The Wisconsin Badgers are heading into a season where the spotlight lands squarely on Colton Joseph. After two straight years of ugly losses and no postseason payoff, Luke Fickell’s program is under real pressure, and the transfer quarterback arrives with a chance to change the tone in Madison fast.
Wisconsin made a major investment ahead of the 2026 season, with Fickell getting a boosted financial package to work with and using it to bring in new staff and portal additions. Joseph is the headliner.
The former two-year starter at Old Dominion helped transform that program during his time there, then put up one of the country’s most productive offensive seasons in 2025. Now he steps into a role that asks him to do what Wisconsin has lacked for a while: steady the offense and give the Badgers a chance to climb back.
The clearest benchmark is simple. If Joseph helps Wisconsin reach a bowl game, that would go a long way toward repairing some of the damage from the last two seasons.
He brings the kind of dual-threat skill set the Badgers have not had in quite some time, and the numbers from last year make the appeal obvious: 34 total touchdowns and nearly 3,700 combined yards for Old Dominion. With better weapons around him, there’s reason to think he can lift an offense that badly needs a jolt.
The ceiling goes even higher from there. If Wisconsin can somehow get itself into the Big Ten title game, that would count as a major win for the program and for Joseph’s resume as a portal pickup.
It would be a huge leap from where the Badgers have been, especially after ugly offensive play in 2025, but the path is at least a little less impossible given the schedule. Wisconsin avoids Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington, giving the team the second worst schedule in the Big Ten.
That kind of setup gives Joseph a real opening, but the quarterback’s impact does not have to stop with the win total. Wisconsin also needs him to help shape the next wave of young players.
Last season, the Badgers developed pieces like Mason Posa, Cooper Catalano, and Darrion Dupree while still stumbling to another disappointing finish. In 2026, Joseph’s influence on the younger offensive talent could matter just as much as the scoreboard.
That especially applies to Eugene Hilton Jr. Wisconsin has struggled to create the right environment for wide receivers to grow, and several notable players - including Chimere Dike and Skyler Bell - found more success after leaving. The staff worked hard to land Hilton, who has been viewed as a hidden gem, and he returns for his sophomore season after the Badgers struggled to produce much with him in 2025.
Retention has become everything in college football, and Wisconsin did well to keep a number of key young players in Madison. Joseph already has a track record of helping develop receivers, including Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding, who is expected to play a major role with the Maryland Terrapins. If Hilton is the next receiver to take a step forward under Joseph, that could matter just as much for Wisconsin’s future as anything else the quarterback does this fall.
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Since Luke Fickell took over in Madison, the results have been tough enough to show up in the standings, with Wisconsin sitting at 17 wins and 21 losses under his watch. The disappointment has now spilled beyond the field and into the fan base, where season ticket sales have taken a notable hit and the mood around the program feels a lot less patient than it did when he arrived.
Wisconsin sold 47,587 season tickets, down from 54,780 the previous year, a 13.1% drop that sends a clear signal about how supporters are reacting. For Fickell, the message is unmistakable: the margin for error is shrinking, and the pressure is building in a way that could even reach athletic director Shawn Eichorst as the program tries to steady itself. [Read more 🡒]
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Biadasz is now seeking additional medical opinions as he sorts through the recovery path, which is where the uncertainty really starts to settle in. Even with the severity of the injury, there is still some hope he could return this season, but for now the focus is on how the Chargers handle a key piece of their offensive line without a clear timetable. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin Still Has One Lingering Braeden Carrington Roster Problem
The Tenth Circuits ruling in a fifth-year eligibility case has added another layer of uncertainty to a situation Wisconsin is still watching closely. While the decision favored the NCAA and shut the door on an extra year for seniors who exhausted eligibility last season, Braeden Carrington remains a different kind of case, since he is tied to a separate California state court challenge and is currently cleared to play under an injunction that favors the players.
For Wisconsin, the practical issue is simpler and more immediate: Carrington has been around enough to take part in some team practices, but the school has not officially added him to the roster yet. The NCAA could keep pressing the legal fight, which leaves Carrington in a gray area for now and Wisconsin waiting on a cleaner answer before fully treating the situation as settled. [Read more 🡒]