Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell watches a drill during fall training camp at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. Mike De Sisti / The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

USA Today college football ranking has Wisconsin Badgers outside of Top 75 teams nationally

Originally posted on Wisconsin Badgers on SI
By Lorin Cox | Last updated May 7, 2025 6:24 AM ET

After a 5-7 season in 2024, the Wisconsin Badgers aren't going to make any Top 25 college football polls anytime soon.

But evidently, they're also not going to make the Top 50 rankings, or even the Top 75, according to USA Today.

College football reporter Paul Myerberg took the liberty of ranking all 136 FBS programs after spring practices, and he has Luke Fickell's squad coming in all the way down at No. 78.

78. Wisconsin Badgers (5-7)

He has Wisconsin just below Liberty, Northern Illinois and Colorado State and just above Connecticut, North Carolina and Kentucky.

Only three Big Ten programs are ranked lower than the Badgers on Myerberg's list: Maryland at 97, Northwestern at 109 and Purdue at 120.

Big Ten Head Coach Rankings, according to USA Today’s Paul Myerberg pic.twitter.com/U6UoB0BgyL
— The Big Ten Huddle ️ (@TheBigTenHuddle) May 5, 2025

Wisconsin doesn't deserve much benefit of the doubt in the summer before the regular season, but it's hard to imagine 77 football programs better than them this season, even if their record is unimpressive in 2025 because of a difficult schedule.

The Badgers would win head-to-head matchups with some of the teams ranked ahead of them on this list, like the 4-8 UCF Knights (66th) or 4-8 Houston Cougars (60th) to name a few.

Some big wins this season can go a long way toward restoring some national respect for the UW program.