FOX Sports places Wisconsin among bottom five Big Ten football teams

There's room for concern coming off a 4-8 season, but the national media continues to give Wisconsin Badgers football fans little to be excited about heading into the 2026 season.

So far, ESPN and USA TODAY haven't been too kind to Wisconsin in their post-spring rankings. Now, Fox Sports' Michael Cohen has added more fuel to the fire.

Wisconsin lands at No. 14 in Cohen's rankings. Of the 18 teams in the conference, only Northwestern, Rutgers, Michigan State, and Purdue are below the Badgers.

"Few coaches from the power conferences, if any, will enter the season with a hotter seat than Luke Fickell, whose three years with the Badgers have produced just 16 victories and a disastrous 10-17 record in conference play," he wrote.

Cohen continued, "Once again, the Badgers swung big in the transfer portal by adding 33 players this winter, though the class only ranks 49th nationally because it lacks a single blue-chip prospect. Wisconsin struggled even more with high school recruiting: Fickell’s class ranks No. 72 overall and No. 17 in the Big Ten."

Fickell's 2027 recruiting class has been incredible, but Badgers fans must wait another year before that comes to fruition. Now, they're stuck wondering what this team will look like as it seems impossible that their 2026 season could be worse than either of the last two.

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