Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell is shown during spring football practice Thursday, April 25, 2024 in Madison, Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Badgers football team plays their season opener against Western Michigan on August 31. Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Wisconsin Badgers rank just outside of Top 25 in Phil Steele's preseason college football poll

Originally posted on Wisconsin Badgers on SI
By Lorin Cox | Last updated Jul 8, 2025 6:50 PM ET

Expectations are not high for the Wisconsin Badgers in 2025, but not everyone is down on their potential.

Phil Steele released his 2025 College Football Preview Magazine, and he ranked all 136 college football teams.

He has the Badgers not far from the Top 25, coming it at No. 32.

The five toughest schedules in CFB, according to Phil Steele.

1. Wisconsin
2. Miss St
3. Arkansas
4. South Carolina
5. Syracuse

Could be a make or break year for Luke Fickell at Wisconsin. pic.twitter.com/ciAytsmupu
— Ryan Coyle (@ryancoyle35) July 1, 2025

That puts them just one spot behind Iowa at 31, and three spots ahead of Nebraska at 35.

Among Big Ten teams, Wisconsin ranks ninth, with Steele seeing Penn State as the No. 1 team in the country.

That's a jump up from where the Badgers ranked in his numerical formula that stacked up the conference with Wisconsin at No. 13.

The eye test and intuition might give Luke Fickell and company a better shot than what last year's record and this year's strength of schedule would suggest.

If new offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes and quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. click, and the transfer portal additions in the trenches shore up Fickell's defense, this Badgers team could come together and surprise some teams this year.

That would easily put them on the fringes of the Top 25 where Steele has them entering the preseason.