The outlook for the Wisconsin Badgers heading into the 2026 season is far different than how they exited 2025, as the program added a ton of talent in the offseason while making some changes on its coaching staff.
Add in a far easier schedule (on paper) in 2026, and the arrow is pointing up for the Badgers ahead of the season. Now, things won’t be easy in Week 1, as Wisconsin faces arguably its toughest matchup of the season against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
But the Badgers do get some breaks
in their conference schedule, as they don’t play Ohio State, Oregon, or Indiana, who are all in the top six of the preseason AP Poll. The number of changing circumstances has led to various predictions from national analysts for the Badgers, with some being more optimistic and others pessimistic about the Luke Fickell-led team.
Well, The Athletic’s Manny Navarro released his annual oddly specific predictions for the 2026 season, and there are quite a few surprises in there. Among them? The Badgers finishing 9-3, which would be an astounding success, and ending as the No. 16 team in the final College Football Playoff poll.
In this prediction, Navarro has Wisconsin beating Penn State, overcoming a second-half deficit to do so. At 9-3, he has the Badgers finishing with the same record as USC and Washington and better than Michigan and Penn State, who both go 8-4 in his projection.
He also has the Badgers finishing better than Iowa, who go below .500 in Big Ten play and miss the postseason Top 25.
That’s quite a bold take on the Badgers, who haven’t won more than seven games under Luke Fickell, while missing a bowl game entirely the last two seasons. But it would be a huge season in the right direction for Wisconsin, and one that could really stir up some momentum for them to be successful for years to come.
