Wisconsin Badgers 2024 Football Schedule Released! Toughest stretch, and way too early Prediction!

the 2024 Big 10 schedule is out and I think it's super super interesting a new schedule for a brand new Big 10 let's talk about [Music] it welcome to the Bucky report your destination for all things Wisconsin Badgers authentic takes oh my God game analysis touchdown Badgers ring one up and discussion from the fan perspec persective thanks for joining us and on [Applause] Wisconsin welcome into the Bucky report I'm your host reiv chaber and for a bonus episode to talk about the 2024 Big 10 schedule now you may be wondering we have four games left of this year we've got a full Big 10 Basketball slate why are we talking about the 2024 football schedule but I love this stuff I think it's super interesting to look at ahead look ahead in next year figure out what games we want to maybe go to how the schedule lays out potentially some way way too early record predictions and kind of where we fit um in other with the other kind of upper echelon big 10 schools uh coming up on the Bucky report this weekend uh we're going to be doing a full basketball preview which is going to be excellent and of course going over the Indiana game there's also a lot of content that Ryan herrings is doing on locked on Badgers so definitely check him out a lot of stuff going on in the world of Badgers right now but the first thing is this big 10 schedule and honestly I think it's really really fascinating now we already knew the opponents right so that was already set but then we got we really we got the schedule dropped today as far as the lineup by weeks and everything now The Season's a bit elongated Labor Day is a little earlier so the season starts August 31st and it goes all the way until the end of November because Thanksgiving is a little late so you're G to see two by weeks which is one of the first things that that kind of jumped out at me is something great we're going to pop it up on the screen here if you're listening on YouTube if you're watching on YouTube uh you'll see the schedule here on the left hand side if you're on if you're listening to us on Spotify or any other podcasts I'll talk you through the whole thing so that's excellent but let's kind of just get into this a little bit and one of the things right off the bat that I absolutely love is seeing Western Michigan and South Dakota at the top of the schedule I know that there's a lot of people out there that don't really like those sort of lesser opponents early in the season I think it's super important and because look there's no preseason in this Sport and we don't need to be going into the Alabama game and into the Big 10 schedule without really working the out Braden lock is going to be in his second season his first full season most likely as our quarterback we don't really know what the running back Situation's going to be whether Allen's still going to be there what that's going to look like so there's a lot of jelling that has to happen so not only with the quarterback and the running backs with the wide receivers defense schemes everything I don't want to open the season with Alabama or Penn State which we've had you know recently we' had LSU before and I know that's sexy right it's sexy to have have that that huge big opponent coming right off the bat I'm okay with the way with with the way that this is so I really like that Western Michigan South Dakota you got to think okay that's two wins a great way to start the season and that's nice then of course comes Alabama which is another great great test look I think what's interesting about this is as the Big 10 is now grown right we've added Washington and Oregon and uccl USC I think some of these crossover games between the SEC and the Big 10 may start to dwindle a little bit because you won't necessarily need that kind of strength of schedule right so in the years of the BCS and and and even the college football playoff as it sits today strength of record strength of schedule really matters but now with the conferences being so deep I wonder how long we're going to continue to see games like this but I'm all here for it right because Alabama coming to Camp Randall is going to be really really great it's musty TV right I mean as a badger fan fan even as an as an SEC Alabama fan this is a game that people are circling and and it's there so I like the fact that we have two warm-up games and I'm saying warm-up games I understand that these teams are good they can definitely beat us but they're warm-up games they should be warm-up games and I like the fact that we have that going into the big test against Alabama and it's a measuring stick right so Braden lock and these guys next year we're going to know very early on what we can expect going into the Big 10 season because Alabama is a top Notch team and we're going to know are we good enough to compete and what's it going to look like after Alabama we have our first by week and in my opinion this is great because soon as that by week's over we go to USC and we're starting the Big 10 slate and I think it's an excellent time for a bye-week if you're looking at the entire schedule the by weeks are week four and then again three weeks from the end of the season so you've got you you've got let's see get six games in between the bye so three six and three I think that's fantastic fantastic it gives a chance to understand okay we evaluate the first three games what happened in the Alabama game hopefully it's a victory um and then you know what do we do we need to get right injuries that may have developed going into the Big 10 slate having that bye is really great now if there was only one by week I might say well I maybe prefer to have that a little bit later but with the with two I think it's excellent right really really nice another thing that kind of jumps off the page of our first five games four are at home right so we have Western Michigan at South Dakota and then of course Alabama at home then we've got the bye then we're going to USC Then followed by Purdue so five four of the first five are at home which is excellent really important to get started off right on the right foot there and hopefully it's with a lot of wins obviously we never know what's gonna happen with this team what freshmen are going to play who's coming in in the transfer portal what the team looks like is a complete mystery at this point not total mystery but there's a lot of unknown but having the schedule like this it you can see that it sets up for a possibly possible Good Start especially with that many home games that being said there are tough ones so after the byee now September 28th if you ever listen to the show you know that I live in Las Vegas and I'm a West Coast guy after growing up in the Midwest and going to Wisconsin I am extremely excited about the Badgers coming to USC it's still a 