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Wisconsin Badgers will face Big Ten's easiest schedule in 2026 after hardest in 2025

The Wisconsin Badgers are going from the hardest football schedule in 2025 to the easiest in 2026, raising expectations for Luke Fickell in a pivotal season.
Lorin Cox|
Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell is shown after their game Saturday, September 6, 2025 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Wisconsin beat Middle Tennessee 42-10.
Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell is shown after their game Saturday, September 6, 2025 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Wisconsin beat Middle Tennessee 42-10. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

The dominating narrative of last offseason was about how tough the Wisconsin Badgers football schedule was going to be in 2025.

This year, it will be the opposite.

The Big Ten released its full football schedules for 2026 last week, and Wisconsin's opponents aren't just easier. They're the easiest in the conference.

CBS Sports college football writer Brad Crawford ranked every Big Ten team's schedule for this fall, and he has the Badgers wiht the most favorable path.

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1. Wisconsin

The Badgers miss Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan and Indiana. USC is the only conference game against an opponent we're expecting to be ranked in the preseason. Also, no Big Ten team has a bigger stage opening weekend than the Badgers, who "host" Notre Dame at Lambeau Field. Wisconsin hasn't beaten the Fighting Irish since 1963 (the two teams have played twice since) and a win would be Luke Fickell's best during an otherwise forgettable tenure up to this point.
Brad Crawford, CBS Sports

This past fall, Wisconsin faced seven teams who were all ranked at different points of the season. For of their opponents made it into the College Football Playoff, headlined by the national champion Indiana Hoosiers.

That was a significant factor in the Badgers 4-8 record, but it doesn't excuse their losses to beatable, unranked opponents along the way.

Related: Way-too-early record predictions for newly released Wisconsin Badgers football schedule

This year, Notre Dame in Week 1 will obviously be a behemoth, but Wisconsin will also play the bottom six teams from the 2025 Big Ten standings.

Their easier schedule, plus all of the hype around their 2026 transfer portal class, will leave very few excuses for Luke Fickell not to show significant progress this fall.

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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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