ESPN’s Greg McElroy named the toughest schedule in the Big Ten this year and it belongs to the Wisconsin Badgers. Good luck trying to navigate that slate this Fall.
Head coach Luke Fickell knows there’s pressure on the program to perform this coming year. But nothing’s easy as you go from game-to-game.
The non-confence slate to open things up is manageable, for the first two weeks anyway. Then Wisconsin gets Alabama before their Big Ten schedule.
“The toughest schedule goes to the Wisconsin Badgers,” McElroy said on Always College Football. “Absolute nightmare of a schedule. Now I think Wisconsin has a chance to be up for it. I’m hoping they bounce back in a big way. But you have a schedule that includes three of last year’s playoff teams in Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana. Then you pick up Bama, Michigan, Iowa and Illinois. A lot of people think Illinois is a legitimate (dark horse) this year to make a potential playoff push. At Bama, they’ll be a heavy dog. At Michigan off a bye, they’ll likely be a heavy dog. Iowa at home, kind of a toss up.
“Ohio State at home, heavy dog. At Oregon, heavy dog. Get a bye, get a little bit of a relief there before welcoming Washington to Madison, will be a slight favorite … At Indiana, they’ll be a dog. Illinois, at home, they’ll be a dog. And then they’re at Minnesota, slight dog there as well. An absolute gauntlet for the Badgers this year, in what should be a very important season for Luke. Fickell.”
Wisconsin has toughest schedule in Big Ten
The Big Ten could get three or four teams in the College Football Playoff once again. If Wisconsin and Fickell won nine or 10 games against this collection of teams, you better pencil them in too!
McElroy couldn’t believe the schedule for Wisconsin and Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt was baffled by the Big Ten slate! They might not even be bowl eligible in his mind.
“Not that they were great last year, but I think it could be trending in the wrong direction: Wisconsin,” Klatt said. “The Badgers went 5-7 last year. They lost their last five games, so they snapped a streak of 22-straight winning seasons… They tried to change their identity, and Luke Fickell went in a different direction, both defensively and offensively, than what they had been through the entirety of their recent and successful history.
“… I don’t know if they win three games [this year]. As much as I really like Luke Fickell and think he’s an excellent coach, and I could even make a strong argument that Wisconsin could be a better team this year, it’s not going to show up in the win-loss column.”
