Luke Fickell faces Big Ten's toughest task with Wisconsin football in 2024

Luke Fickell was one of the hottest names on the market just a couple of short years ago and when he decided to leave Cincinnati for Wisconsin football and the Big Ten, it felt like the perfect match.

Fickell was a Big Ten guy coming through the coaching ranks and back to his playing days at Ohio State. Everyone assumed he would be back in the Big Ten at some point and when he turned down the Michigan State job back in 2019, everyone assumed it would be with the Buckeyes.

However, he waited long enough and in 2023, he signed with Wisconsin.

The Badgers went just 7-6 in his first season with a close loss to LSU in the ReliaQuest Bowl, but it felt like he was getting the program turned back in the right direction. He may have fallen short of some expectations right away, and especially after a 4-1 start, but he brought in some key players this offseason to help get Wisconsin back to the top of the Big Ten.

Unfortunately, that's going to be arguably the toughest task that any Big Ten team will face this season given the Badgers' daunting schedule.

Unlike Rutgers which faces zero of the league's top-five projected teams, Wisconsin faces four of the Big Ten's top six teams in the preseason poll. The Badgers will face Oregon, Penn State, Iowa, and USC, but fortunately they will escape the grasps of Ohio State and Michigan.

Still, a heck of a schedule for Wisconsin and its second-year head coach.

As if that tough conference schedule isn't enough, the Badgers also face Alabama in non-conference play which is followed two weeks later by a road game against Big Ten newcomer USC. Even road games against Rutgers, Northwestern, and Nebraska will be tough and a home game against rival Minnesota to end the season won't be a walk in the park either.

If Luke Fickell is going to prove he belongs in Madison, he's going to have to somehow engineer a bowl berth this season with one of the country's toughest schedules.