The stakes are high for the Wisconsin Badgers (5-5, 3-4 Big Ten) road matchup against rival Nebraska Cornhuskers (5-5, 2-5 Big Ten) on Saturday.
Both teams enter the game at 5-5, needing just one more win to clinch bowl eligibility.
Related: Everything Luke Fickell said about the Phil Longo firing, Badgers’ offensive plan moving forward
Normally, that would be enough stakes alone. But how each team has reached this point is significant to note.
Wisconsin was 5-2 through seven games after a win over Northwestern capped an impressive three-game winning streak. The season has somewhat tanked since then, with demoralizing losses to Penn State, Iowa and Oregon, respectively.
The Badgers fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo after the latest loss, signaling the current state of affairs in year two of the Luke Fickell era. Overall, the program is far from where many expected it to be.
The Nebraska side is somehow even worse. The Cornhuskers were 5-1 to start the year, headlined by a big win over Colorado. They appeared to be at the start of a resurgence in year two under Matt Rhule.
Since that point: 56-7 loss to Indiana, 21-17 loss to Ohio State, 27-20 loss to UCLA and 28-20 loss to USC. Nebraska brings a four-game losing streak into Saturday’s matchup.
That four-game losing streak means a bit more to Nebraska than Wisconsin’s losing streak does to its program. Nebraska has not made a bowl game since 2016. It is now a whopping 0-9 in games with bowl eligibility on the line during that time, including now 0-8 under Rhule — 0-4 in 2023, 0-4 in 2024.
The FBS record for consecutive losses with bowl eligibility at stake is 10 (Mike MacIntyre and Colorado from 2017-18 and Lou Holtz at South Carolina from 2002-04). Another loss for Rhule would bring him within one defeat of the record. Losses to both Wisconsin and Iowa to close the season would bring him to that mark.
That’s what Wisconsin has to play for on Saturday, other than the famous Freedom Trophy — that Nebraska has yet to possess. With a win, the Badgers would put Nebraska in a record category of programs to lose 10 straight games with bowl eligibility at stake. With a loss, Wisconsin would forever be the team that ended that record bowl drought.
There are larger Fickell vs. Rhule implications after both were high-profile hires before the 2023 season. But that conversation can wait until postgame. Just note: coaches that lose nine or ten straight games with bowl eligibility on the line usually don’t stick around for very long.
Nebraska's record under Matt Rhule is now 0-8 when they've had a chance to clinch a bowl game.
Since 1936, only 11 other FBS coaches have a streak that long.
The FBS record is 10 games. pic.twitter.com/fq2yke9gCl
— Eric (@stewmanji) November 17, 2024
Wisconsin and Nebraska will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET, 2:30 p.m. CT from Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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