"Don't know if they win 3 games": CFB insider reveals Big Ten team's nightmare scenario

A year after his 7-6 debut at Wisconsin, head coach Luke Fickell slipped to 5-7, and things could get worse for the Badgers before they get better.

That’s the opinion of college football analyst Joel Klatt, who warned that Wisconsin could go in one of two directions this season, and one of them looks pretty bleak.

“I don’t know if they win three games,” Klatt warned.

“As much as I really like Luke Fickell and think he’s an excellent coach, and I could even make a strong argument that Wisconsin could be a better team this year, it’s not going to show up in the win-loss column.”

As a result of last season’s setback, the Badgers lost 21 players in the transfer portal, including notable contributors like quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, tight end Tanner Koziol, and wide receiver Mark Hamper.

Billy Edwards, a transfer quarterback from Maryland, enters the picture for Wisconsin after scoring 15 times with 9 interceptions last season.

“Not that they were great last year, but I think it could be trending in the wrong direction,” Klatt added.

“They snapped a streak of 22-straight winning seasons... They tried to change their identity, and Luke Fickell went in a different direction, both defensively and offensively, than what they had been through the entirety of their recent and successful history.”

Wisconsin started out 5-2, dropping two straight against ranked Alabama and USC, but its offense responded, putting up 117 points in three straight victories after that.

Then came the losses. The last five straight games of the season, all defeats in which the Badgers scored more than 14 points just once, culminating in a 24-7 loss to Minnesota.

Something like that may be in store again, given who Wisconsin has to play.

“This is one of the most difficult schedules in the country,” Klatt said.

He’s not wrong. Wisconsin goes to Alabama and to Michigan in a three-week span, then plays Iowa and Ohio State at home in consecutive weeks, to Oregon, to Indiana, and gets Big Ten sleeper Illinois at home after that.

It’s a slate that preseason magazine publisher Phil Steele calls the toughest of any in college football this season.

“The schedule is brutal. You can’t make those changes and think that you’re going to develop your way out of it with that schedule in front of you,” Klatt added.

“It’s not about the size of the hole, it’s whether you can climb out of it. So this is going to be a tough climb this year.”

(Klatt)

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