The Wisconsin Badgers were picked to finish 12th in the Big Ten conference in the pre-season media poll for 2025, which is ironic considering they've been the 12th-best team in all of the power conferences since 2014. The Badgers have 95 wins since 2014, which is more than many teams you would assume were ahead of them, considering the last few seasons for Wisconsin.
Wisconsin finds itself ahead of Washington, USC, Texas, Texas A&M, Florida, Tennessee, and Missouri, just to name a few. Oh, and yes, well ahead of Minnesota, too, who have only 82 wins since 2014.
Wins by power conference teams in the CFP era (since 2014) 📊🏈 pic.twitter.com/e6i469PGSe
— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) July 19, 2025
Wisconsin has 95 wins since 2014, which ranks the Badgers 12th among all the power conferences
It's really a two-fold mind bender when you look at this list. The first is imagining where the Badgers would be on this list if they hadn't had the last three seasons. They won only five games last year and seven the two previous years (counting a bowl win). If they continued the run they were on in the late 2010s, they'd be well into the 100s and maybe a top-10 program.
The second part of your mind, when considering this list, is how impressive it is that Wisconsin slipped yet still outrank a multitude of quality programs. Sitting on a list of wins since the College Football Playoff was installed and ranking ahead of programs like Washington, which has been to the CFP, or Texas, which is currently the top-ranked team heading into the 2025 season, it's incredible.
It's also a reminder that regaining dominance isn't far away. If head coach Luke Fickell can find a way to scrape together a six or seven-win season this year and then settle into a more normal Big Ten schedule in 2026, it could be back to those days of dominance again.