Paul Chryst
The first College Football Playoff rankings will be announced tonight (6 p.m. – ESPN) and the Wisconsin Badgers aren’t spending a whole lot of time worrying about where they stack up. In fact, they’re not spending any time at all.
The Badgers (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) are ranked No. 4 in both the Associated Press top 25 poll and the Amway coaches poll and will face the Indiana Hoosiers (3-5, 0-5) at 11 a.m. Saturday in Bloomington.
“The only thing that really matters,” head coach Paul Chryst said, “and that you try to influence is: ‘How can we make the most of the moments that we’re in? And how can we continue to get better as a football team?’ “And that takes a ton of energy. That is where I thin all of our focus needs to go.”
Chryst’s players all echo their coaches thoughts. They say they’re not interested and won’t watch the show tonight or any other night.
Left tackle Michael Deiter said the only time he would be interested in watching is after the Big Ten Championship. Until that point, they need to control what they can control and that is the matchup against their weekly opponent.
The Badgers haven’t faced a ranked team yet this season and that usually doesn’t bode well when it comes to the National Playoff rankings.
But instead of losing sleep over it, the players are focused on winning each game each week. The Badgers are now the only unbeaten team in the Big Ten and they’re hoping it stays that way following Saturday’s game at Indiana.