Wisconsin football 2026

[Jim French Stepstool]

I really dislike blaming officials, but tonite.........it's not really blaming them I guess, because UCLA was the better team & we probably lose anyway. But looking at missed calls both ways & questionable calls both ways, it's almost impossible to not make those guys a feature part of the story. I don't know what it is with west coast officials over the years, but tonite pretty much stood alone. It's almost as if they knew they missed stuff early, overcompensated, then overcompensated for the overcompensation.

I thought the defense was extremely solid, especially since Dieffenbach had a pretty good game, not what you'd expect from a backup. Just a few too many penalties (legitimate ones) & poor discipline at inopportune times on both sides of the ball, reminiscent of Fickell's first couple of years.

I'm sure all things considered Joseph is their best bet to win games. But he needs to mix in his running ability, and that wasn't there against a defense like UCLAs, and may not be in the next two either. I thought they ran the ball OK, but not well enough to open up passing opportunities to the extent that they need to. O-Line vs their front seven wasn't a favorable matchup.

I'm sure I'm in the minority but I thought the punt with about 6 minutes left was the right call. Yes, they needed two scores. And yes, you're pretty much asking for a 3-and-out from UCLA, or a TO, muffed punt, etc. And while all those things were unlikely, I think they were a better bet than picking up a 4th & 9 play.

I haven't seen all the B10 teams, but I have a hard time imagining a better group of LBs anywhere else in the league than UWs.

[yourout]

Wisconsin's going to have a hard time just getting a first down against Iowa. 

I still put the odds of a bowl game at about 50/50.

[JosephC]

Not real encouraging that the two Big 10 teams Wisconsin beat are now a combined 0-8 in Big 10 play.

I think the Badgers should be heavy favorites against Rutgers (who aren't very good) and Maryland (who are completely awful).  That gets them to 6 wins and a bowl game.

I'm not convinced that USC is all that great.  Non-conference schedule was not real challenging.  They did have a win against Fresno State, who might end up being a decent team.  So far in the Big 10 they've beaten Washington, Penn State and Rutgers, all are either 1-3 or 0-4 in Big 10 play.  I'd definitely favor them in the Wisconsin matchup, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Wisconsin won.

Iowa will likely be a Badger massacre.

That leaves Minnesota and Purdue.  Purdue looked like a gimmie game heading into the season, but the Boilermakers have been surprising solid.  Both of those games look like they could swing either way.

6 wins should be easy, and it's not crazy to think that this team could still get to 8 wins.  But yes, that is a function of the morons that run college football and these ridiculous 18 team conferences that lead to these extreme schedules in terms of difficulty or non-difficulty.

I think at this point we can conclude that the offense is slightly improved but still pretty terrible.  Incredible that the team went into this off-season with so much more money, and they had already ID'ed Colton Joseph as the #1 QB target and threw a whole bunch of money at him.  Joseph is not a Big 10 level starting quarterback. 

[homer]

If UCLA didn't massacre them I don't think Iowa will. 

[LouisEly]

I was there and sitting in row 70 so I was too far away to see how terrible the officiating was.  Prolly a good thing.

Just couldn't get off the field.  UCLA was 13 for 20 on 3rd down.  Good that they got them to 3rd down so much, but bad that they couldn't get stops.

Sama averaged 5.7 per carry but was only able to get 6 carries.  They were running effectively but just had so few possessions.

[yourout]

8 hours ago, homer said:

If UCLA didn't massacre them I don't think Iowa will. 

Don't bet on it. Iowa is one of the top 4 in the conference. I could see at least one pick six from Joseph and 10 points might be the ceiling for buckys offense.

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 hours ago, LouisEly said:

 

Just couldn't get off the field.  UCLA was 13 for 20 on 3rd down.  Good that they got them to 3rd down so much, but bad that they couldn't get stops.

 

The biggest negative defensively, by far. And it wasn't a ton of 3rd & five or less, either--UW had a lot of nice down & distance situations that they allowed conversions on.

 

[owbc]

I didn't watch but my dad said it was boring because they can't score and that he regretted watching. 

[Samurai Bucky]

1 hour ago, owbc said:

I didn't watch but my dad said it was boring because they can't score and that he regretted watching. 

The defense was good.  It was very frustrating how Joseph didn't throw the ball.  Not sure what team will turn up next week.

[LouisEly]

Look what UCLA's defense did to Oregon at Oregon the week before.

ESPN's Football Power Index has UCLA's defense ranked #12.  UCLA is also ranked #12 in the nation in rushing yards per game (231 yds/game) and that includes the 120 rushing yards that UW allowed - UW basically allowed half of the rushing yards that UCLA had been averaging.

