MADISON, Wis. -- Anyone who evaluated Wisconsin's football schedule entering the 2024 season understood the Badgers faced a significant challenge in a new-look Big Ten that was as tough as ever. Wisconsin finished 5-7 overall and 3-6 in conference play, missing a bowl game for the first time in 23 years while playing three top-five teams and 10 opponents that qualified for the postseason.
The bad news is things won't get easier in 2025.
Wisconsin's opponents were known six months ago, but the order of the schedule was released Wednesday afternoon by the Big Ten. And it features a grueling midseason stretch for the Badgers.
Wisconsin plays at Michigan, home against Iowa and Ohio State and then at Oregon during its October games, which are sandwiched around the team's two idle weeks. That doesn't include a nonconference road trip to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for the second game of a home-and-home series with Alabama on Sept. 13.
Big Ten chief operating officer Kerry Kenny told The Athletic the idle weeks were purposely built around the October games to create balance as part of what he called "a mini-season."
"Obviously, that four-game stretch between the byes with Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State and Oregon, that's a really difficult stretch, and we acknowledge that," Kenny said. "The tricky thing with Wisconsin is we wanted to make sure they had a bye coming off of the Oregon game.
"But there's that little trip to Tuscaloosa sitting up there in Week 3 that competitively shifts the balance of what a lot of other teams have as a kind of a slow build towards conference play. They come out of the gates pretty strong with that."
Wisconsin's closing stretch consists of November games at home against Washington, at Indiana, home against Illinois and at border rival Minnesota. It has not yet been determined whether the Badgers-Gophers game will be played on Saturday or on Black Friday for a second consecutive season. All Friday games will be announced at a later date.
Rosters will look significantly different by the time the transfer portal windows end and the 2025 season begins. But Wisconsin's schedule includes games against three teams that have qualified this season for the College Football Playoff: No. 1 Oregon, No. 6 Ohio State and No. 8 Indiana. Alabama ranks No. 11 but missed the Playoff, while Illinois ranks No. 20. Only two of the 12 teams on the schedule did not qualify for a postseason appearance (Middle Tennessee and Maryland).
Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell talked often during the season about the program having "a mountain to climb" within the Big Ten. That's because there are very few reprieves for a Badgers team that has lacked an ability to win big games. Wisconsin is 12-13 overall and 8-10 in the Big Ten since the start of the 2023 season under Fickell. He is 0-6 against ranked opponents during that stretch.
Of Wisconsin's 12 victories, just three have come against teams that finished with a winning record -- Rutgers in 2023 and 2024, as well as FCS South Dakota in 2024. Western Michigan, which Wisconsin defeated in its season opener in August, is 6-6 ahead of the IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl. Nine teams on Wisconsin's 2025 schedule are guaranteed to finish the 2024 season with a winning record, while 6-6 Washington could as well with a victory in the Sun Bowl. The three Big Ten teams Wisconsin beat this season -- Purdue, Rutgers and Northwestern -- are not on the schedule next season.
Fickell is 2-7 against teams on Wisconsin's schedule next season as Badgers coach but went 0-4 against them in 2024. His victories came in 2023, when Wisconsin defeated Illinois 25-21 and Minnesota 28-14. Alabama and Iowa hammered Wisconsin in 42-10 victories this season, while No. 1 Oregon escaped with a 16-13 victory at Camp Randall Stadium and Minnesota dominated in a 24-7 win to close the regular season. Ohio State defeated Wisconsin 24-10 in Fickell's first season and has won 10 consecutive games in the series.
Year 3 for Fickell at Wisconsin is a pivotal one to demonstrate progress and instill optimism on the heels of the program's first five-game losing streak in 33 years. Based on how the schedule stacks up, Fickell and the Badgers have their work cut out for them.