The Wisconsin Badgers have not enjoyed a great start to the 2025 season, starting off 2-3 with consecutive losses to the Alabama Crimson Tide, Maryland Terrapins, and the Michigan Wolverines.
The problem
hasn’t necessarily been the losses themselves, but rather how poorly the team has played in each game, specifically on the offensive side of the ball.
At 2-3, the Badgers have quite the daunting schedule left and continue to trend down, with a matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes on the docket this weekend.
In fact, Wisconsin was ranked the No. 74 team in college football this week by The Athletic in their weekly FBS rankings, moving up one spot after the loss to Michigan.
Still, they are currently ranked behind teams like Texas State and East Carolina, who are both 3-2 to start the year. Other teams directly in front of Wisconsin include Toledo, Old Dominion, Wake Forest, Ohio, West Virginia, East Carolina, and Hawaii.
Additionally, ESPN’s FPI currently projects Wisconsin to win 3.9 games this season, with only a 6.5 percent chance of a bowl game.
That represents the current state of the Badgers. The teams behind them in the Big Ten include Purdue (No. 82) and Northwestern (No. 85), who have both arguably had better seasons than the Badgers.
Purdue’s offense put up a fight against USC, Notre Dame, and Illinois, but its awful defense struggled in each game. Northwestern has a win over UCLA to be 3-2 currently.
Wisconsin, meanwhile, hasn’t been competitive against its three Power 4 opponents, failing to put up more than 14 points in any of those games, while losing by 14+ in each contest.
The Badgers have a must-win game this week against the Hawkeyes, which may be their best chance at a win all year long. If they don’t get the victory, things may really get difficult.
