When will the Badgers make their first College Football Playoff?
The Wisconsin Badgers are still in search of their first College Football Playoff appearance since its inception back in 2014, despite having several highly productive seasons since then.
Wisconsin had its best shot back in 2017 when starting the season 12-0, only to fall in the Big Ten Championship to Ohio State, losing its shot at the College Football Playoff.
Back in 2016, Wisconsin suffered three losses (Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State), but still finished No. 8 in the final College Football Playoff poll. In 2019, the Badgers had a great shot, but had a killer 24-23 loss to an unranked Illinois squad.
Now, looking six years in the future, the Badgers are still searching for that first College Football Playoff appearance, and it doesn’t seem to be coming in 2025 either, as the team goes through a transition period.
FOX Sports’s Joel Klatt listed out his 10 most likely teams to reach the College Football Playoff for the first time in 2025. Understandably, Wisconsin didn’t make that list, but three fellow Big Ten teams did: Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska.
Illinois topped the list for Klatt, which makes sense, given they went 10-3 last year and return a number of key players.
“Bret Bielema has built this team into what he wants. Physical, though.” Klatt said. “They win against South Carolina in the bowl game. They show the level that they can get to, and that team that won that day is essentially all back. 16 starters are back, nine on offense, seven on defense. Luke Altmeyer is back for his third season. … I think they’ve hit the lottery in the Big Ten.”
Behind Ole Miss (No. 2), South Carolina (No. 3), and Miami (No. 4) was Iowa at No. 5 after an 8-5 season in 2024. However, they did go 1-3 in close games and now have an upgrade at quarterback on paper with South Dakota State’s Mark Granowski.
“They have proven under Kirk Ferentz that they can win close games. They can have great seasons, they can play above their head. They bring in the best quarterback from FCS, Mark Granowski, from South Dakota State,” Klatt said. “He is one hell of a player. He won two national championships, was the Walter Payton winner two years ago. He has been a four-year starter who started 55 games in his career.”
Next, USC came in just behind Missouri at No. 7, coming off a 7-6 season in its first year with the Big Ten.
“They started last season with a win over LSU, and I thought that that was going to propel them to a potential playoff season last year,” Klatt said about the Trojans. “In Lincoln Riley’s first year, they were a game away from going to the playoffs. I personally believe that that Riley has maybe come under some criticism that might not be fair, but I could be wrong. He’s going to have to win this year. You can’t go 7-5 again.”
Lastly, Nebraska rounded out the list at No. 10, following Kansas State (No. 8) and Florida (No. 9).
“I think that they can probably take a little bit of a jump,” Klatt said about the Cornhuskers. “If you look at their year last year, it was progress. Year two with Matt Rhule was almost really good. Except for those one-score games, which I know you could be saying forever for Nebraska, but they snapped that seven-year streak without a bowl. That’s progress.”
The Badgers seem like they’re still a ways away from competing for a national championship, and they’ll have to go through some tough College Football Playoff-like competition in 2025.
Making the playoff was the goal when Luke Fickell was hired as the head coach. Now, it’s unclear when exactly that first playoff berth will come.