The Wisconsin Badgers’ kickoff in Green Bay against Notre Dame Fighting Irish is still almost three and a half months away, so the gridiron doldrums of May are a great time to look at Wisconsin’s upcoming (and much easier) schedule to try and draw some conclusions about which contests are the most important for Luke Fickell’s guys.
With a ton of meaningful games on the schedule, let’s rank the five most important ones for the Badgers in 2026.
No. 5: vs. USC
It’s hard to imagine that, with a manageable
Bader schedule, a team as well-regarded as USC can be slotted this low, but here we are.
Yes, I know that there’s a decent chance the Trojans will be ranked in late October when the Badgers host them, but I just can’t slate this one any higher.
It would probably be Fickell’s top win, on paper, in four years, but for reasons I’ll get into later, including the lack of a true rivalry angle, it just doesn’t feel as impactful as some of the others higher on this list.
No. 4: @ Penn State
The Badgers haven’t beaten the Nittany Lions in a long damn time (with some truly rough losses since), so there’s part of me that wants to build in the satisfaction of ending a decade-plus-long losing streak here. And it wouldn’t shock me if new head man Matt Campbell has his crew playing a tighter, more disciplined brand of football this fall.
But an examination of Campbell’s record in Ames tells us that he’s a very good program builder who lost a lot of games even after things turned around.
So, while I predict Penn State will be a really solid team under his watch, I don’t expect them to be good enough, especially in year one, to rank them any higher here. I also like the fact that this game is so early in the season, which should help Wisconsin more than it does Penn State.
No. 3: vs. Notre Dame
Here’s the first upset on this list, as many of you will probably slate this one higher. Hear me out.
While beating the sure-to-be top 10 Irish would be a massive win for Fickell, especially for the Badgers’ national perception, the downside of what a loss here would mean also factors in robustly.
Losing this game in anything but a blowout won’t move the needle vs what losses would mean to the two teams that I have ranked above this one. It’s really as simple as that for me.
No. 2: @ Iowa
I went back and forth between Iowa and my No. 1 matchup and settled on the Hawkeyes here.
It can’t be overstated just how badly Kirk Ferentz owns Wisconsin right now, including absolutely boat racing the Badgers to the tune of a 79-10 scoring advantage over the last two campaigns.
As a firsthand observer to last season’s 37-0 home debacle with the Hawkeyes, it’s fair to say this “rivalry” currently has a serious big brother/little brother dynamic, which means that a 2026 Wisconsin win in Iowa City would be a massive statement about the rise of the Badgers.
No. 1: vs Minnesota
And here we are.
Yes, the Gophers and college football’s most okayest coach, PJ Fleck, will likely be a solid 6 or 7-win bowl team again this fall.
But we all know they won’t be great. They’ll be decent. That’s their program’s ceiling. Fleck is entering his 10th fall in Dinkytown with a losing overall Big Ten record and zero major bowl games. They are what they are. Mid. Wisconsin aspires to greater heights and has for the last 35 years.
So, the prospect of losing a third straight Axe Game to Minnesota should be horrifying to any true Badger. While another L here would likely be part of a larger, sadder narrative about a disappointing 2026 season, it has independent value as the most important rivalry game that Wisconsin has. A loss would be stunningly unacceptable, so this one gets the top spot.