4our drive for me but I'm definitely going to be there and I know that a lot of you guys who are on the west coast are probably going to be there as well what an awesome experience to see the Badgers play in California usually it's just for the Rose Bowl which is fine as well this is the Coliseum so I'm really excited about it but talk about a tough test to open up the Big 10 slate I mean you're you're going to one of the best teams in in this conference now literally instantly they become one of the best teams and it's a tough way to start because now let's face it you're probably not going to pick the Badgers to win that game now you're starting the conference 0 and one so that's very difficult so you've got this like really tough Mini stretch of Alabama and USC stacked right against each other two teams the Badgers generally do not play so that's that's really exciting and I think that it it provides some spice but it also provides a little bit of danger and hesitation because do we really want to be have two losses at this point this season which honestly if you're picking prop if you're picking with your head you're thinking you're probably o you're probably two and two at this point but then you've got sort of this then it calms down a little bit right so we've we've got our two of lesser opponents at the beginning we've got Alabama our bye and then at USC then we have a stretch of home to Purdue and then at Ruckers and at Northwestern this is pretty much the only stretch of this of this season that I think you can look at it and say okay these are all pretty winnable games right I mean that's basically what you're looking at with Purdue Ruckers and Northwestern not that these teams cannot surprise us because they certainly can but I'm comfortable with that I think that's solid right there then it starts then then you got this another little like huge stretch Penn State at home on October 26th closest to Halloween so that'll be an interesting game and Penn State is a team that we've had some really difficult games against they're obviously one of the better teams in the conference we don't play them every year we're not going to but I like to see that Penn State came at home I think that's that I'm very happy that it's at home by the way and then Iowa a team that obviously you know we we lost to again this year we lost to them last year we we're not going to lose to them three years in a row um hopefully we will play Iowa every year because Iowa and Minnesota are our protected rivals in this season so or in in this new schedule then we've got another bye right so we had the bye early we've got six games three of which you think are really winnable in Purdue Ruckers in Northwestern and then Penn State and Iowa so at this point in the season if you say Alabama's a loss and you say USC's a loss and then maybe Penn State that could be potentially three losses there at that point you're looking at six and three if you beat Iowa that's that's difficult right that makes for a very very difficult schedule uh but look that's I'm okay with that it's great to see this kind of stuff on the schedule obviously we love the days of the Big 10 West which are now expiring and where we had an opportunity to go to the Big 10 Championship every year but the bottom line is this is the new Big 10 this is the new college football we're going to have to get used to seeing schedules like this so I think that there's some you got to take some of excitement about it as well knowing that you're going to have this many great games especially in Camp Randall as well so that's that's good after the second bye on November 9th we finish out our season with three big games home against Oregon that's really cool again another opponent that is in the new Big 10 that we're not really used to seeing which I'm super excited about that and of course following year we'll be going to Aon Stadium um in Eugene and then we end the season with opponents we typically will end the season with at Nebraska and home against the hated Golden Gophers I still love that we end the seasons against Minnesota I think that's a a very classic um college football element you know I know a lot of teams some Rivals will play earlier in the year I like that I like playing Minnesota at the end I don't know if it's always going to be like that but I really hope that it is and I like that I think it's a really good tradition um and of course it's great to end the season on a win hopefully we we don't have any more crazy random debacles against this team but so let me run through that again Western Michigan South Dakota Alabama to start by week on September 21st at USC to start the Big 10 slate Hing against Purdue at Ruckers at Northwestern so a couple so some road games there home against Penn State at Iowa then the by week Oregon at home at Nebraska home against Minnesota so I mean where does this schedule sort of compare to the other teams in the conference now when I looked at this I'm not looking at every single Big 10 team but when I I think about the upper echelon of the conference because look if you're going to play in the Big 10 Championship now you're going to have to have one of the two top records so you're now not just competing with Iowa and Minnesota and Nebraska you're competing with everybody in their Big 10 conference record so I'm looking at the teams that I feel like are in that up rest line which are of course Michigan Ohio State and Penn State Wisconsin and Iowa I F I picked those five teams from the current Big 10 um I know that you could make an argument for maybe you know Michigan State sometimes or whatever but just for the sake of this discussion I'm looking at I kind of dived into the schedules of those teams and then the newcomers excluding UCLA because I don't think they're a huge threat instantly now I know I'm not saying they're not good I know that they are but just for the sake of this discussion so I looked at USC Oregon and Washington what I looked at here is of those eight teams the upper echelon I'll say in the 18 team conference who has the tougher schedule right now if you look at those eight teams and say okay how many of those eight teams are you playing and what are the games that you're playing so for us we're playing at USC we're playing at Iowa we're home to Oregon and Penn State that's a pretty tough slate most of these teams these eight teams that I just highlighted um they they mostly play four of these opponents except Iowa they only play three which of course lucky Iowa they play at Ohio State host Washington and host Wisconsin and then Washington actually plays five these opponents that's just too bad for them they go at Iowa Michigan at home USC at home at Penn State and at Oregon so three of those on the road so I think for the most part we're a middle of the pack as far as our strength of schedule now again I didn't look at every