Wisconsin’s athletics are heralded nationally as an elite program across the board, with each sport competing and succeeding at the highest levels. On Thursday, Wisconsin Athletics announced that UW finished third overall in the fall Director’s Cup Standings, a ranking system that takes into account all of an institution’s teams that take place during the same season. Considering the postseason performances of all six fall sports, including football, women’s cross country, volleyball and men’s soccer, each respective team compiled successful seasons that played a role in Wisconsin’s eventual third place ranking.

According to the Director’s Cup official website, the ranking is “A program that honors institutions maintaining a broad-based program, achieving success in many sports, both men’s and women’s.”

Per a press release from Wisconsin Athletics, UW received 352.5 points, their highest total after the fall season. Football lead the way, racking up 73.5 points for their eventual No. 6 ranking nationally. Not far behind was the women’s cross country team who totaled 67.5 points for their 10th place finish at the NCAA championships.

A third place finish is admirable, and even more so when you take into account this is the third time UW has been placed so high, the first being after the 1993-94 season, the inaugural year of the Director’s Cup standings, and in 2000-01.

Stanford sits atop the rankings, followed by Penn State, with UCLA and Michigan trailing Wisconsin at the fourth and fifth places. Per Wisconsin Athletics, this is the 14th time in 25 years Wisconsin has ranked among the top 10 following a fall season, a true statistical measure of this program’s greatness. More holistically, Wisconsin has ranked in the top ten 11 times at year’s end since the ranking’s creation, including three times in the last four years.

Wisconsin athletics continue to impress even outside the walls of Camp Randall, and every team has played their part in cementing Wisconsin as an entirely elite athletic program.

Photo courtesy of SupportTheBadgers.org

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