Joel Klatt on Wisconsin in 2025: 'I don't know if they win three games'

After posting a 7-6 season in its debut campaign under head coach Luke Fickell in 2023, Wisconsin went 5-7 last season. FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt expect things to get worse for the Badgers before they get better.

“Not that they were great last year, but I think it could be trending in the wrong direction: Wisconsin,” Klatt said. “The Badgers went 5-7 last year. They lost their last five games, so they snapped a streak of 22-straight winning seasons… They tried to change their identity, and Luke Fickell went in a different direction, both defensively and offensively, than what they had been through the entirety of their recent and successful history.

“… I don’t know if they win three games [this year]. As much as I really like Luke Fickell and think he’s an excellent coach, and I could even make a strong argument that Wisconsin could be a better team this year, it’s not going to show up in the win-loss column.”

Wisconsin is returning just nine starters from last season. The team lost 21 players in the NCAA Transfer Portal. Although the Badgers added 27 players to soften the blow of their losses, they still finished at No. 65 in On3’s 2025 Team Transfer Portal Rankings.

Most notably, Wisconsin lost tight end Tanner Koziol, wide receiver Mark Hamper and quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to the portal. Maryland transfer QB Billy Edwards Jr. is expected to be Wisconsin’s starting QB this fall, but his numbers don’t necessarily jump off the page.

In the 2024 campaign, Edwards completed 65.0% of his pass attempts for 2,881 yards and 15 touchdowns while throwing nine interceptions. Despite Wisconsin’s roster woes, Klatt isn’t down on the Badgers due to a lack of talent.

Instead, Klatt simply doesn’t believe Wisconsin will succeed against its grueling schedule. Wisconsin squares off against Alabama in Week 3 and then immediately begins a gauntlet in conference play.

Wisconsin will square Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana and Illinois this year. Simply put, Klatt isn’t confident that the Badgers are confident enough to compete with their impending competition.

“This is one of the most difficult schedules in the country,” Klatt said. “The schedule is brutal. You can’t make those changes and think that you’re going to develop your way out of it with that schedule in front of you. It’s not about the size of the hole, it’s whether you can climb out of it. So this is going to be a tough climb this year.”