Can Wisconsin football play spoiler during the 2025 season?

Wisconsin football faces a brutal 2025 schedule, but can the Badgers embrace a spoiler role and shake up the CFP race?

Nov 16, 2024; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell during warmups prior to the game against the Oregon Ducks at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

At first glance, the schedule for the 2025 Wisconsin football team is a brutal one. They face five or six teams alone that expect to be in contention for the College Football Playoff this year, including powerhouses like Ohio State, Oregon, and Alabama.

Photo via Wisconsin football social media

This schedule is more challenging than a season ago, when they finished 5-7 and missed a bowl game for the first time in over 20 years. The Badgers also fell to 0-6 against ranked opponents during Luke Fickell’s tenure.

Needless to say, the expectations for the Wisconsin football team this year are not very high.

Right now on FanDuel, the Badgers’ win total is set at just 5.5 games, and it’s hard to argue that it should be higher. The team’s underwhelming performance over the past few seasons and the difficulty of the schedule, 5.5 games seems about right.

So, with expectations so low, what is there to accomplish in 2025? Maybe the Badgers just take their lumps this season, lick their wounds, and gear up for a potential comeback season in 2026 with a more manageable schedule that doesn’t include a game against Alabama, Michigan, or Ohio State. They do still have Notre Dame waiting for them next season in a game at Lambeau Field.

But what if they improve from last season, despite their tough schedule?

If the new offense under Jeff Grimes is even remotely average, it will be an upgrade over Phil Longo’s Air Raid over the past two seasons. We should also start seeing more of Fickell’s recruits getting some playing time over some of the holdover players between the two coaching staffs.

Ricardo Hallman and potentially Nyzier Fourqurean will be back at the corner this season, along with a linebacking corps that includes Christian Alliegro and Tackett Curtis. There is plenty of experience returning to the defensive side of the ball.

Maybe, just maybe, the Badgers make some noise this season.

I got the idea when J.D. PicKell, the host of The Hard Count at On3, brought up the idea of Wisconsin changing the landscape of the CFP based on their schedule, and it got me thinking that maybe this squad could play a role that the Badgers don’t normally play: spoiler.