Dumb people gotta work somewhere. Many of them work in the Wisconsin Badgers' athletic department. How on god's green earth did Chris McIntosh convince the powers at be that Luke Fickell is the right man to lead this team going into next year? You as Wisconsin fans have every right to boycott this team until these two stooge doofuses are removed from the equation next season.
While you do not have to consume a product you no longer derive any enjoyment from, Wisconsin is still going to have to play at least 12 football games next season in this never-ending dog and pony show they are putting everything through for some unbeknownst reason. This this is more expired than a forgotten condiment festering in the back of your secondary garage fridge. What about 2026?
Here is who Wisconsin has to play on its 2026 season schedule next year. How many wins are there?
- Non-conference (3): Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Sept. 6, Green Bay, WI), Western Illinois Leathernecks (Sept. 12, Madison, WI), Pittsburgh Panthers (Sept. 9, Madison, WI)
- Big Ten games (9): at Iowa Hawkeyes (Iowa City, IA), at Maryland Terrapins (College Park, MD), at Penn State Nittany Lions (State College, PA), at Purdue Boilermakers (West Lafayette, IN), at UCLA Bruins (Pasadena, CA), Michigan State Spartans (East Lansing, MI), Minnesota Golden Gophers, (Madison, WI), Rutgers Scarlet Knights (Madison, WI), USC Trojans (Madison, WI)
While only the Big Ten opponents are known, the dates for all three non-conference games are all set. Based on what we have seen so far this season, we can try to forecast how many potential wins there are on Wisconsin's 2026 schedule. Assuming they can split between Notre Dame and Pittsburgh, the best-case scenario for them feels like 2-1 in the non-conference. So could they go 4-5 in the Big Ten?
We will need to see what the dates attached to each game are, but the path to 6-6 is still challenging.
Wisconsin may just fire Luke Fickell, Chris McIntosh midseason next year
For the sake of argument, Wisconsin enters Big Ten play next year at 2-1 in the non-conference. The Badgers should beat Western Illinois. Splitting the games between Notre Dame and Pittsburgh are possible, but not super likely. Let's just say all that influx of money helps the Badgers out to win one of them. As far as Big Ten play is concerned, it is considerably more manageable than this year's slate.
Wisconsin has five road games in Big Ten play next year: at Iowa, at Maryland, at Penn State, at Purdue, and at UCLA. Purdue is their easiest road date, while Iowa is the hardest. As for Maryland, Penn State and UCLA, in a best-case scenario, Wisconsin wins two of them. In a worst-case scenario, they go 1-4 in this spot with a win over Purdue. Let's split the difference to say they go 2-3 in all this.
So if Wisconsin goes 2-1 in the non-conference again and 2-3 on the road in Big Ten play, they will be 4-4 with four home games left vs. conference opponents. Will they win two or more of them? Truth be told, all four of their home games are winnable. Minnesota and USC are the hardest, while Michigan State and Rutgers are the easiest. In a best-case scenario, the Badgers could go 3-1 in those four.
Overall, if everything comes up great for the Badgers next year, they will have gone 2-1 in the non-conference, 3-2 on the road in Big Ten play and 3-1 at home vs. Big Ten foes. That would get Fickell's team to 8-4 overall and 6-3 in the Big Ten. If all of the supposed money comes in and makes a huge difference, that would be a totally justifiable finish for Fickell to get yet another season on the job.
Conversely, if it hits the fan again, here is what it may look like. Wisconsin could go 1-2 in the non-conference, 1-4 on the road in league play, and 1-3 in Big Ten home games. We are looking at a team going 3-9 (2-7), folks... That may be a one-win improvement over this year's likely outcome, but that is nowhere near good enough. If Wisconsin gets off to a 1-3 or 1-4 start, you have to fire both of them.
The fact Wisconsin is putting its fanbase and college football through this again is so embarrassing.