After putting up a good first season as Wisconsin's coach, Luke Fickell took a step back in 2024 as the Badgers finished 5-7 and did not get a bowl bid. This led to a fair amount of schematic remodeling. Now it is time to see if all the hard work behind the scenes will bear fruit.
The Big Question: Which schedule maker did the Badgers honk off? After two nonconference hanging curveballs (Fake Miami and Middle Tennessee), Wisconsin plays Alabama in Tuscaloosa, then gets Maryland (September Maryland, keep in mind), Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State, and Oregon. Those last four games are on successive Saturdays, so there is no breathing room and no margin for error.
My Guess at the Answer: Obviously the terrifying schedule wasn't deliberate, though I wouldn't blame any Badger fans who thought the league must have it in for them. Nah, it's just reality in the New and Improved Big Ten. Sometimes the schedule comes wrapped in marshmallow fluff (*cough* Nebraska) and sometimes it comes wrapped in razor wire. These things even out in the long run, but any individual season is not "the long run." Also the Alabama game is Wisconsin's own fault.
Key Games:
- Maryland, Sept. 20: Coming the weekend after an Alabama game the Badgers are bound to lose, and two weeks before a trip to Ann Arbor to face some Wolverines who haven't been this mad since the first X-Men movie, this has the potential to be both a trap game and a hangover game.
- Washington, Nov. 8: It's pretty sad when you look at a schedule and figure that Washington might be one of the softest conference opponents. The Badgers are going to have to show up strong against the Huskies.
My Prediction: Wisconsin could well be a better team than it was last season, but it absolutely will not show up in the record. In fact, I'm guessing the Badgers step back to 4-8. I think Fickell survives, though. Barry Alvarez himself couldn't do much better than 6-6 against this schedule.
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