The 2024 Wisconsin Badgers season did not go as wanted by Badger fans, going 5-7 and not becoming bowl-eligible for the first time in 22 years. After beating their first two out-of-conference opponents, they ran into a roadblock with the No. 4 in the country, Alabama, and then No. 13 USC. Being 2-2, they had a favorable next stretch of Big Ten games, winning three straight and looking to keep that bowl streak going, just needing one more win to lock it up.
This is where it went wrong.
The Badgers lose five straight and the streak is snapped. No bowl.
Thus, the Badgers did not make the college football postseason, but some of their Big Ten foes did, along with some of their 2025 opponents. Let's take a look at how they did and how they shape up next year against the Badgers.
How did the Badgers 2025 opponents fare in the bowls and post season?
The Big Ten Conference is one of the more highly thought of conferences in the college football landscape, and they did not disappoint in 2024. As a conference, they were represented in ten bowl games (not including the College Football first-round games and the two upcoming games with Ohio State and Penn State represented). They are also very well represented in the 12-team playoff, with the No. 1 seed coming from the conference.
Obviously, Wisconsin will not be playing everyone from the conference, and some in-conference opponents also did not participate in bowls this year, but Wisconsin does have a pretty tough schedule when it comes to postseason teams. Their schedule has eight teams from the 2024 postseason, including the Rose Bowl representatives Oregon Ducks AND the Ohio State Buckeyes. They will also face off against Indiana, who played in the college football playoff but lost in the first round. Their opponent's postseason record was 4-5, with Miami, OH, Minnesota, Michigan, and Ohio State chalking up the wins.
It is early, and a lot will change roster-wise, coaching-wise, and just in general, with so much time before week 1 of the season, but looking ahead, it will be another challenging year. Starting the year with Miami, OH, which is coming off a 26-point blowout win in their bowl game against Colorado State, it will be a great challenge to see who this team really is. Again, they have the gauntlet mid-season of Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State, and Oregon before they end the year with more bowl teams of Indiana, Illinois, and Minnesota (Combined bowl record of 2-1).
If the Badgers want to start a new bowl streak, they are going to have to come out of the gates hot again and pick up wins early and will have to steal a few wins from the big names in order to get to that six-win mark. But, they are making strides this off-season with the transfer portal, high school recruiting, and some coaching moves that will pay off this upcoming fall.