Can the Badgers Make a Bowl Game This Year?

As the Badgers head into the bye week, they stand in at 2-1 on the season following a disappointing loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Badgers will head to Southern California after the bye week to take on the USC Trojans. With the expansion of the Big Ten and tougher schedules in place, everyone is wondering, will the Badgers be able to make it back to bowl season? 

Dating back to 2002, the Badgers have made a bowl game every year and will look to further the streak in 2024. In every year since 2002, the Badgers have also had at least seven wins every year. After a unique start for Wisconsin, do they have a chance to achieve at least six wins this season? There is certainly a lot at stake. 

For those that do not know, in order to become bowl eligible, each team must accomplish at least six wins in a season. So with nine games remaining, the Badgers need to win at least four of their nine games in order to be eligible for a 23rd straight season. 

Dating back to 2014, the Badgers have won eight of their ten bowl games as well. Wisconsin also holds the third longest consecutive bowl game streak in the entire nation, behind the Georgia Bulldogs and Oklahoma Sooners by just a couple of years.  

The Badgers will now head into the Big Ten part of their schedule after their bye week. Their opponents include: USC, Purdue, Rutgers, Northwestern, Penn State, Iowa, Oregon, Nebraska, and Minnesota. 

Remaining on the schedule is four home games compared to five away games as the Badgers will head to USC for their first road matchup of the year. According to ESPN projections, the Badgers are only favored to win two of their nine matchups. Currently, four of these teams are ranked with two of the matchups on the road and two at home. 

After losing quarterback Tyler Van Dyke for the season, the outlook of the season for the Badgers has changed drastically. They will now be lead by sophomore quarterback Braedyn Locke for the foreseeable future unless there is another change made. 

In a small sample size last year, Braedyn Locke lead the Badgers to an underwhelming 1-3 record with their only win coming against Illinois. If Locke is unable to prove his worth in getting the Badgers to a bowl game, Luke Fickell has some other options to consider. 

Wisconsin also has freshmen quarterbacks Mabrey Mettauer and Cole LaCrue to resort to if Locke is unable to get the job done. The Badgers will need to execute the pass game in order to open up the run game for Chez Mellusi, Tawee Walker, and Cade Yacamelli. 

With four of the Badgers future opponents ranked, a possible upset will be huge for the Badgers hopes at achieving the six win mark. The best chance the Badgers have at pulling off an upset is probably at home where they will take on the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Oregon Ducks. 

I believe the games that the Badgers are most likely to win are against Rutgers, Northwestern, Minnesota, and Purdue. Winning all four of these games will make the Badgers bowl eligible for the 23rd season in a row. Mix in a possible upset out of their other matchups and Wisconsin could be looking at a higher stakes bowl game as well. 

The odds are certainly against the Badgers, but beating four of these nine opponents is definitely doable for the Badgers. I believe that by the time Thanksgiving comes around, the Badgers will be comfortably set into bowl season and extend their illustrious streak of consecutive bowl games to 23 straight years.