The Wisconsin Badgers are going into the 2026 with renewed energy, a better roster, and a clearer plan. It also helps that the Badgers aren't sitting with the hardest strength of schedule in the country, or at least close to it, like last season. Now the Badgers are among the weakest in terms of schedule strength. In 2025, Wisconsin was taking on basically every top Big Ten team; now, the Badgers are facing the bottom tier (for the most part).
However, there's one major problem with Wisconsin's schedule. The very first game, a game that Wisconsin could really use to be a morale boost, a get things together, a find chemistry game, is not going to be. It could, in fact, be the opposite if Luke Fickell doesn't approach it right. The Badgers are taking on Notre Dame in Week 1, and the Irish have the No. 2 odds to win a national championship in 2026 at +700 (only behind Ohio State at +650).
We’re officially 100 days from the start of the college football season, and Ohio State enters the year as the current favorite to win the CFP.
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) May 21, 2026
The Big Ten has won three straight national titles for the second time since the AP Poll debuted in 1936, and the books think a fourth… pic.twitter.com/DYaCnMCy6b
Wisconsin will take on the No. 2 team in Vegas odds in Week 1 and that's not ideal
Related: Luke Fickell has a real chance to land the next great RB after latest offer and visit
There are only a few games on the calendar that Badger fans are circling as "high probability losses." Notre Dame is one of them, USC might be the only other. Sure, the Badgers will lose other games, but the rest of the schedule feels doable. Starting with Notre Dame could be bad for the rest of the season, starting on the wrong foot and all.
However, it could also be a huge home run if Luke Fickell approaches his team with the opportunity and the excitement of putting this newly put-together team up against the litmus test of Notre Dame. If Wisconsin somehow pulls off the upset, the schedule gets a lot easier.
If the Badgers even hang in for the game and find some real momentum, even in a loss, that will be huge too. Fickell cannot let the team get boatraced. This is an opportunity to really set the program up for the future or to fall flat on your face again. The biggest problem for 2026 is right out of the gate, and the Badgers need to be ready for it.
Add us as a preferred source on Google