Wisconsin football picked to finish 12th in the Big Ten media preseason poll
To no one's surprise, the Badgers aren't picked to finish in the bottom half of the Big Ten preseason poll.
The Wisconsin football team is widely viewed as a bottom-half team in the Big Ten heading into the 2025 regular season. Just a few days ahead of the Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas, Cleveland.com has released its Big Ten media preseason poll, giving people a glimpse of where each team in the Big Ten is expected to finish in the standings.
The poll is the result of votes cast by media members from all 18 teams, as well as some national writers, totaling 24 voters.
In this year’s preseason poll, the Badgers are projected to finish 12th in the conference, right behind Minnesota at No. 11. Here is the complete poll with the number of first-place votes in parentheses:
1-Penn St (11 1st place votes)
2-Ohio St (10)
3-Oregon (2)
4-Illinois
5-Michigan (1)
6-Indiana
7-Iowa
8-Nebraska
9-USC
10-Washington
11-Minnesota
12-Wisconsin
13-Mich St (tie)
Rutgers
15-UCLA
16-Maryland
17-Northwestern
18-Purdue
Looking ahead to the season, eight of the nine conference opponents are all projected to finish ahead of them. The only team they are ranked higher than is Maryland, which Wisconsin will face off with in Week 4 between the Alabama and Michigan games.
Wisconsin will play the No. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, and 11-ranked teams this season, further pushing the narrative of the Badgers’ schedule difficulty, which is among the toughest in all of college football.
This Badgers team will certainly be battle-tested after this season and will have plenty of opportunities to play spoiler this season. If the offense can hit the ground running and be more effective than they have the past two seasons, and the defense starts to come together a bit more than in past seasons, the Badgers will certainly have a chance to finish higher than No. 12 this season.
Can Wisconsin football play spoiler during the 2025 season?
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.
Like the Wisconsin basketball team last year (also picked to finish 12th), the football team will be looking to prove the doubters wrong and finish much higher than even the people who cover the teams closely believe.
It means a lot to have you here at The Badger Backer. I'm passionate about digging deep into Wisconsin football and basketball, and your readership makes it all worthwhile. Catch up on previous posts or ensure you don't miss anything by subscribing below! Let's keep the Badger conversation going!
You can find more of my work at All Badgers. Follow me on ‘X’ @christianborman and @thebadgerbacker!