Wisconsin football is on the outside of nearly every post-spring way-too-early top 25 ranking ahead of the 2024 season. The program is coming off consecutive 7-6 campaigns and is beginning to lose the reputation for consistent winning its held for more than two decades.
There was a good reason behind that reputation. Wisconsin has not had a losing season since going 5-7 in 2001 and is on a 23-year bowl streak. But one of Wisconsin’s recent streaks is in jeopardy entering 2024: The program has been ranked in every preseason AP Poll since 2017.
Related: Post-spring Big Ten football 2024 power rankings, starting quarterback rankings
It was No. 9 entering 2017, No. 4 entering 2018, No. 19 in 2019, No. 12 in 2020 and 2021, No. 18 in 2022 and No. 19 in 2023.
Wisconsin’s streak ranks among the longest in the nation, behind only Ohio State, Oklahoma, Georgia, Alabama and Clemson. Wisconsin lacks the College Football Playoff success of those powerhouses, but it has maintained a similar level of consistency.
Given the 2024 team’s lack of inclusion in way-too-early top 25 rankings, it looks like that consistency will take a step backward for the time being.
Longest Active Streaks Ranked in the Preseason Top 25♨️ pic.twitter.com/Ll71NiBzV9
— PFF College (@PFF_College) May 9, 2024
Luke Fickell and his staff are working to return the program to where it was under Paul Chryst from 2016-2019. That stretch included three double-digit-win seasons and three Big Ten Championship appearances. Its outlook in the new-look Big Ten Conference is a big question mark, but a return to a double-digit-win baseline would make the hire a resounding success.
2022 and 2023 produced enough regression for the streak of preseason AP Top 25 rankings to end. Badgers fans hope a resurgent 2024 season is the start of a new decade-long streak.
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