When you have a really good rushing attack and a really good defense, you're going to win a lot of games.  

[JosephC]

I'm predicting a Badger win tonight.  Oregon has to make the trip east, and gest beat by what had been a pretty disappointing Illinois team.  Oregon beat USC by two touchdowns.  There is nothing on USC's resume that is very impressive.  Go Bucky!

[yourout]

UCLA and Indiana are what happens when you get the coach right to go with NIL.

I have to admit I am jealous. New UCLA Coach would have been a perfect fit for the Badgers tradition.

We would have been light years better already this season had they dumped Fickel and hired him.

Instead we extended a subpar coach.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Look at what USC has done offensively this year and this is an impressive performance regardless of how it ends. 

[nate82]

If this team could get better QB play, this would be a really good team.  Not a playoff winning team but still a really good team.  

[LouisEly]

5 hours ago, yourout said:

UCLA and Indiana are what happens when you get the coach right to go with NIL.

I have to admit I am jealous. New UCLA Coach would have been a perfect fit for the Badgers tradition.

We would have been light years better already this season had they dumped Fickel and hired him.

Instead we extended a subpar coach.

Keep in mind, they bought many of those players including Iamaleava, who was the #1 ranked QB in the portal, last year.

And it could be strongly argued that their best win so far this year was against Wisconsin.  And I'm not saying that's because Wisconsin is a great team.  And it could be strongly argued that with even somewhat competent officiating, they don't beat Wisconsin.

[RedStickBrew]

The defensive performance was incredible tonight. They got pressure on the QB, stopped the run, and defended the pass against a pretty good offense. 
 

I also thought the Badgers were the more physical team on both sides of the ball. Fun night for Wisconsin sports. 

[homer]

LOL Iowa

 

Don't think that's gonna be a blowout.

[homer]

I saw FIckell went for it on 4th and 2 on the 18 yard line. GOOD. Learn from this, Luke.

[JosephC]

I certainly don't think Lincoln Riley is a bad coach, but I think he is over-rated as a head coach.  The big years on his resume were with Oklahoma when the Big 12 was a descending conference and there wasn't a whole lot of great competition within the conference.  At USC, he's been good but not great.  55-10 at Oklahoma, 41-20 at USC.  And they've had a weak schedule so far, the tough part comes up and that includes Ohio State, Indiana and UCLA, so it's not crazy to think that they could finish with a 7-5 record this year.  They do get Ohio State at home, so they have a bit of an edge there as Ohio State will have to make the long trip.  The guy is an elite among the elite offensive coordinator, but to me is just a "good" head coach. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

 I saw very little of the game because there was this baseball thingie going on (might re-watch later), but what I did see verifies what's been suspected for some time--that this defense is no joke. Even the DL is being disruptive & occupying blockers, which can be a death knell for an offense if Posa, Catalano & the other LBs can run free.

The stat line tells me that people not named Colton Joseph ran for just over 100 yds. And that Joseph, while he only threw for 58 yds, had only 2 incompletions & no field-flipping mistakes. That can give them a chance pretty much every game from here on out if the defense & special teams continue to perform.

[Jim French Stepstool]

12 hours ago, RedStickBrew said:

The defensive performance was incredible tonight. They got pressure on the QB, stopped the run, and defended the pass against a pretty good offense. 
 

I also thought the Badgers were the more physical team on both sides of the ball. Fun night for Wisconsin sports. 

I realize that sacks figure into it in the college game, but I saw that SC ran for a negative 17 yards. Had to blink a couple of times & re-check that one.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 10/19/2026 at 9:44 PM, LouisEly said:

 

When you have a really good rushing attack and a really good defense, you're going to win a lot of games.  

It's almost as if Barry Alvarez knew what he was doing😉.

[RedStickBrew]

4 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I realize that sacks figure into it in the college game, but I saw that SC ran for a negative 17 yards. Had to blink a couple of times & re-check that one.

I DVRd the game and watched it after the Brewer game in expedited form but it really seemed like the Dline had a great night. Fearbry and Poyser especially seemed to be in the pile quite a bit. 

[LouisEly]

Your AP #25 Wisconsin Badgers.

And they flipped a 4-star LB from Minnesota who had been committed to Penn State.

[nate82]

One thing people are not talking about much with this team is the improved OL.  While this isn’t the best OL it is far better than what has been trotted out there in the past 5-7 years.  I don’t think there is a starting NFL player on the OL but there is possibly one or two backups on that line.