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Who is Wisconsin Badgers 'archvillain' for 2025 football season?

On top of powerhouse Big Ten programs like Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon, the Wisconsin Badgers will face heated rivals Iowa and Minnesota, plus a revenge game for Billy Edwards Jr. against Maryland.
Lorin Cox|
Oct 21, 2023; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell with his players during the first half against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Memorial Stadium.
Oct 21, 2023; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell with his players during the first half against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Memorial Stadium. | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

The Wisconsin Badgers have a lot of villains on their 2025 football schedule.

On top of powerhouse Big Ten programs like Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon, they'll face heated rivals Iowa and Minnesota, plus a revenge game for Billy Edwards Jr. against Maryland.

But the biggest archvillain for the Badgers this season might just be Bret Bielema.

He hasn't done too much to stoke the the fires of resentment from Wisconsin fans, aside from comparing a current Illini player to J.J. Watt, but the success he's having at Illinois is tough to stomach.

He has the program where Badgers fans thought Luke Fickell would take them, now more than a decade removed from Bielema's time at Wisconsin.

The Badgers, though, have the chance this season to disrupt Illinois' potential Cinderella run and turn Bielema back into a pumpkin at midnight.

Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema looks on during the first half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers
Nov 4, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema looks on during the first half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Huntington Bank Stadium. | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The Illni come into Camp Randall Stadium on Nov. 22 for their second-to-last game of the season.

They could be teetering right on the edge of a College Football Playoff spot with only Wisconsin and Northwestern standing in their way.

If the Badgers pull off the late season win, they could play spoiler for Bielema and feel that much better about the progress the program is making under Fickell while sticking it to their ex-coach.

Illinois might still have the better overall season (with a noticably easier schedule), but Wisconsin could get the last laugh with a reminder of what their fo

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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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