single game I just kind of looked at what I thought were the best more s sort of upper echelon teams and how they play and what kind of games they have against other upper echelon teams so that's the way you kind of look at but we're middle of the road I think that it's look it's going to be really hard to get into the top two of this conference there's no doubt about that when you're in a conference with Michigan Ohio State Penn State Oregon Washington USC we've got to have a special season to say that we're gonna play in that big 10 Championship but I'm still here for it I love the Big 10 you've heard me say on this show and on locked on Badgers how much the Big 10 means to me and how much winning a big 10 title would mean to me so look I'm I love that the conference is this deep and the strength of schedule is going to be there every single year um but that's kind of where we stand so do we have a chance to really necessarily win the Big 10 next year who knows we've got there's a lot of questions to answer before that happens on paper no I don't necessarily think so because look at this there's a lot of games here that are not necessarily winnable um but that's kind of where we are as far as holistically again Iowa does have a little bit of an easier schedule they did they they're going to have a new offensive coordinator who knows who their quarterback's going to be so I'm not saying Iowa's a threat but of these kind of eight teams that I highlighted they do have the easiest slate so that's something to keep your eye on way way too early prediction now look so looking at this I'm gonna say Western Michigan and South Dakota likely wins Alabama USC likely losses then we go on our stretch Penn State at home to me that's the toss-up game right to Penn State and Oregon at home are those games where like well if we're gonna have a special season we're gonna have to really beat Penn State and Oregon um and if we we could also lose both of those games right so if you count Alabama and USC as losses that's definitely too um just because I think they're those are really good teams Penn State and Oregon so are we a three loss team are we a four loss team or maybe even more the other games Purdue and Ruckers Northwestern Nebraska Minnesota look I think we're gonna I think we can have those and and and we would we're certainly going to pick us to win those games unless something drastic happens in the off season but given the trajectory of the program I certainly like what I'm seeing so far and I believe that's that that's there so my way to too early prediction is going to be eight and four um or maybe 9 and three it's hard to say but I'm I'm going to go nine and three actually just because believe with regie why would I not go nine and three um because I think I think the Penn State or Oregon we're gonna win one of those games um they're both at home and I do think we're gonna beat Iowa next year I we can't we right we can't lose to Iowa three years in a row that's just not gonna happen I I really hope not so I'm gonna just you know chalk that up to we're going to beat Iowa because we just owe them a win um but the other games they're not going to be easy Oregon at home Penn State at home are tough but they're both at home so we also have to look at the home slate right the home slate being Alabama the tough games at least Alabama Purdue Penn State Oregon Minnesota a roads slate USC Rutter Northwestern Iowa Nebraska we do have five Big 10 games on the road and there's only four big 10 games at home but again some of the road games are games that you really feel like you can win especially when you look at Ruckers Northwestern and Nebraska but I think it's great I think it's really interesting to talk about this stuff and see it I'm one of those guys that when the schedule comes out I want to look at it I want to dissect it I want to figure out how many wins we can get out of it how many potential losses there are however you look at the schedule whether you think we're going to win 11 games or six games who wherever you are on the Spectrum I think that the one thing that I would say is this is going to be exciting I know there's been a lot of talk about is this right for the Big 10 should we be doing this should we be adding Oregon and Washington and these other teams I think it's exciting because yeah there are downfalls I understand that but we're a Coast to Coast Conference from an economic standpoint this just makes a lot of sense this is where college football's going we very well could have a system in the future of what basically amounts to an AFC and NFC and the Big 10 in the SEC I mean that that really could be what it looks like down the line when maybe you're looking at 24 team conferences so but right now it's exciting we I like to be Play exciting games I want to play good opponent and yeah we're going to lose some of those games but we also have a chance to win them right I mean we just came back from Madison a game that no we knew we weren't going to win but it was still exciting to be there and it was still exciting to feel some hope of that of that kind of a win now you have a lot of games that you can look at that schedule and say where am I going to go which game am I going to go see because there's a lot of hope that's kind of building up um so I I'm a big fan of this overall I've kind of had mixed emotions about it but in the end these are games I want to see I want to see us play Alabama that's obviously non-conference but I want to see us play Oregon and USC and I want to see the Badgers come out west and play some of these games and help their West Coast recruiting too I mean there's no reason why we can't you know beef up our recruiting across the country as well and we know that Luke fickle is going to take those steps but anyway guys thanks for listening I thought it was excellent to just kind of break down the schedule a little bit and talk through it again this weekend we're going to do a basketball preview show it's going to be excellent we're going to talk about all things related to rotation uh record predictions and all the good stuff right basketball season's here it's coming and hopefully hopefully we are going to talk about a nice good comfortable football win we really really need a little bit of a break from the the rough three weeks that we've had although there was a a wind sandwiched in there it was still a pretty emotional Victory against Illinois so I would like to see Indiana just fall early and hopefully the Badgers can have an excellent excellent win and we need it we really really need to come out strong and come out firing so all right tune in uh this weekend for our show and um thanks a [Music] lot thank you for listening if you enjoy the show subscribe to our YouTube channel at the Bucky report or the Bucky report podcast from wherever you get your content until next time on Wisconsin