While things like “Bucky is making the College Football Playoff” or “Dilin Jones will rush for 2,000 yards” are more exciting and controversial, I took a long, hard look at things and came up with four grounded and realistic set still bold predictions for the Wisconsin Badgers this season.
Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m not going out on a meaty limb with some of them, but I definitely ditched neon spray paint for chalk.
Wisconsin will have a 10+ sack guy
It has been a fat minute since now Steeler
(shocker!) Nick Herbig notched 11 sacks for the Badgers in 2022, and no Badger has even come close since.
That will change in 2025 in the form of portal edge Mason Reiger, who has turned heads and elicited gasps in fall camp with his dominant moves and speed.
Yes, staying healthy has been a challenge for Reiger, but if he does, a big season is in store that will help transform an entire defense’s fortunes.
Billy Edwards will be the best Badgers QB since Jack Coan
I freely concede that the quarterback bar at Wisconsin has not been particularly high since 2019, when Jack Coan had a steady, successful season for the Rose Bowl Badgers.
But BEJ, running Jeff Grimes’s new, diverse system is going to elevate the quarterback room to Coan’s level. Some will correctly note that this isn’t calling for a star turn season, and they’re correct.
But, I am expecting a nice TD/INT ratio, with chain-moving ability, and situational flashes with his feet, that will make the offense hum, if not dominate.
No, this won’t be 2011 Russell Wilson. The talent and pieces are not in place for that. But 2019 Jack Coan? I can see it.
The Badgers will upset Ohio State, Oregon, or Alabama
If you’re a believer in ESPN’s FPI, the geeky, numbers-based analysis that spits out college football odds, you might think this prediction is my boldest.
FPI gives Luke Fickell’s guys the following chances to secure wins: 19.1 percent vs Ohio State, 13.9 percent at Oregon, and 11.3 percent at Alabama. Those are pretty rough odds, kids.
But here I am predicting that Fick gets a signature win this fall in one of his three toughest games. The hows and whys are very much TBD, but I’m saying it’s going to happen.
Wisconsin Will Win 7+ Games
With an O/U famously set at 5.5 (and a ton of action on the under), not many people see Wisconsin getting bowl eligible in 2025, let alone winning seven.
Joel Klatt, hardly a clickbaity type, wondered aloud recently if Wisconsin could win three games in 2025. So, it’s safe to say not much is expected of the Badgers, given their consensus top-10 difficult schedule.
I’m bucking this trend to an extent, predicting that Wisconsin will win seven games this season, one of them being a bowl game.
To do this, it seems that most, if not al,l of the previous three predictions I just made will need to come to fruition. But that’s the beauty of late August–I’m here saying they will.
