ProFootballFocus’ Eric Eager released his “Too-Early 2020 Top 25 College Football Power Rankings” earlier this week and pegged the Badgers in at No. 13, good for fourth-highest in the Big Ten conference.
PFF's Too-Early 2020 Top 25 College Football Power Rankings.@PFF_Eric:https://t.co/gPqbXUj5BN
— PFF College (@PFF_College) May 22, 2020
Big Ten teams ahead of the Badgers include Justin Fields and Ohio State at No. 2, James Franklin‘s Penn State Nittany Lions at No. 9 and the Michigan Wolverines at No. 11.
“The Big Ten’s runner up in 2019, the Badgers lose some pretty valuable players in Jonathan Taylor (0.54 win shares in 2019), Zack Baun (0.47) and Quintez Cephus (0.37) to the NFL,” the article reads.
Paul Chryst and the Badgers are scheduled to face off against a total of four teams included in the Top-25, those being No. 8 Notre Dame, the aforementioned Michigan Wolverines, No. 17 Iowa and No. 22 Minnesota.
Though the schedule’s difficulty does not come close to last year’s gauntlet of Ohio State twice, playing Minnesota on the road and facing off against Justin Herbert and the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl, it doesn’t appear to be a cakewalk either as the Badgers look to claim their first conference championship in eight years.