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Wisconsin Badgers officially finished 2025 with toughest schedule in college football

The Wisconsin Badgers schedule proved to be as difficult as advertised, though it doesn't fully excuse the struggles this season under Luke Fickell.
Lorin Cox|
Nov 22, 2025; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell looks on during a timeout in the second half against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Camp Randall Stadium.
Nov 22, 2025; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell looks on during a timeout in the second half against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Camp Randall Stadium. | Kayla Wolf-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

The Wisconsin Badgers difficult schedule was the dominant narrative of the offseason leading up to the 2025 season, but the discussion was always about what the opponents looked like "on paper."

Now that the season is over and the College Football Playoff is underway, it's clear that Luke Fickell's team faced the hardest path of any team in the country.

ESPN's Football Power Index ranked Wisconsin as No. 1 in strength of schedule this year, and the eye test confirms what the numbers suggest.

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Four of the Badgers opponents this season made it into the CFP, with No. 1 Indiana and No. 2 Ohio State earning bye weeks while No. 5 Oregon and No. 9 Alabama won their first-round games.

Michigan, Washington and Illinois were all ranked at different points in the season, and Wisconsin still managed to beat two of them.

All of that happened with the Badgers' starting quarterback and top backup out for the majority of the season.

That doesn't fully excuse a 4-8 record with plenty of disappointing results against beatable opponents.

Related: Wisconsin Badgers injuries don't excuse coaching missteps from Luke Fickell in bad 2025 season

But it does leave hope for better results in 2026 when the schedule lightens up.

Only two of Wisconsin's opponents on next year's schedule (Notre Dame and USC) were ranked in the final AP Top 25 college football poll.

That doesn't guarantee an easy path in the fall, because the transfer portal could drastically change the fortunes of any team in the country.

But expectations will by high for Fickell to turn thins around in 2026, and he won't have many excuses left to not find more success quickly. His job security depends on it.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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