Wisconsin football omitted from preseason AP Poll
The preseason ranking marks the first time the outlet has published a hierarchy since Jan. 20, after the Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the 2025 College Football Playoff title game. The Texas Longhorns, who fell to the Buckeyes on Jan. 10 in the Cotton Bowl Classic, hold the No. 1 position in the poll ahead of the 2025 slate.
The Penn State Nittany Lions (No. 2), Ohio State (No. 3), Oregon Ducks (No. 7), Illinois Fighting Illini (No. 12), Michigan Wolverines (No. 14) and Indiana Hoosiers (No. 20) comprised the Big Ten talent featured on the poll's first installation of the season. The Nebraska Cornhuskers also received 23 votes, while the Iowa Hawkeyes reeled in five votes.
Wisconsin, meanwhile, did not receive a single vote in Aug. 11's installation. UW finished the 2024 campaign with a 5-7 mark, which included a five-game losing streak to wrap the season. The Badgers' lackluster performance also resulted in the program's first season missing out on a bowl game in over 20 years.
Most notably, Luke Fickell's crew is slated to line up across from six AP top 25 ranked programs throughout the 2025 season. With hopes of avenging its 42-10 Week 3 loss in 2024, Wisconsin will take on the No. 8-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide on Sept. 13 in Tuscaloosa.
UW will then venture to Ann Arbor for a tilt against the Wolverines on Oct. 4 before back-to-back contests against the Buckeyes in Madison and Ducks in Eugene on Oct. 18 and Oct. 25, respectively. A road bout vs. the Hoosiers, another College Football Playoff team from 2024, awaits on Nov. 15 prior to a Nov. 22 clash against Illinois at Camp Randall.
While talking heads across the country acknowledged how difficult UW's 2025 gauntlet was throughout the offseason, Monday's AP Poll reaffirms that notion. Outside of the Badgers' first two games against Miami (Ohio) and Middle Tennessee, UW will need to scratch and claw for the remainder of the season with first year offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes and quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. at the helm.
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