Washington was one of the games circled on the preseason schedule as one of the opponents on the schedule that Wisconsin could handle. It was also a team that had a fairly new coach, a new roster, and was rebuilding. However, that is no longer the case - Washington is ranked No. 23 and Jedd Fisch has gotten that program back to relevancy quickly, while Wisconsin is floundering under Luke Fickell.
ESPN Analytics does not see this game going well for the Badgers. Right now, the Huskies are predicted to win with a probability of 72.9%, given the odds that the Huskies come into Camp Randall and take care of business as better than 3 to 4. That's not good for Luke Fickell looking for a win.
ESPN Analytics has Washington has a heavy favorite over the Wisconsin Badgers
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This isn't surprising for Wisconsin fans as nothing is going right this season and Wisconsin continues to struggle in Big Ten play. They haven't won a Big Ten game since October of last year. That's over a year of being outmatched in their own conference.
Washington, on the other hand, actually has a legit shot to make the College Football Playoff if they win out. The two programs seem to be on different trajectories. In more ways than one, like Washington has one of the best offenses in the Big Ten (5th) while Wisconsin has the worst (18th).
It's a win Luke Fickell really needs because Jedd Fisch was hired nearly two years after Fickell, and yet he's already turned things around, or at least a semblance of that. At the same time, Fickell has done the exact opposite. It's hard to stomach how bad the Fickell hire has been, and what makes it worse is that the Wisconsin administration plans to do nothing about it —or at least seems to, so far.