After the high of a home rout of No. 16 USC, Wisconsin turns right back into the fire.
The No. 25 Badgers head to Iowa City this week for a Halloween showdown with the Hawkeyes, and if recent history means anything, that’s not the kind of place where easy answers show up.
That’s just the first hurdle in what becomes a five-game finish to the regular season. From here, the path runs through Iowa, Rutgers, at Maryland, at Purdue, and Minnesota, with the Axe hanging in the balance by the time late November rolls around at Camp Randall. So the question is simple enough: how far can this team really go?
The ceiling is big enough to make you dream a little. If Wisconsin somehow runs the table, it would finish 10-2 overall and 8-1 in Big Ten play.
That kind of closing stretch would push the Badgers squarely into the College Football Playoff conversation, even if it feels like a long shot. It would require them to handle every remaining challenge, including the trip to Iowa and the final rivalry game against Minnesota.
Record: 10-2
The floor, though, is a lot uglier. If things start going sideways - injuries, bad performances, opponents catching fire, or some brutal mix of all three - the season could unravel fast.
In this version, Wisconsin still beats Rutgers at home, but the rest of the stretch goes badly enough to leave the Badgers at 6-6 and, likely, soon looking for a new coach. That’s the kind of finish nobody in Madison wants to think about, but it’s part of the range.
Record: 6-6
The most likely outcome sits somewhere in the middle, and that’s the one that feels hardest to pin down. The offense is the big limiter here. Wisconsin’s defense should keep giving the team chances every week, but the attack looks too one-dimensional to support a full late-season surge.
That’s why the most believable script has the Badgers stumbling at Iowa and dropping either at Purdue or against Minnesota. It would still leave them with a record many would have accepted before the season, but it would also carry the sense that there was a little more available if the offense had more punch.
In Other News...
Wisconsins Rotation Is Taking Shape Around One Growing Concern
Wisconsins exhibition slate offered enough to feel encouraged and enough to keep the staff measuring the depth chart with caution. The Badgers finished 3-0, capped by a win over Oklahoma State, and Owen Foxwell looked like the guard most ready to steady things early. He brought efficient scoring and a clear presence in the backcourt, the kind of start that can settle a team while the rest of the rotation sorts itself out.
The bigger question now is what happens in the minutes around him. Other players have flashed, but nobody has yet locked down a dependable scoring role, which leaves the Badgers with a real sense of possibility and a lingering concern as the season approaches. Wisconsin has a workable foundation, but the way those non-Foxwell possessions are filled in may end up shaping how quickly this group finds its rhythm once the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]
Badgers Showed Real Promise But One Issue Still Stands Out
The Badgers closed the preseason with a convincing 82-65 win over Oklahoma State, a performance that offered a cleaner snapshot of what this group can be when the offense is clicking. Owen Foxwell led the way with 19 points and three assists, and he was especially sharp from deep, going 3-for-3 from three-point range as Wisconsin shot 43.9 percent from beyond the arc.
Even with the strong shooting night and a defense that held the Cowboys to 65 points, there was still a familiar issue sitting in the background. Wisconsin turned the ball over 15 times, and while that did not spoil the result in an exhibition setting, it remains the kind of detail that can undercut a promising night once the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin Faces Two Iowa Unknowns That Could Decide The Heartland Trophy
Wisconsin heads to Iowa this week with the kind of game that can turn on small details, and the matchup already has a little extra uncertainty baked in. The Badgers, now No. 25, are facing an Iowa team that slipped out of the AP Poll after its loss to Minnesota, but the bigger question is what the Hawkeyes will look like on offense with the quarterback situation still unsettled and Hank Brown set to start.
There is another layer of unpredictability around Iowas backfield, too, with star running back Kamari Moulton out for the season and the workload shifting elsewhere. For Wisconsin, that means preparing for a rivalry game in which the usual scouting report may not hold up for long, and the Heartland Trophy could come down to which side adapts fastest once the ball is kicked off. [Read more 🡒]