Storylines are starting to develop now that most teams are a fourth of the way through the 2018 college football season. What did we learn in Week 3?
Week 3 of the 2018 season was nothing short of enthralling. Some teams continued to roll while others hit a bump in the road.
While the season remains young, there were still some inklings about how certain teams perform under pressure and how others handled playing against ranked opponents.
This season has the makings of yet another intriguing season and here are five things we learned from Week 3 of 2018.
5. Did Wisconsin hurt its playoff chances in the BYU loss?
Wisconsin is a team that has come to dominate the Big Ten West. The Badgers are a team that many pegged to win the west division, and in some cases, the Big Ten overall.
Since the creation of the East and West divisions, Wisconsin has only failed to win the West once. That came a few years ago in 2015. In the same stretch of time, however, the Badgers have yet to win a conference title.
Wisconsin’s last claim to the Big Ten crown was in 2012 by extremely odd circumstances — when it finished third in the Leaders division but made the conference championship game because both Ohio State and Penn State were sanctioned from postseason play.
The Badgers, who normally play particularly well at home, suffered a loss to a BYU team that has already pulled off two upsets this season. Earlier in the year, the Cougars took down a resurgent Arizona team that entrusted a proven head coach in Kevin Sumlin to help the Wildcats make an about-face.
BYU stunned the No. 6 Badgers and the game quite literally went down to the last play of the game when the Wisconsin kicker Rafael Gaglianone was unable to connect on a field goal with 40 seconds left in the game. The kick would have tied the game.
Despite not coming away with a win, it wasn’t necessarily a horrible game put together by the Badgers. Heisman candidate Jonathan Taylor didn’t cross the goal line but rushed for 117 yards.
The biggest question about this game is, will it hurt Wisconsin’s playoff chances? This early in the season, I don’t think it will, although it will make the road ahead much more difficult.
The College Football Playoff selection committee seems to favor undefeated and one-loss teams, so the Badgers will likely have to go undefeated for the rest of the season if they want a shot at making the playoff.
It is possible, too that Wisconsin can be selected for a playoff spot still. For one, the loss to BYU came early enough in the year that the Badgers have time to bounce back. There have also have been teams that qualified for the playoff without winning their division or conference — take Alabama last season for example.
One loss won’t ruin the entire season for the Badgers but in the College Football Playoff era, every game counts even more.