The 2025 football season was yet another disappointment, as the Badgers continued to struggle to find their stride under the “new era” of head coach Luke Fickell. But, with strong additions — both from the transfer portal and high school recruiting — the Badgers may be able to turn the tide in 2026.
Wisconsin started the Fickell era as a program boasting the second longest consecutive winning seasons streak in the nation, ahead of schools like Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia. Now, Wisconsin has been a bottom-dweller of the Big Ten for the last two seasons.
After the 2024 season, there was optimism to be had about the future of Badger football. The Badgers brought in a strong transfer quarterback in Billy Edwards Jr, along with talented pass catchers like Dekel Crowdus, Lance Mason and Jayden Ballard.
This extended to the defensive side of the ball too, with talent like Tyrese Fearbry, Parker Petersen, Mason Reiger and Matthew Jung.
But it just never clicked. After picking up their two free wins in tune-up games against Middle Tennessee State and Miami of Ohio, the Badgers lost six straight games, including back-to-back shutouts at home, and went eleven straight quarters without scoring a single point.
Nobody really knows what went wrong. Sure, many of the losses were due to the simple fact that Wisconsin had to play Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana — all teams that made the College Football Playoffs. But what about Iowa, how do the Badgers lose that game 37-0 in Madison?
The Badgers only lost the time of possession battle by three minutes, which isn’t particularly significant. They were outgained by 110 yards, which is certainly bad, but not bad enough to lose by 37.
The real difference-maker? Iowa went 5-5 in the redzone, whereas the Badgers made it to the redzone zero times, even though they held the ball for 28 minutes.
The Badgers ranked 108th out of the 135 FBS programs in redzone efficiency, only scoring a touchdown or field goal in the red zone on 77.27% of their appearances. The only Big Ten school with a worse efficiency was Purdue, who went 2-10 last season.
The Badgers were also twelfth out of the 18 Big Ten Schools in number of red zone trips last season, having 28 less red zone appearances than Indiana, who led the Big Ten, who made it to the red zone 69 times in just 13 games last season.
But, even in a season with these negatives, there were positives to be found. For starters, the Badgers picked up back-to-back wins, at home, over ranked opponents for the first time since 2021, representing the first two wins over ranked opponents since Fickell joined the Badgers.
The Badgers also had some of the best young talent in the entire Big Ten last season with true freshmen linebackers Mason Posa and Cooper Catalano.
Posa, a true freshman last season, was voted an FWAA Freshman All-American and Third team All-Big Ten by the Big Ten coaches.
The other true freshman linebacker, Catalano, was voted as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for his performance in the Badgers upset of No. 23 Washington. Catalano recorded 19 tackles in the game, 11 of which were solo tackles. He also had two tackles for loss and one full sack.
They also may have found something with true freshman quarterback Carter Smith, who, after subbing in during the game against No. 23 Washington, led the Badgers to another ranked win at home against No. 21 Illinois.
After the strong end to the year, the staff started 2026 with the same momentum, making some huge splashes in the transfer portal, which was open from Jan. 2 to Jan. 16, 2026. The Badgers totaled 33 transfers for the upcoming season.
Some notable names include three star junior transfer wide receiver Zion Kearney, from Oklahoma. Kearney was the number 26 receiver in the nation coming out of high school. The Badgers also brought in former Minnesota wide receiver Malachi Coleman, who was ranked the number 11 receiver in the nation coming out of high school.
The Badgers quarterback will certainly have plenty of weapons surrounding them — and an even stronger run game with the Badgers bringing in former Iowa State running back Abu Sama III.
But, the Badgers still have to answer a question: which quarterback will start the year atop the depth chart. The answer to this is quite uncertain. The Badgers retained Danny O’Neil and Carter Smith, both of whom will certainly have a chance to win the week one job.
But if forced to pick at this moment, many people would say the week one starter will be transfer quarterback Colton Joseph, from Old Dominion. Joseph threw for 2,624 yards and 21 touchdowns last season, while rushing for 1,007 yards and an additional 13 touchdowns in his sophomore season.
Louisville transfer Deuce Adams will also certainly be in the running for the starting position. Adams redshirted his freshman season and backed up Miller Moss last season. He will have three years of eligibility left at Wisconsin.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Badgers brought in Tennessee’s edge rusher Jayden Loftin, a redshirt freshman. Loftin missed all of last year — his entire freshman year — due to injury but was ranked as the number 33 edge rusher coming out of high school.
Along with this strong transfer class, the recruiting staff also got some strong high school talent to commit to playing in Madison too.
The Badgers put a heavy emphasis on the secondary, bringing in hyper-athletic and skilled corners like Carsen Eloms and Donovan Dunmore. They also brought in some elite talent on the defensive line with players like Arthur Scott and Djidjou Bah.
Combine that with the improvements to the skill positions on the offensive side of the ball, with running back Qwantavius Wiggins, wide receiver Keeyshawn Tabuteau, along with new freshman quarterback Ryan Hopkins, and the Badgers have finished 2025 with improvements all over the place.
Whether this all translates into a winning season is a toss up. Every season under Fickell has seen strong recruiting, including top 30 high school recruiting classes in 2024 and 2025. Recruiting has never been the issue.
What the Badgers really need to figure out is the offense, specifically scoring. Unfairly, the Badgers’ week one starter has gotten hurt every year since Fickell arrived. Tanner Mordecai in 2023, Tyler Van Dyke in 2024 and Billy Edwards Jr. in 2025.
But, this doesn’t excuse not making it to the red zone. Further, it doesn’t excuse converting at a worse efficiency than UAB and Central Michigan when you finally do make it.
The Badgers moved away from their traditional ground-and-pound, win in the trenches style of football than fans were used to when Fickell arrived. Most people were okay with this, it just meant the Badgers needed strong quarterback play and needed to score points in bunches — but this just hasn’t happened.
It’s easy to be pessimistic about it. It is easy to claim that if the Badgers haven’t been able to score in the past, then they probably won’t be able to score in the future.
Yet with the new coordinators and staff settling in and Fickell successfully adjusting his game plan — especially seen at the end of 2025 — it is 100% plausible, and frankly reasonable, to expect a strong season from the Badgers — potentially a winning season at that.
