Ranking Wisconsin football's 2025 opponents by ESPN FPI ratings
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: 24.2
FPI national ranking: No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes (Week 8) FPI rating: 23.8
FPI National Ranking: No. 4 Oregon Ducks (Week 9) FPI rating: 20.5
FPI National Ranking: No. 6 Michigan Wolverines (Week 6) FPI rating: 14.6
FPI National Ranking: No. 17 Washington Huskies (Week 11) FPI rating: 8.8
FPI National Ranking: No. 27 Indiana Hoosiers (Week 12) FPI rating: 8.3
FPI National Ranking: No. 31 Iowa Hawkeyes (Week 7) FPI rating: 6.3
FPI National Ranking: No. 39 Minnesota Golden Gophers (Week 14) FPI rating: 5.2
FPI National Ranking: No. 43 Illinois Fighting Illini (Week 13) FPI rating: 5.0
FPI National Ranking: No. 44 Maryland Terrapins (Week 4) FPI rating: 1.9
FPI National Ranking: No. 61 Miami (OH) RedHawks (Week 1) FPI rating: -4.5
FPI National Ranking: No. 79 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (Week 2) FPI rating: -17.1
FPI National Ranking: No. 134
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