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ESPN analyst and Ex-NFL star Jonathan Vilma says Wisconsin belongs in the CFP
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At least one analyst at ESPN believes Wisconsin is worthy of a College Football Playoff appearance.
On ESPN’s College Football Live, analysts Greg McElory and Jonathan Vilma debated about Wisconsin’s chances of being one of the top four teams by the end of the season. Vilma — a former Miami standout — believes emphatically the Badgers should be in if they finish the season undefeated.
“They are a playoff team,” Vilma said. “Matter of fact, I have them number three. I have Alabama number one, Miami number two and Wisconsin number three because they’re unbeaten.
“The hardest thing to do in football is win. I don’t care about style points. The hardest thing winning. For them to win consistently, be 10-0 right now, undefeated — that deserves more credit than anything else you want to put as a stat or strength of schedule.”
Vilma’s opinion is in the minority, as most have knocked the Badgers for such a weak schedule and are ignoring the 10-0 record — a first in school history, by the way.
Wisconsin is one of just four remaining unbeaten, including Alabama, Miami and UCF. But for McElroy, that isn’t enough to pen the B1G West champs into one of those semifinal games just yet. When Vilma brought up the undefeated record, McElory brought UCF into the picture.
“Where’s UCF then? Number four? Of course they’re not number three,” he said of Wisconsin. “I have them at number five but they control their own destiny.
Vilma didn’t appreciate McElroy’s argument.
“We’re talking about Power Five teams,” Vilma said. “Let’s remember, Iowa is the same team that blew out Ohio State. How many points did that Wisconsin defense give up to Iowa? Zero. That’s how good they are.
“So don’t tell me about (how) they didn’t play anybody. The same team that blew out Ohio State got blown out by Wisconsin.”
Those are some pretty strong arguments made by Vilma. We’ll see if the committee takes that line of reasoning into consideration on Tuesday night when the next rankings are released.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB