Wisconsin tabbed as the No. 7 most desirable program in the Power 5 by SI

A new Power 5 Desirability Rating put together by SI's Pat Forde has the Wisconsin Badgers near the top.

Earlier this week, Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated compiled a new ranking system that aims to answer the long-standing debate over which programs are most valuable, or desirable, in the landscape of college football.

With conference realignment in full swing, Forde sorted each school in the Power 5 conferences and ranked them based on their standing in five categories. The goal of the exercise was to figure out which colleges would be most coveted if the five most powerful leagues in college football were starting over.

Using this methodology, the Wisconsin Badgers finished at No. 7 out of the 69 total current or future Power 5 teams in Forde's rankings.

Here is how Wisconsin fared in each of the five categories used in the process:

• Football rank: No. 8
• Academics: No. 17
• All sports: No. 23
• Attendance: No. 15
• Viewership: tied for No. 12

Each of these metrics relies on quantitative data, such as the five-year average of Sagarin Ratings used to determine the football rank and the Learfield Directors’ Cup Division I standings for the all sports category.

Wisconsin standing at No. 7 overall is impressive and speaks to the overall health of the university and the football program. The Badgers are No. 3 in the Big Ten behind Ohio State and Michigan, who happen to be the top two schools in the entire rankings.

Wisconsin's consistency in the top-25 of each category was a primary driver in their lofty ranking, with the football rank and viewership the two best performing categories for the Badgers.

Given the Big Ten's large alumni bases, prioritization of academics, as well as on-field success, Wisconsin should remain one of the more highly-regarded programs in the country moving forward, and it will be interesting to see how these metrics change over time.

Here are the top 10 according to Forde's numbers:

1. Ohio State
2. Michigan
3. Notre Dame
4. Texas
5. Georgia
6. Florida
7. Wisconsin
8. Oklahoma
9. USC
10. Alabama

In terms of the Big Ten, here is a conference view, with the overall ranking in parenthesis:

1. Ohio State (1)
2. Michigan (2)
3. Wisconsin (7)
4. Penn State (11)
5. Michigan State (20)
6. Iowa (21)
7. Northwestern (29)
8. Nebraska (33)
9. Minnesota (38)
10. Purdue (41)
11. Indiana (49)
12. Maryland (52)
13. Illinois (59)
14. Rutgers (65)

The Big Ten recently announced the additions of UCLA and USC for the 2024 season, and those two teams also stand highly in these rankings. USC is No. 9 and presently the highest Pac-12 team on the list, while UCLA is No. 18.

These rankings help put into context why the Big Ten Conference specifically targeted the two schools, and it also demonstrates why the conference is now heavily in pursuit of Notre Dame, who is No. 3 of all schools.

You can read more about Pat Forde's ranking process and see the entire list below. 

Related links:

• How Andy Vujnovich has become one of the top punters in all of college football
• Three Wisconsin Badgers on Phil Steele's All-American teams
• The impact of USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten

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