The Wisconsin Badgers finished with a 5-7 overall record during the 2024 college football season. Wisconsin missed a bowl game for the first time in quite some time.
The Badgers football program will have many question marks entering the 2025 college football season. Luke Fickell will be entering his third season as head coach. Wisconsin has struggled on offense during the two years he has been the head coach. They have never seemed to get the quarterback situation right as well. The Badgers will have a difficult schedule in 2025, and could it spell the end of Fickell as head coach?
Wisconsin Badgers Head Coach Luke Fickell Comments About the Tough Schedule During BIG10 Media Day
Fickell spoke to reporters like Scott Dochterman of The Athletic during the BIG10 media session. He is aware of the difficult Badgers schedule entering the 2025 college football season. Dochterman said about the Badgers entering the 2025 college football season,
“Pollsters slotted the Badgers at No. 12, but they boast the nation’s most difficult schedule. Wisconsin caps nonconference play at Alabama, then faces Michigan (road), Iowa (home), Ohio State (home) and Oregon (road) consecutively in October. November isn’t much easier, with Washington (home), Indiana (road), Illinois (home) and Minnesota (road). Only Wisconsin’s league opener against Maryland features a non-bowl qualifier among its power-conference opponents.
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell deadpanned about the schedule. “As I said to our guys in the past, this isn’t the Big Ten West anymore.”
The old Big Ten West competition didn’t provide Wisconsin with a reprieve in 2024. The Badgers (5-7) finished 2-3 against their former divisional foes, with wins against Purdue (52-6) and Northwestern (23-3) and losses to Iowa (42-10), Nebraska (44-25) and Minnesota (24-7).”
There is a chance that the Badgers could very well finish with a 5-7 record or worse in college football in 2025. If Wisconsin misses another bowl game in 2025, there is a chance that fans will call for Fickell to be fired and find a new head coach. With the way the BIG10 alignment is now, Wisconsin seems to be behind the eight-ball in recruitment and other aspects.
The Crimson Tide matchup on the road could potentially be a long one for the Badgers. Having the Buckeyes, Wolverines, Hoosiers, Ducks, and Fighting Illini on the schedule is also brutal as well. All five of those teams could be serious college football playoff contenders and that’s not even including the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Wisconsin was picked to be near the bottom in the BIG10 Conference. Fickell has to be creative to steal wins off the schedule because the 2025 college football season could potentially be worse than the 2024 college football season was.
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