What is Wisconsin Badgers' best-case scenario with difficult 2025 football schedule?

With a loaded schedule, the Wisconsin Badgers have no chance of going undefeated in 2025, but their ceiling is hard to parse out with so many tough matchups on paper.

Oct 12, 2024; Piscataway, New Jersey, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell looks on during the first half against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at SHI Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Some teams are shooting for an undefeated season in 2025, but for the Wisconsin Badgers, their tough football schedule makes even 10 wins seem nearly impossible.

It makes it hard to land on a realistic best-case scenario that feels satisfying, but CBS Sports' Tom Fornelli tried his best for every Big Ten team.

He sees the ceiling for Wisconsin at eight wins this season.

The best-case and worst-case scenario for every team in the Big Ten.https://t.co/uKL3yRubMX pic.twitter.com/209LzGYxlr

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) June 24, 2025

Best Case 8-4: There's far more cohesion on the sidelines, and it feels like everybody is pulling in the same direction, particularly on offense. Transfer QB Billy Edwards doesn't light the world on fire but proves far more reliable than Braedyn Locke did last year. However, where the team truly takes a step forward is on defense. The unit looks like everybody thought it'd look when Luke Fickell and Mike Tressel came to Madison, and it keeps the Badgers in damn near every game. While they fall short against Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State and Oregon, the Badgers look like the Badgers of old again. Everybody is convinced they'll make the playoffs in 2026 when the schedule eases considerably.

Tom Fornelli, CBS Sports

He still envisions losses to the four best teams on the schedule, but 8-4 would be a massive step forward from where Wisconsin finished last year.

On the other end of the spectrum, Fornelli sees the worst case for the Badgers even lower than 2024, with just a 3-9 record.

To get to that low point, he envisions QB struggles from Billy Edwards Jr. and a lack of improvement from the defense that leads them to succumb to the quality of opponents on the schedule.

It's quite a range between complete disaster and massive turnaround, but that's right where Wisconsin finds itself entering a pivotal third yea for Luke Fickell.

We should learn a lot about this Badgers team, one way or another.

More Wisconsin Badgers News:

• Will any running back ever come close to Ron Dayne's rushing record ever again?

• Braelon Allen already set an NFL record in his first season with New York Jets

• SEC QB trash talks Big Ten competition, three years after getting blown out by Wisconsin Badgers

• Xavier Lucas' attorney denies Wisconsin Badgers lawsuit allegation of in-person meeting with Miami