The 2020 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

in the

2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 151st season of college football games in the United States. Organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision ...

. The Badgers were led by sixth-year head coach

Paul Chryst Paul Joseph Chryst (born November 17, 1965) is a former American football head coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach for the Wisconsin Badgers. Chryst was the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 2012 to ...

and competed as members of the West Division of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. They played their home games at

Camp Randall Stadium Camp Randall Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Madison, Wisconsin, located on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Wisconsin. It has been the home of the Wisconsin Badgers football team in rudimentary form since 1895 ...

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

. On August 11, 2020, the Big Ten Conference suspended all fall sports competitions due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. However, on September 16, the Big Ten reinstated the season, announcing an eight-game season beginning on October 24.

Previous season

The 2019 team started the year nineteenth in the pre-season

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

. The team finished with two regular season losses, and were invited to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 2012 to play

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. The Badgers lost the game and finished the year at 10–4 and top 10 in final polls.

Offseason

2020 NFL Draft

Transfers

Preseason

Spring game

The Badgers spring scrimmage and practice on April 18, 2020 was canceled due to the

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Preseason Big Ten poll

Although the Big Ten Conference has not held an official preseason poll since 2010,

Cleveland.com ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

has polled sports journalists representing all member schools as a ''de facto'' preseason media poll since 2011. For the 2020 poll, Wisconsin was projected to finish first in the West Division.

Schedule

Games canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic

The Badgers 2020 schedule originally consisted of six home games, four away games, and two neutral site games. The Badgers would have hosted two of its three non-conference games at Camp Randall; the first on September 12 against

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern United States, Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of th ...

from the Missouri Valley, then the next week on September 19, playing

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

, a member of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

. The last non-conference matchup on October 3 was a primetime game guaranteed to air on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

against Notre Dame as part of the Fighting Irish's neutral-site

Shamrock Series The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the intercollegiate football team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, north of the city of South Bend, Indiana. The team plays its home games at the campus' Notre Dame ...

Lambeau Field Lambeau Field is an outdoor athletic stadium in the north central United States, located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The home field of the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL), it opened in 1957 as City Stadium, replacing ...

in Green Bay, with Notre Dame as the designated home team. The Big Ten Conference canceled all non-conference games on July 9 due to the

; the day before, the November 7 away game at Northwestern was moved from the neutral site

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

back to

Ryan Field Ryan Field may refer to: * Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, also known as Ryan Field, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States * Ryan Field (airport), also known as Ryan Airfield, in Tucson, Arizona, United States * Ryan Field (sportscaster) (born ...

in Evanston. Both Notre Dame and Wisconsin plan to fulfill their contract and play the Lambeau Field game in a subsequent season. On November 25, Wisconsin's game vs. Minnesota was canceled, leaving the team with only 5 games maximum and thus making the Badgers no longer eligible for the 2020 Big Ten Football Championship Game.

Current schedule

play, Wisconsin will play all members of the West Division, and draws

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, and

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

from the East Division. ''*Wisconsin's game with Nebraska was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Wisconsin. The game will not be rescheduled. Instead, both teams will have a bye and will have just seven games.'' ''*Wisconsin's game with Purdue was cancelled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Wisconsin. The game will not be rescheduled. Instead, Wisconsin will have a bye and will have just six games, and Purdue will have a bye and will have just seven games.'' ''*Wisconsin's game with Minnesota was initially cancelled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Wisconsin. The game was eventually rescheduled for Big Ten Championship weekend.'' Source:

Roster

Rankings

Game summaries

Illinois

At Nebraska (Cancelled)

The Wisconsin at Nebraska game was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Wisconsin. The game will not be rescheduled. Instead, both teams will have a bye and will play just seven games.

Purdue (Cancelled)

The Purdue at Wisconsin game was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Wisconsin. The game will not be rescheduled.

At Michigan

At Northwestern

Minnesota (Rescheduled)

The Minnesota at Wisconsin game was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Minnesota. The game was rescheduled for December 19 at 3:00 p.m..

Indiana

At Iowa

Minnesota

Vs. Wake Forest (Duke's Mayo Bowl)

Awards and honors

Players drafted into the NFL

References

{{Wisconsin Badgers football navbox

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Wisconsin Badgers football seasons Duke's Mayo Bowl champion seasons

Wisconsin Badgers football The Wisconsin Badgers football program represents the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the sport of American football. Wisconsin competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the W ...