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ESPN FPI somehow ranks Wisconsin Badgers football behind Nebraska, ahead of Illinois and Minnesota

ESPN's Football Power Index analytics model somehow ranked the Wisconsin Badgers behind Nebraska and Washington but ahead of Big Ten rivals Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska for the 2025 season.
Lorin Cox|
Nov 23, 2024; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule and Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell talk before a game at Memorial Stadium.
Nov 23, 2024; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule and Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell talk before a game at Memorial Stadium. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

ESPN's Football Power Index can be a helpful analytics tool to rate college football teams and predict their success.

But sometimes, it can produce some real head-scratchers.

That's the case with the latest update to the FPI for the 2025 season, which simulated every teams' schedules 20,000 times to come up with odds and projections for the year.

It ranks every team by their odds to win the national championship, and the Wisconsin Badgers ranked 38th on the list. But the bigger surprises were some of the other Big Ten teams around them.

Nebraska might be the biggest shocker at No. 25. They finished last season with the same 3-6 conference record as the Badgers and 7-6 overall.

FPI has Indiana at 31, just seven spots ahead of Wisconsin after making the College Football Playoff in 2024.

The analytics model has Wisconsin one spot ahead of Iowa at 39, and even more surprising is Illinois at 44.

Bret Bielema and the Illini won 10 games last season and are getting buzz as a potential playoff team this year.

Washington at No. 27 also stands out, given their below .500 finish in 2024.

FPI gives Wisconsin a 51.1 percent chance of winning at least six games and a 2.6 percent chance of making a miraculous run to the College Football Playoff.

Perhaps it's a reflection of Luke Fickell's past success that the model holds onto for the unexpected to happen in Madison this season, but Badgers fans can't be too upset at any prediction that puts them ahead of rivals like Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois.

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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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