It’s an interesting time for Badger football.
Through week eight, the Badgers find themselves 2-5 (0-4) and last in the Big Ten, including five consecutive losses this season, and nine consecutive Big Ten losses dating back to last season.
The last Badger Big Ten win dates all the way back to Oct. 19, 2024, when the Badgers stormed into Evanston, Ill. and picked up a 23-3 victory at Northwestern.
The first of the two most recent losses in the losing streak was a 37-0 beat down on their home field versus rival Iowa. The last time the Badgers were held scoreless versus Iowa at Camp Randall, 1929, when Iowa walked into Madison and won 14-0.
Furthermore, it’s the first time Iowa has shut out the Badgers since 1996, when Iowa won 31-0 at Kinnick Stadium.
Then, most recently, the Badgers were routed 34-0 on their home field by No. 1 Ohio State. This was the first time the Badgers were shutout in back-to-back weeks since 1977 and the first 0-4 conference start since 1990.
Wisconsin now only leads the all-time series 49-48-2, as Iowa extended their current win streak over Wisconsin to four games. That includes dominant wins the last two years — 42-10 last year and 37-0 this year.
Looking at just the first half in the Badgers’ last six games (not including Ohio State) against Power Four opponents (members of the Big Ten, Big Twelve, ACC or SEC) the Badgers have been outscored 112-17. In four of those six games, they were held scoreless.
Obviously, the product on the field has been terrible.
.sno-68fa8494e0ceb {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 5px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);margin: 30px auto; float: none;}
.sno-68fa8494e0ceb h5 {
color: #000000;
}
But, Badger football has always had one thing to be excited about — recruiting.
For the class of 2024, the Badgers brought in the 25th best class in the country, a class better than schools like Arkansas, Michigan State, California and Iowa.
Then, for the class of 2025, the Badgers brought in another top class, ranking 26th in the country. Once again, they beat out great programs like Clemson, along with Arkansas and Iowa.
These classes were ranked high for a reason — Wisconsin was bringing in serious talent.
On a 100-point scale, Wisconsin has brought in elite talent during the Luke Fickell era, grading out at 96 for Kevin Heywood (2024), 94 for Ernest Willor Jr. (2024), 94 for Dilin Jones (2024), 93 for Mason Posa (2025) and 92 for Nicholas Clayton (2025), among others. They have netted a total of 13 four-star recruits in the last two years.
So, obviously the class of 2026 is elite too, right? Wrong.
As of Oct. 20, the Wisconsin recruiting class ranks as 56th in the country according to 247 Sports. Schools like Utah, Purdue, USF and Duke have brought in more talent than Wisconsin. If someone said that 10 years ago, it would be a joke, but now it’s reality.
Nobody wants to come play at Wisconsin right now. Nobody is interested in starting 2-4. Nobody is interested in losing eight straight conference games.
Recruits want to play for a winner, and right now, Wisconsin is a loser. High-end recruits will choose Wisconsin when the product on the field is turned around — which if the last three years have shown anything, that won’t be anytime soon.
On Oct. 12, Penn State announced they were firing head coach James Franklin, after a horrendous 0-3 stretch where the prestigious Penn State football program lost to less prestigious programs like UCLA on the road and Northwestern at home.
Penn State will owe James Franklin over $49 million dollars — the second largest buyout in college football history, so long as Franklin doesn’t find a job somewhere else.
Wisconsin seemingly is content to let the football program to lose their prestige week by week. Penn State was quick to make a move when people began to question their program, to question its legacy. Wisconsin has not been the same way.
In a recent note to Badger fans, athletic director Chris McIntosh came out and said they will be sticking with Luke Fickell. According to McIntosh, Fickell, “sees the potential in what this team can be, as do I.” Only time will tell whether sticking with Fickell is genius, or if it’s contentment for disaster.
Wisconsin’s football legacy has deteriorated year-to-year, with 2021 being the year many would point to as the beginning of the fall. Wisconsin is a football program that once boasted the country’s longest consecutive winning seasons streak, along with a 22-year bowl appearance streak.
Now, the same program struggles to even win five games in one year.
.sno-68fa8494e1f7c {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 5px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);margin: 30px auto; float: none;}
.sno-68fa8494e1f7c h5 {
color: #000000;
}
Furthermore, Wisconsin has some of the worst NIL (name, image and likeness) funding in the entire Big Ten. Of the Big Ten programs with official funding estimates, Wisconsin ranks ninth out of 16.
The schools with less estimated funding than Wisconsin include Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue, Rutgers and UCLA.
The combined in-conference record of those six teams last year? 16-38. Wisconsin spends like the losing programs, hence, they’ve been a losing program since NIL’s inception.
Of course, playing the “how much is this player worth” game is a slippery slope. NIL deals and valuations are usually estimations and only come out after being spun through the rumor mill. That said, here are some estimated numbers within the Big Ten.
Wisconsin’s senior quarterback Billy Edwards has an estimated NIL valuation of $400,000. Sounds like a lot, but looking at other Big Ten quarterback evaluations, Wisconsin went ridiculously cheap.
Allegedly, USC is giving starting quarterback Jayden Maiava $600,000 and five-star freshman Husan Longstreet $900,000.
Furthermore, schools like Indiana, UCLA and Michigan have all paid their quarterbacks — Fernando Mendoza, Nico Iamaleava and Bryce Underwood, respectively — millions of dollars. The numbers get as high as $10 million, 25 times more than Wisconsin spent.
The recipe for success in modern college football is making money and spending money. Wisconsin’s ticket sales are consistently among the highest in the entire Big Ten. The reality is, the booster support and NIL collectives are incredibly weak. Wisconsin ranks the fourth lowest in total contributions, receiving two and a half times less than Illinois.
It’s not like this situation isn’t fixable. It is definitely fixable. But only time will tell if the ship gets turned around.
Wisconsin has gone from a highly respected program, a program that won more games than they lost for over two decades straight, to a school not even noteworthy enough to appear on the cover of EA Sports College Football 26.
