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ESPN Names Big Ten's Toughest Schedule For 2025

Originally posted on The Spun | By Andrew Gould | Last updated Mar 5, 2025 3:34 PM ET

One Big Ten representative faces a brutal path to better results during the 2025 college football season.

ESPN analyst Bill Connelly released his strength of schedule ratings for the upcoming season. The metric projects an average top-five team's winning percentage against that schedule.

Based on Connelly's SOS rating, Wisconsin has the hardest schedule of any Big Ten team. The Badgers draw a .786 rating, meaning a top-five powerhouse would be expected to win 9-10 of their dozen games.

Meanwhile, every other team among the 13 lowest SOS ratings resides in the SEC. Rutgers (.830) and Purdue (.831) have the Big Ten's next lowest SOS scores (.830).

On Wednesday, Wisconsin moved up its season-opening matchup against Miami (Ohio) to Thursday, Aug. 28. The competition will get much tougher for the Badgers in September and beyond.

Wisconsin goes to Tuscaloosa for a non-conference matchup against Alabama on Sept. 13. Luke Fickell's squad must then encounter many of the Big Ten's heavy hitters.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 27: Head coach Luke Fickell of the Wisconsin Badgers runs onto the field to call a time out during the second half of the Guaranteed Rate Bowl against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Chase Field on December 27, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)Chris Coduto/Getty Images

In October, the Badgers have road games at Michigan and Oregon. The Wolverines ended Sherrone Moore's first season with wins over Ohio State and Alabama, and Oregon went undefeated during its Big Ten debut before falling to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff.

Speaking of the Buckeyes, the Badgers host the defending national champions a week before going to Eugene. Wisconsin hasn't defeated Ohio State since 2010.

Wisconsin will also travel to Indiana to face a Hoosiers team that just made the CFP. Penn State is the only one of last season's top-eight Big Ten teams not on Wisconsin's schedule, and Washington (6-7) and Maryland (4-8) are the only two that finished 2024 with losing records.

Those opponents would be tough sledding for anyone, but Wisconsin is coming off a 5-7 season. It marked the first time the Badgers finished below .500 since 2001.

Meanwhile, Brent Venables may wish Oklahoma had never joined the SEC. After losing to four ranked conference opponents last season, the Sooners have the nation's hardest 2025 schedule by Connelly's SOS metric. Oklahoma plays its final seven games against Texas, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, and LSU.

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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