coaches and AP Top 25 poll that were released on Sunday.

UW actually received the second-most first-place votes in the coaches poll (21), only trailing No. 1 Clemson (25) in that category. No. 2 Oklahoma gained eight more points (1,462 to 1,454) overall to skim ahead of the Badgers.

Here is where the Big Ten teams stand in this particular ranking system:

• Wisconsin (No. 3, up one spot)
• Ohio State (T-No. 7, up one spot)
• Penn State (No. 10, up one spot)
• Michigan State (No. 19, up three spots)
• Northwestern (No. 20, up three spots)

In the AP poll, the Badgers received 10 first-place votes as they bumped up two slots:

• Wisconsin (No. 3, up two spots)
• Ohio State (No. 8, no change)
• Penn State (No. 9, up three spots)
• Michigan State (No. 19, up two spots)
• Northwestern (No. 20, up three spots)

SB Nation’s Jason Kirk has Wisconsin on the outside of the College Football Playoff in his latest bowl projections, playing Miami in the Orange Bowl. For that matter, he does not have Ohio State in his top four, either.

Bill Connelly’s S&P+ rankings now place Wisconsin third in the nation, up one spot from last week.

We’ll see if Wisconsin cracks the top four of the second-to-last College Football Playoff rankings when the committee releases its next list on Tuesday night (6 p.m. CT, ESPN).