The Big Ten announced its complete 2025 football schedule on Wednesday afternoon. The Badgers’ opponents were already known, but now dates have been finalized for the 2025 campaign.

Here is Wisconsin’s slate, as announced Wednesday:

If the first thought that comes to mind is “loaded,” get used to it. This is the 18-team Big Ten. The days of a cakewalk through the Big Ten West are over. With ever-increasing parity in the sport and Wisconsin trending in the wrong direction regardless, there’s very few that can be marked off as games the Badgers “should” win.

Without further ado, here’s three quick takeaways from Wisconsin’s 2025 football schedule release:

Wisconsin’s 2024 schedule was similarly stacked, with the Badgers ultimately playing three games against top-5 teams. Wisconsin dropped all three, and it doesn’t get any easier: those games (Alabama, Penn State, Oregon) were all at home. Of the Badgers’ toughest tests in 2025, the majority will take place outside of Madison.

It starts off with a trip to Tuscaloosa in Week 3. Bryant-Denny Stadium, which seats over 100,000 die-hard Crimson Tide fans, will be an unforgiving environment to say the least. Wisconsin has never played in Tuscaloosa, — the Badgers are 1-1 in Madison against Alabama and lost a neutral site game in Arlington, Texas back in 2015.

In their very next road game, the Badgers will travel to Ann Arbor to play in front of yet another 100,000-plus crowd in the Big House. The Badgers haven’t fared well on the road against the Wolverines; they’re 7-29 in the Big House, including 2-6 this century. This series tends to favor the home team, although Michigan waltzed into Camp Randall in 2021 and beat Wisconsin, 38-17, in their last meeting.

The very next road game? Autzen Stadium in Eugene for a rematch with the Ducks. That stadium only seats 54,000, but make no mistake — it can be one of the loudest environments in the sport, especially at night. The Badgers are 1-1 in Eugene, but their lone win came in 1977. Oregon has won four straight in this series.

The prevailing wisdom about Wisconsin’s October slate is that it’s a murderers’ row of opponents, quite possibly the toughest conference stretch for any Big Ten team.

With games at Michigan, versus Iowa, versus Ohio State and at Oregon, that checks out upon first glance.

Still, there’s so much we don’t know about what these programs will look like in 2025. Early December is not the time to evaluate how tough an opponent will be next fall. Every single roster in the nation is in flux right now, and while it would be foolish to assume anything other than a daunting test against teams like Oregon and Ohio State, there’s no telling how the Ducks and Buckeyes, or any other team for that matter, will look come game time.

Of the four teams Wisconsin plays in October, it’s highly likely that none have their starting quarterback currently on their roster. Heck, the Buckeyes might have a new head coach after four years of Ryan Day’s repeated incompetence in The Game. Michigan, Ohio State and Oregon, especially, have exceedingly deep pockets and should be able to construct formidable rosters on paper. Still, that doesn’t guarantee the team will be a juggernaut, especially when the transfer portal is relied upon heavily (how’d that go for preseason No. 10 Florida State this season?)

Yes, this figures to be a tough stretch any way you slice it. But don’t get too caught up in an opponent’s logo — worry about their depth chart. Considering every roster in America is currently in upheaval, we know much less than we think we do about these daunting foes.

Wisconsin won its two buy games to open the year this season, only to fall to 2-2 after a tough back-to-back against Alabama and USC. The Tide are of course scheduled for Week 3 once again, but the Badgers have a real shot to start 3-1 next fall.

Miami (OH) and Middle Tennessee are the only two games that you can truly, confidently say the Badgers should win. Against Alabama, you can pretty confidently say the Badgers will lose. But in Week 4, Wisconsin opens Big Ten play against a Maryland program that just finished 17th in the conference, going 1-8 in Big Ten games. That’s about as close to a should-win as it gets for a Badgers team reeling from consecutive disappointing seasons.

A 3-1 start would be massive in helping Wisconsin get back to bowl eligibility next year. If the Badgers can start 3-1, win a few tight games and not close the season on a five-game losing streak, it should return to the postseason.

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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Eighty points should be enough to win a Big Ten game in the eyes of University of Wisconsin senior Max Klesmit.

The Badgers have shown they are hard to beat when they play clean basketball. The problem is Wisconsin is beating itself on offense, making winning much harder to come by than in November.

No.20 Wisconsin remains winless in December and the Big Ten, as Illinois extended its dominance over them to nine games with an 86-80 victory.

“If you are able to put 70-plus up in a Big Ten game, that should be far enough,” Klesmit said. “It’s early on still but we got a lot to learn in a little time to do it.”

Turnovers and rebounding have zapped all of Wisconsin’s momentum it built over the first eight games, causing the program’s first three-game losing streak in December since 1990. That team lost a fourth straight when it dropped a double-overtime game at Butler.

UW’s next opponent? The Bulldogs on a neutral court in Indianapolis on Saturday afternoon

“We’ve got a lot of veterans in (the locker room) and a lot of people who have been through this before,” said sophomore Nolan Winter (team-high 15 points). “There’s a lot of leadership in the locker room. I wouldn’t say we were ever down. We’re looking forward to the next game, heads held high, talking through what we need to do better, who needs to be better, and in what areas.

“There’s a lot of leadership and accountability that took place. I think that’s good … We’re working through it.”

Here are my takeaways from the State Farm Center.

One of the key points the Wisconsin staff discussed in the scouting report was that Illinois was a heavy-volume three-point shooting team. The Illini ranked 353rd nationally in team percentage points from two (40.6 percent) but were inconsistent in tracking down misses. That wasn’t the case on Tuesday.

