2026 Wisconsin football stakes rankings: The must-haves

When Chris Macintosh left his position as athletic director at Wisconsin, the pressure on Luke Fickell was turned up even further. Macintosh backed Fickell publicly despite a 2025 season that was simply a nightmare. Now, that security blanket is gone and another poor season would almost certainly be the final chapter in Fickell’s tenure in Madison.

The departure of Macintosh sparked discussion about his handling of the football program, and while that is a pressing issue, what intrigues me the most about the move is the additional pressure now facing Fickell and the football team.

Regardless of how people feel about Macintosh, I think the additional pressure of not having an AD that’s backed you through the lowest of lows will be helpful for the program in the fall.

There’s been a lot of bad since Fickell took over. Blowout rivalry losses, missed bowl games and home losses to teams Wisconsin used to handle are among the headliners. Still, however, there’s also been flashes of quality coaching, whether that was nearly downing the No. 1 team in the country with a backup quarterback in 2024 or ranked wins with a third-string quarterback in 2025, to name a few.

Sustaining that level of competitiveness is what needs to happen in 2026. Kicking off a new series, I’m going to be ranking the 12 games on the schedule, three at a time, in terms of importance to me, based on the opponent, rivalry stakes, realisticness of a victory and other factors.

Today, we’ll start with some of the lower-profile games.

Fickell looks on versus Washington — Nov 8, 2025; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell looks on during the second quarter against the Washington Huskies at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

12. Sept. 12 vs. Western Illinois

In terms of games Wisconsin absolutely can’t lose, you could argue this is a very important game. If this game ends in a loss, Fickell shouldn’t leave the stadium as the head coach. But in the grand scheme of things, an FCS team that went 4-8 in 2025 is probably not going to offer much resistance.

This is the kind of game where you don’t want your starters playing into the fourth quarter, meaning you hopefully have the opportunity to get a ton of guys snaps and try things out before conference play. Really, there’s not a whole lot to say about this game. It’s by far the worst opponent on the schedule, and if Wisconsin can’t take care of business here, we won’t need to be talking about the rest of the season for Fickell.

11. Sept. 19 vs. Eastern Michigan

The reasoning for this ranking is essentially the same as the game ranked No. 12. While Eastern Michigan plays in the MAC, a league that’s provided power-conference upsets and close games in the past, it’s another game Wisconsin simply needs to take care of business.

In two games against Illinois and Northwestern in 2025, a season that ended with a 4-8 record, Eastern Michigan played one power-conference opponent, losing to Kentucky 48-23. Obviously, a lot can change in one offseason with the transfer portal, but this was a bottom of the barrel team in the MAC a season ago, which means Wisconsin should once again have opportunities to try things out and win comfortably in the final game before the conference opener.

Fickell looks on during practice — Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell is shown during spring football practice Tuesday, April 21, 2026 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

10. Nov. 7 vs. Rutgers

The Badgers and Scarlet Knights didn’t do battle in 2025, but it’s a team Fickell hasn’t had troubles with since arriving in Madison, with the most-recent meeting ending in a blowout Wisconsin win on the road.

My reasoning for deeming this the least important of the conference is that it feels like arguably the most winnable conference game on the schedule. Now, it’s sort of a trap game in the sense that you get a bottom-tier Big Ten team at home and may give off a similar vibe to last season’s Maryland game, which ended poorly.

Like I’ve said a few times already, it’s a game where you have to take care of business. If Fickell wants to keep his job and get the program back on track, this isn’t the kind of game you can’t lose, and frankly, it’s not a game that should be very competitive either.

It’s a game where you won’t need to read into the result all that much. Either Wisconsin wins comfortably and you shift attention to bigger matchups, or it loses and you fire up the hot seat discussions, with not a lot in between.

Obviously, this game holds significantly more weight than the other two on this list, but I don’t think it’s one you’re going to be using as a measuring stick when we reflect on the season come January, which is why it ranks in the bottom-three.

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