But after Miami and Alabama each fell from the land of the unbeatens with losses to conference rivals, Wisconsin now stands as the lone unbeaten Power-5 team heading into conference-championship weekend.
If the Badgers top Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game, they should rest comfortably knowing they’ve done enough to land in the College Football Playoff.
If Wisconsin and Oklahoma both lose, the debate would likely boil down to 11-1 Alabama or 11-2 Ohio State.
The Crimson Tide ranked No. 1 for most of the season and have a better loss than Ohio State (which lost to Iowa in addition to falling to Oklahoma) but the Buckeyes would own both a division and a championship-game title — neither of which the Crimson Tide could claim.