Nov 16, 2024; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell looks on during the first quarter against the Oregon Ducks at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Where Wisconsin football ranks in updated ESPN SP+ rankings

Originally posted on Wisconsin Badgers on SI
By Jake Kocorowski | Last updated May 22, 2025 9:13 AM ET

The University of Wisconsin football program lingers around the middle of the pack in the Big Ten Conference in one of college football's most popular metrics.

ESPN's Bill Connelly released Thursday his updated SP+ rankings for the 2025 season. Wisconsin ranks 37th in the FBS overall, which places them 10th among Big Ten teams.

Connelly's SP+ rankings evaluates the Badgers having as the No. 73 offense and No. 24 defense in the nation, while evaluating its strength of schedule as fourth in the FBS.

Wisconsin sits behind the following Big Ten teams in the latest update: Ohio State (No. 1), Penn State (No. 3), Oregon (No. 7), Michigan (No. 10), Illinois (No. 19), Indiana (No. 23), Iowa (No. 28), Southern Cal (No. 30), and Nebraska (No. 34). The Badgers play the Buckeyes, Ducks, Wolverines, Fighting Illini, Hoosiers and Hawkeyes this season.

The program also travels to Tuscaloosa to face Alabama, which ranks No. 2 overall in the latest SP+ rankings.

Returning production, recent recruiting and history all weigh into these SP+ rankings, as noted by Connelly. The longtime college football analyst provides this important disclaimer in his latest article: "SP+ is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and along those lines, these projections aren't intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the season. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather to date.)"