Big Ten Primer: Where is Wisconsin ranked in Big Ten ahead of 2026 season?

The Big Ten has been college football’s premier conference over the past three seasons, with Indiana, Ohio State, and Michigan winning the last three national championships. Unfortunately, Wisconsin hasn’t been a part of the glamour, dealing with three disappointing seasons, including two without bowl appearances, under Luke Fickell.

Now, after a ton of offseason changes, the Badgers are hoping things will change this season, as they’ve added to both their roster and coaching staff.

Of course, the Big Ten has also continued to evolve, with several coaching changes coming this offseason. The conference holds the top two teams in the AP Top 25 (Ohio State, Oregon), as well as six others in the rankings (Indiana, USC, Michigan, Washington, Penn State, Iowa), making for a strong top half of the conference.

With the season upon us, let’s look at the Big Ten and see where the Badgers fall in a loaded group.

Conference winner odds

Ohio State is the clear favorite to win the Big Ten currently, holding +185 odds on FanDuel Sportsbook. Oregon is second at +260 odds, while Indiana is a clear third at +300 odds.

No other team comes close to the top three. USC has +1400 odds, Michigan has +1600 odds, Penn State has +1800 odds, Washington has +2700 odds, and Iowa has +5000 odds to round out the rest of the ranked teams.

Behind them? It’s the badgers, who have +8000 odds to win the conference. They’re ahead of Illinois, UCLA, Minnesota, and Nebraska, to name a few. That’s pretty notable, given where they finished compared to those other teams in 2025.

Dark horse candidates

As mentioned above, there’s a clear top three when it comes to the Big Ten hierarchy this season. Who could be a dark horse candidate, though, to win the conference, or at least emerge as a contender?

To me, the clear one is Penn State. The Nittany Lions are a very talented team after inheriting a ton of its roster from Iowa State. And they’ve got a very manageable schedule.

Penn State doesn’t play Oregon, Indiana, or Ohio State. They do also get matchups against USC (home), Michigan (road), and Washington (road), which will all be key games for the playoff picture and could strengthen their resume if they win.

Apart from that, though, Penn State faces Marshall, Temple, Buffalo, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, Rutgers, and Maryland. They could very well win all nine of those games. Going 2-1 (or maybe even 1-2) with the other three probably gets them a playoff spot.

If we’re thinking dark, dark horse, why not Maryland? This might be crazy, given how Mike Locksley’s program has done the past few years, going 4-8 in back-to-back years. But Maryland had seven, eight, and eight wins in the three years prior, and have some really exciting pieces for 2026.

They retained key members of their pass rush and now add five-star Zion Elee. They have one of the top young quarterbacks in the country with Malik Washington. And their schedule is also very manageable.

Maryland faces doesn’t face Indiana, Oregon, or Michigan. While they do get Ohio State, USC, and Penn State, they should be competitive in most of their other games. I’m not saying they win a national championship, but they should at least be contenders to hit on their 5.5 win total, which is currently favoring the under.

Where do the Badgers stand?

Onto the big question: where does Wisconsin stand in the Big Ten?

In the preseason Big Ten Media poll by Cleveland.com, the Badgers were ranked No. 12, coming in behind Nebraska, Minnesota, and Illinois, along with the other eight ranked teams.

What is interesting, though, is that the Badgers play five of the six projected bottom teams in the Big Ten: UCLA, Maryland, Michigan State, Rutgers, and Purdue.

Ultimately, what will determine their stance in the conference is their rivalry matchups against Iowa and Minnesota. If they are competitive, and potentially even win one of those games, Wisconsin likely has a successful season and is a top-half Big Ten team.

If they aren’t competitive and lose both, they probably face some tough decisions next year.

Right now, the Badgers seem to be among this block of teams hovering around the midway part of the Big Ten, which includes Illinois, Nebraska, and Minnesota.