The nation’s 51st offensive rebounding team took advantage of the nation’s 154th defensive rebounding team to the tune of 15 offensive rebounds, leading to 16 second-chance points. It’s been a growing problem for the Badgers, which gave up 13 offensive rebounds to Michigan and 11 on Saturday at Marquette.

“Just not physical enough,” Winter said. “All across the board, from bigs to guards, we’ve got to be way more physical, more attentive, checking a body, and then going to get the ball. Actually, not just kind of checking a body and watching someone else go get it. We’ve got to be a lot better at that moving on.”

Illinois had nine offensive rebounds in the first half but was held to nine points, as Wisconsin was sound defensively in running the Illini off the three-point line and free-throw line.

The Illini’s six offensive rebounds in the second half stung because of the poor timing. UW gave up one in consecutive possessions that pushed a three-point deficit to seven. Illinois had two on two possessions, including one that ended with a tip-in by Tre White with 2:19 to go.

UW had just cut the lead to four off a Winter three-pointer, but that tip-in sparked a 5-0 run that the Badgers couldn’t recover from.

Winter led Wisconsin with seven offensive rebounds and showed flashes of being the mismatch forward they recruited him to be. Winter had eight points on Wisconsin’s first seven possessions of the second half. When he badly missed a three-point attempt, Winter chased down his rebound and finished through contact at the rim.

“He showed flashes of how good of a player he can be,” head coach Greg Gard said.

The three-point play gave the Badgers a 47-46 lead, but the Badgers went over three minutes before making another field goal. UW never got the lead back in part to five of its 12 turnovers coming after taking the lead. Illinois scored 14 points off UW’s mistakes, and in the third straight game, an opponent scored double-digit points off UW’s miscues.

“Turnovers are killing us, just giving them free possessions,” Winter said. “It’s kind of the biggest thing I’ve seen in the past three games. It’s killing us.”

Gard looked at Steven Crowl’s stats line and wondered aloud how a 7-foot center could play nearly 19 minutes and not finish with a defensive rebound. On a night where the inability to finish possessions with a defensive rebound was the difference, Crowl was the only one of the nine players who didn’t secure at least one rebound.

The senior was more aggressive than in past games, backing down Illinois center Tomislav Ivisic several times in the low post. Still, Crowl’s problems finishing around the rim continue to plague him. He was 2-for-5 on two-point shots.

“We know what Steve is capable of and we all believe in him,” Winter said. “We just need to see it out of him more often than not. We know what he can do and when he gets going it’s scary for the league. We’re all pushing him to be better. I know Steve and he’s going to play with more aggression. I know he will, and he’s going to be back to his old self.”

Gard thought the ball stuck too much with John Blackwell running the point and John Tonje probing in the first half, not moving the ball within the offense and over-dribbling. Blackwell played only 22 minutes and sat long portions due to foul trouble before ultimately fouling out in the final minute.

“We have to get more out of Blackwell,” Gard said. “We can’t have him sitting on the bench with two fouls.”

Tonje hasn’t been the same since he returned from West Virginia. Tonje is 18-for-50 (36.0 percent) over his last four games, including 8-for-26 in the last two. He also attempted only two free throws, his lowest in seven games.

“Some of that is because we weren’t moving the ball well enough to get him isolated and get some ability to attack,” Gard said of Tonje. “The other part is playing off two feet, things we’ve continually talked about.”

Blackwell didn’t play the final 8:24 because of fouls, Klesmit joined him for the final 7:35, and Crowl finally started making shots before he had to sit the final 2:22. Throw in the fact that Tonje was 2-for-7 with two turnovers, and the Badgers trailing, 39-35, at halftime was largely due to play of their reserves.

Carter Gilmore and Xavier Amos took turns guarding and frustrating Tomislav Ivisic, who didn’t make a shot for the final 15:13 of the half. UW’s duo did more than guard. Gilmore hit his first three shots and was active in the low post.

“I think he’s giving us everything he’s got,” Gard said of Gilmore. “He’s really embraced and flourished in the role he has.”

Amos had five points and a chase-down block on Kasparas Jakucionis in transition. Amos logged 10 minutes in the first half after playing six in each of the last two games but was limited in the second half after Gard thought he tweaked his ankle.

“Xavier is continuing to learn as we go through this difficult stretch,” Gard said.

Jack Janicki hit Crowl for a layup at the left block on a roller and blocked forward Morez Johnson Jr. at the rim with his offhand. Seeing Janicki finish with three points, two rebounds, three assists to no turnovers, Gard said he’s got to get him more minutes.

The bench contributed 15 of its 19 points in the first half while Gard’s starters watched due to fouls.

“I have options. That’s the nice part about having a bench. I can lean into the bench a little bit more, which I did tonight, and I may have to do even more going forward.”

4.3 – Crowl’s scoring average over the last three games, as the senior is 5-for-18 from the floor.

7 – Missed free throws by Wisconsin, the most in a single game this season. The Badgers’ 66.7 percent shooting from the line was also a season-worst.

9 – Wisconsin hasn’t beat Illinois since February 18, 2019. The Badgers’ average margin of defeat in those nine losses is 8.2 points.

14:42 – The Badgers were in the bonus after just 10 possessions in the second half. Wisconsin missed the front end of the bonus on the seventh and ninth team fouls.

6-to-1 – Assist-to-turnover ratio from Wisconsin’s four reserves.

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