The biggest thing everyone is missing about Wisconsin's low Big Ten Media ranking

When the Big Ten Preseason Media Poll dropped earlier today, the main thing everyone ran towards was how low Wisconsin was in it. No. 12 and below Minnesota. That's a story for sure, but not a very remarkable one. In fact, considering the Badgers came off a four-win season, they arguably shouldn't even be this high.

There's not much of a story in Wisconsin's ranking; there's literally no disrespect. If anything, Fickell is getting more credit than he's due after the last two seasons. The story that everyone is missing is that Wisconsin's schedule is revealed as remarkably easy thanks to this new media poll. The Badgers are basically playing everyone on the bottom half of this Big Ten Preseason Media Poll, and that's a great thing. Fickell has to be excited that he finally has a year to reset without dropping games like a skydiving school.

The Big Ten Preseason Media Poll reveals how easy Wisconsin's schedule actually is

Related: 3 things Wisconsin fans need to hear from Luke Fickell at Big Ten Media Days

Let's break it down. Wisconsin plays only one team in the top-5, four teams in the top-10. Or maybe spin it in a different way: the Badgers play all four of the bottom-four schools and six of the bottom-nine (Wisconsin is one of those nine). The Badgers only don't play Northwestern and Nebraska in that bottom half of the Big Ten.

Let's look at it more specifically in the Big Ten schedule, and according to this Big Ten Preseason Media Poll, Wisconsin plays:
No. 4 - USC Trojans
No. 6 - Penn State Nittany Lions
No. 8 - Iowa Hawkeyes
No. 10 - Minnesota Golden Gophers
No. 13 - UCLA Bruins
No. 15 - Maryland Terrapins
No. 16 - Michigan State Spartans
No. 17 - Rutgers Scarlet Knights
No. 18 - Purdue Boilermakers

The Badgers avoid No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Indiana (defending National Champions), No. 5 Michigan, and No. 7 Washington (even though Fickell beat Jedd Fisch's Huskies last season).

This is about as ideal as you can get, especially because the teams that Wisconsin does see in that top-tier of Big Ten schools all have flaws. Penn State has a brand new coach; USC's Lincoln Riley is in a prove-it year where there will be immense pressure on every single game. Iowa's Kirk Ferentz is, well, about the same as he's always been.

Thus, Fickell is stepping into a situation where the hardest game he will coach all season is not in the Big Ten: The Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It's literally all downhill from there. That doesn't mean that the Badgers will run through their schedule, but six wins is expected, seven wins is likely, and eight or nine even has a solid chance of happening, depending on this rebuilt team.

Fickell will be in a prove-it season, but the deck is stacked in his favor, and that is either good news for him or bad news (he will have no more excuses). No. 12 is more than fair for Fickell and the Badgers; now it's time to prove everyone wrong.

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