Updated Wisconsin football schedule 2020: Game-by-game predictions

Wisconsin football should be the favorite to come out of the Big Ten West.

Big Ten football is back, meaning Wisconsin football will have its shot at winning it all.

The Big Ten will begin its 2020 college football season on Oct. 24. It will play a nine-game, conference-only schedule with no byes built in. Each team will play all six of its division rivals, two teams out of the opposite division and a third team from the other division that will be based on competitive balance at the end of the season. Let’s find out who the Wisconsin Badgers will play.

Here is the updated 2020 college season schedule for Wisconsin football.

Updated 2020 Wisconsin football season schedule

• Week 1 (Oct. 24): vs. Illinois Fighting Illini (Madison, WI)
• Week 2 (Oct. 31): at Nebraska Cornhuskers (Lincoln, NE)
• Week 3 (Nov. 7): vs. Purdue Boilermakers (Madison, WI)
• Week 4 (Nov. 14): at Michigan Wolverines (Ann Arbor, MI)
• Week 5 (Nov. 21): at Rutgers Scarlet Knights (Piscataway, NJ)
• Week 6 (Nov. 28): vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers (Madison, WI)
• Week 7 (Dec. 5): vs. Indiana Hoosiers (Madison, WI)
• Week 8 (Dec. 12): at Iowa Hawkeyes (Iowa City, IA)

Bold indicates a Wisconsin football victory.

Though Wisconsin is fortunate to not draw either the Ohio State Buckeyes or the Penn State Nittany Lions out of the Big Ten East this year, they will stumble on the road in Week 4 vs. the Michigan Wolverines. Fortunately for the Badgers, they will make up for it in a big way by defeating the division rival Minnesota Golden Gophers at Madison to help win the West.

Because Minnesota and Wisconsin will have identical 7-1 regular-season records, the winner of that rivalry game will end up being the one going to Indianapolis to face presumably the winner of Ohio State at Penn State for the Big Ten Championship. Minnesota will give the Badgers its all, but with this won being at Camp Randall, Wisconsin will have the slight edge in this one.

Projected Week 9 competitive balance game

• 1: Ohio State Buckeyes (8-0) vs. Wisconsin Badgers (7-1) (Indianapolis, IN)

Unfortunately, the Big Ten West woes will continue for the division in Indianapolis. Had the Badgers taken on someone like Penn State or even Michigan in a neutral-site rematch, perhaps the Badgers would be punching its first ticket into the College Football Playoff to date. For now, they’ll be duking it out with Michigan, Minnesota and Penn State for a New Year’s Six bowl game.

Until the Wisconsin can close the gap on Ohio State, it won’t win the big one in Indianapolis.

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