Wisconsin football schedule opponent ranking by ESPN’s FPI

Countless rating metrics and preseason previews portray the difficulty of Wisconsin’s 2025 football schedule.

In our annual rankings of the Big Ten’s overall and conference schedules, which uses ESPN’s SP+ to measure the difficulty of each opponent, Wisconsin’s slate landed as by far the toughest. That reality even holds when compared to what SEC teams face, as only one school projects to face a tougher path than the Badgers.

SP+ rankings were an important starting point for that exercise. Another comparison point was added to the mix last week with the release of ESPN’s Football Power Index.

Similar to SP+, the FPI assigns a numerical value to every team in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Those numbers work to evaluate each team’s on-field strength, mostly ignoring the win-loss record on its resume. Both now and during the season, FPI ratings allow for a clear comparison between teams’ quality and, therefore, their schedules.

For reference, Wisconsin sits at No. 38 in ESPN’s FPI with a rating of 6.3. That standing is also good for No. 9 in the Big Ten.

Now, here is a look at how the FPI views Wisconsin’s opponents, ranked in order of difficulty.

Ranking Wisconsin’s 2025 opponents based on ESPN’s Football Power Index

Alabama Crimson Tide (Week 3)FPI rating: 24.2FPI national ranking: No. 3Ohio State Buckeyes (Week 8)FPI rating: 23.8FPI National Ranking: No. 4Oregon Ducks (Week 9)FPI rating: 20.5FPI National Ranking: No. 6Michigan Wolverines (Week 6)FPI rating: 14.6FPI National Ranking: No. 17Washington Huskies (Week 11)FPI rating: 8.8FPI National Ranking: No. 27Indiana Hoosiers (Week 12)FPI rating: 8.3FPI National Ranking: No. 31Iowa Hawkeyes (Week 7)FPI rating: 6.3FPI National Ranking: No. 39Minnesota Golden Gophers (Week 14)FPI rating: 5.2FPI National Ranking: No. 43Illinois Fighting Illini (Week 13)FPI rating: 5.0FPI…


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Publish date : 2025-06-09 11:54:00

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