Wisconsin would be a top-5 team in the new Big 12.
Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)
- Thread starter ISUcyclones11
- Start date
We’re going to have to agree to disagree on that one. They’re going to get exposed just like Iowa once they stop playing a MAC level schedule. They’re not good.
Wisconsin was good for a long time and has been on a bad stretch. Maybe fickel is the guy to get them back, maybe he isn’t. However you can’t just universally say they are going to continue to be bad when they have had success in the recent past. Football is cyclical
Wisconsin = Nebraska. The game has evolved away from the systems that made them good.
The still have the infrastructure, money, and more importantly have been good pretty recently. It’s odd that this board is so confident that teams like Houston and UCF will somehow be able to dramatically improve simply by joining the Big12 yet a team like Wisconsin is somehow doomed to mediocrity with all their advantages.
Have you seen the Big12 this year? He didn’t say they would win but top5 is 100% realistic.
Nobody assumes UCF and Houston will dramatically improve. The argument is that the B12 provides them more opportunity/resources than their former respective conferences, so there is POTENTIAL improvement implied.
Hahaha check the other threads, everyone is talking about Houston securing 4/5 stars in a couple years
There are currently two teams in the new Big 12 ranked... Utah 16, Kansas 23. Sagarin has Wisconsin ranked higher than every other new Big 12 team.
So does Nebraska.
I really don’t think Houston or UCF will amount to much either if that makes you feel better. They both have recruiting advantages over a team like Wisconsin, but their fan support will keep them from doing much. I look at those teams like a Rutgers. Might step up and have a good year every so often, but it won’t be sustained.
Recruiting is national now. Wisconsin has the 25th beat class in 2024 which would rank them 2/3rd in the Big12.
But I do agree with your other points. There is also nothing saying Nebraska stays in the basement either even though we all want them too.
This is where I stand on Bucky. They have the potential to be a very solid football school but are also at a crossroads that could send them down the Nebby path to irrelevance. That largely depends on Fickell's ability to reinvent and modernize the entire program from the ground up to make it more exciting and attract recruits from out of the region. The in-state talent has been trending in the wrong direction, and that's been their bread & butter historically.
But to emphatically say they couldn't be top 5 in the new Big XII is ridiculous. They have the infrastructure, fan support, brand, and money to compete with anyone in our conference if they can put it all together.
Wisconsin is a good program. It's not Ohio State but there's some weird opinions in this thread. I'd put them as a top half B1G program for sure
Agree, plenty of room for debate, but to call Wisconsin a "cream puff" is just silly.
Lately they have been pretty bad but they have the potential to snap back. Good first recruiting class coming in and fickel is a pretty good x’s and o’s cos h.
Last year they were pretty bad but they were 10-4 in 2019, 4-3 in 2020, and 9-4 in 2021. I fear Fickel is going to take them to the next level.
Sure maybe, some who care about cte would argue 100% of society is objectively better if football entirely ceased to exist, you can take it that far, personally I’m kind of opposed to the concept of athletic scholarships which is a contradiction to my ISU fandom.
If Tulane had stayed the football program probably would’ve likely cycled through some good years as a modern SEC team. That’s what I’m saying.
I don’t think they are doomed to be horrible, they’re good now without being in a major conference. If northwestern was located in Louisiana I think they’d historically be significantly better at fb too.
I would be surprised if Iowa has any advantage by deciding to go with 3 protected rivals.
There is no way OSU, UM, PSU, UW, UO, UCLA and USC are going to allow Iowa to have an easier path than them to the 12 team playoff.
Scheduling ain't tough in an 18 team conference with a 9 game schedule. Roughly 3 games from top 3rd, 3 games middle 3rd and 3 games bottom 3rd.
Maybe you were only talking about Houston but UCF has incredible fan support potential, maybe not the NIL kind like Miami but certainly more potential in terms of total fandom #s. Coworker’s son went to freshman orientation a few months back and she said it seemed like they were enrolling him to big 12 football fandom more than a college, it’s all anybody talked about.
Wisconsin would be top 5 most years in the Big 12. Flagship university with no other P5 teams in a big state with great fans. Every Big 12 team shares P5 in state except WVU, where West Virginia is a smaller state, and now Colorado.
