Wisconsin football enters a new world in 2024.
Gone is the annual parachute of playing in the Big Ten West, and the benefit of only needing to go 6-3 or 7-2 in Big Ten play to make the conference championship game.
Now, the schedule’s difficulty increases greatly moving forward. Wisconsin faces more blue blood teams on a week-in, week-out basis, and also now must navigate the schedule with one or two losses to have a hope at a conference title.
Related: Which Big Ten football team has the toughest conference schedule in 2024?
It’s the new era of the Big Ten, and no teams are as greatly affected as those that enjoyed the peace and quiet of the Big Ten West.
Wisconsin’s 2024 schedule, specifically, isn’t only one of the toughest in the conference. It’s also one of the toughest in the nation.
Phil Steele’s annual college football preview magazine ranks each program’s schedule based on 2023’s results. Here is his ranking of the toughest schedules in college football in 2024: