Wisconsin’s 4-1 start has the Badgers in a very different place than they were a year ago. After two straight seasons without a bowl trip, a run that ended a 22-year streak of postseason football, simply getting back into bowl projections is a meaningful step. And after the way they’ve opened this season, plenty of analysts think more than just a bowl invitation is on the table.
The lone blemish so far is Notre Dame, which looks like a juggernaut. Outside of that, Wisconsin has handled Western Illinois, Eastern Michigan and Michigan State, then pulled off a thrilling comeback win at then-No.
13 Penn State. That’s enough to get the Badgers showing up in a wide range of bowl forecasts, even if there’s still a fair debate about how much they’ve truly proven.
The case against them is obvious enough: the only strong opponent they’ve faced, Penn State, got eviscerated by Northwestern in Week 6, which gives skeptics an easy rebuttal.
Still, the projections are rolling in. CBS Sports has Wisconsin in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl against Duke.
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura has the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl against Wake Forest, while ESPN’s Mark Schlabach projects the ReliaQuest Bowl against Florida. Sports Illustrated has Wisconsin in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl against Clemson.
College Football News sees the Citrus Bowl against Ole Miss, and On3 projects the Music City Bowl against Texas A&M.
That spread of predictions says plenty about how the season could still go. If Wisconsin keeps winning and finishes with nine or even eight victories, the Citrus Bowl, ReliaQuest Bowl and Music City Bowl all remain realistic landing spots. If the Badgers stumble through a key October stretch that includes UCLA, USC and Iowa in consecutive weeks, then the picture shifts toward smaller destinations like the Duke’s Mayo Bowl or the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl.
The matchups themselves are part of the appeal. A trip to the Citrus Bowl to face Ole Miss or a ReliaQuest Bowl date with Florida would give Wisconsin a marquee opponent if those teams miss the College Football Playoff.
The Badgers’ last bowl appearance came in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa Bay, where they fought valiantly but ultimately lost to No. 13 LSU.
No one is putting Wisconsin in the College Football Playoff conversation. Not yet, anyway. But after a 4-1 start and a 2-0 mark in Big Ten play, the Badgers are firmly in the postseason mix, and the next stretch will go a long way toward deciding just how high their bowl stock can climb.
In Other News...
Wisconsin Just Won Again And The Poll Still Sent A Message
Wisconsin kept rolling with a 31-3 win over Michigan State, making it four straight for a team that has started to look more settled on both sides of the ball. Even so, the AP poll did not reward the Badgers with a spot in the Top 25, as they slid from the highest-ranked team in the receiving-votes group to No. 3 there instead.
The message from the voters was plain enough: the leap back into the rankings is still waiting, even after a lopsided conference win. Wisconsin gets a Week 6 bye to sort things out, then returns to face a ranked UCLA team in what should be a useful measuring-stick game for where the Badgers really stand. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsins PFF Grades Show One Big Reason To Feel Better
After taking care of Penn State on the road, Wisconsin backed it up at home against Michigan State and pushed its record to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in Big Ten play. The latest Pro Football Focus grades offered another layer to the encouraging start, with several Badgers standing out in the kind of areas that tend to travel well in conference play, especially along the line on both sides of the ball.
The numbers pointed to real progress in pass blocking, run defense and pass rushing, the sort of across-the-board work that can make a team harder to play against as the schedule stiffens. Wisconsin still has plenty to prove, but the early return from those grades is hard to miss: this is a group getting better in the trenches, and that usually tells you something about how sustainable a start really is. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsins Big Ten Rise Suddenly Feels Real Under Luke Fickell
The Big Ten picture has started to look a lot different lately, and Wisconsin is a big reason why. In a league where the weekly rankings are being driven by recent results instead of preseason reputation, the Badgers have been part of the conversation as the race tightens around them. With Indiana at No. 1 and Ohio State still right there, the standings are being shaped by momentum as much as pedigree, which makes every recent win and loss feel bigger than usual.
For Luke Fickell, that shift matters because it gives Wisconsin a clearer sense of where it stands in a conference that has been anything but static. The Badgers are no longer just trying to keep pace with expectations from the outside. They are trying to turn this stretch into something more lasting, even as the leagues next round of games threatens to reshuffle the order again. [Read more 🡒]