Projected 2020 College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings for Week 13

Wisconsin entered the weekend as the best hope outside Ohio State to land a Big Ten team in the College Football Playoff. They exited the weekend with long odds to even make the Big Ten title game. An embarrassing 17-7 showing at Northwestern ended Wisconsin’s hopes of an undefeated season and put the Badgers effectively in a two-game deficit in the Big Ten West race behind the Wildcats. The selection committee will put Wisconsin somewhere in the mid-teens on Tuesday.

Graham Mertz showed his inexperience on Saturday in Evanston, throwing three interceptions and also losing a fumble. Mertz finished with one touchdown and 231 yards on 23-of-41 passing, while the once-fearsome Wisconsin ground game managed only 136 total rushing yards. The Badgers actually outperformed the Wildcats offensively, but they failed to put points on the board despite racking up more than 37 minutes of possession.

Paul Chryst’s team faces Minnesota at home in Madison in Week 13 in the Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe. If the Badgers win out and claim wins not only over the Golden Gophers but also Indiana and Iowa, they will have a strong case to land in the New Year’s Six. That, however, is the team’s ceiling at this point after the loss on the road.