How do Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska do this year?

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SeaBee_Gopher

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I've never seen the Gophers as overmatched as they were vs. Iowa last year. It was ugly. Similar to the Gophers having a lot of guys make NFL teams from their 2024 squad, Iowa had seven guys drafted from their 2025 team and another six UDFAs! Yikes!!! Their QB, Mark Gronowski, was VERY experienced and underrated (now a UDFA with Miami). Many think Iowa would have beaten Indiana last year if Gronowski wasn't hurt in the fourth quarter. They absolutely stood toe-to-toe with the national champs! Iowa fans must feel like they really let what could have been a special year slip away. I think Iowa is down in 2026 and the Gophers are up. I'd still rank Iowa above the Gophers for 2026 just because it's hard to ignore recent history, but we should be in their league this year.

Nebraska? Meh

Wisconsin? Yuck!

What do you think?
 

Iowa does good job of reloading, they probably won't be as good as last year but still should win ~9 games

Nebraska, you'd have to think with their resources they eventually figure it out. They got rid of cos playing Mahomes, I'm not sure if it's bonus or negative

I expect Wisconsin to be improved and schedule isn't the guantlet it was last year, I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled out 7-8 wins

Have hard time seeing us go 3-0 vs that group. If it's 1-2, I hope it's IA we beat
 

Hopefully Wisconsin is a smoldering crater by mid November and just playing out the season under an interim coach when the Gophers face them late in the month.

The only good thing about not playing Nebraska in 2026 is the impressive Gopher win streak over them is 100% sure of remaining intact.

Iowa? It really feels like they have the Gopher's number during the Fleck years. The gophers got two unexpected upset wins over them in the early '10s and it seams like although things always have a way of evening out, it has waaaaaay more than evened out over the past 10 years. The series should be about even over the past 10 years or so but the Gophers lost some games they statistically dominated Iowa and those disappointments were topped by the embarrassing blow out last season. The Gophers are way overdue to catch a break against the Squawks.
 

salzie said:
Iowa does good job of reloading, they probably won't be as good as last year but still should win ~9 games

Nebraska, you'd have to think with their resources they eventually figure it out. They got rid of cos playing Mahomes, I'm not sure if it's bonus or negative

I expect Wisconsin to be improved and schedule isn't the guantlet it was last year, I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled out 7-8 wins

Have hard time seeing us go 3-0 vs that group. If it's 1-2, I hope it's IA we beat
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They couldn’t get much worse on offense. I don’t expect them to be above average this year offensively.
 

Because of their durable consistency, it's tough to bet against Iowa despite their significant personnel losses after last season. Their worst records of the last 10 years are two 7-5 regular seasons. I think they have enough unknowns and a reasonably tough conference schedule to end that way this season. We certainly don't beat them often but we did three years ago when we had a pretty poor team. I feel better about predicting a win over them this season than most years.

I'm more worried about Wisconsin than I have been the last couple of years. Their huge problem last season was offense but their promising new dual threat QB should help to improve that. They have a fair shot of getting 6 or 7 regular season wins.

Someday Nebraska will beat us again but we don't play them this season so that opportunity will have to wait. I could easily see them getting off to a 5-0 start but the last 7 games are a potential gauntlet with only Rutgers as a possible breather. I think they get to 6 wins but I don't see them getting 8.
 


Iowa gets 9 wins. Nebraska gets 6 wins.

Wisconsin sucks. 4 wins, new coach......
 

I feel like the Gophers are getting better. We have a proven QB and I want to believe that we will be much improved in the trenches. The depth may be Fleck's best so with Iowa having to replace many positions and the uncertainty at QB, I like our chances to flip the script in 2026. If there is a year to gain some momentum back our way, this is the year. Even though Fleck doesn't believe in momentum. I certainly do.
 

Hard to pick against Iowa with their track record. They lost a lot but are pretty good at doing what they do.
If I had to guess right now:
Iowa 8-4
Wisconsin and Nebraska 6-6
 

Nebraska will lose to North Dakota. 5 wins
Unsure why Rhule doesn’t get the hot seat rumors, but he has been very mid (19-19 overall 10-17 in B1G).

Wisconsin has a tougher schedule next year. 4 wins. I pray Fickell gets a lifetime extension and maintains this high level of badger football.

Iowa seems to have a tough schedule so could be a down year relative to past seasons. 6-8 wins??
 



Schnauzer said:
Hopefully Wisconsin is a smoldering crater by mid November and just playing out the season under an interim coach when the Gophers face them late in the month.

The only good thing about not playing Nebraska in 2026 is the impressive Gopher win streak over them is 100% sure of remaining intact.

Iowa? It really feels like they have the Gopher's number during the Fleck years. The gophers got two unexpected upset wins over them in the early '10s and it seams like although things always have a way of evening out, it has waaaaaay more than evened out over the past 10 years. The series should be about even over the past 10 years or so but the Gophers lost some games they statistically dominated Iowa and those disappointments were topped by the embarrassing blow out last season. The Gophers are way overdue to catch a break against the Squawks.
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I'm conflicted on what I want for Badgers football in 2026. Obviously I would hope they go 0-12 or 1-11 with the win over Iowa.

Another part of me hopes they are just good enough to keep their HC around another season, but still not great.
 

As is written in stone, Iowa will destroy us, and Whiskey will be better. Nebby average.
 






Nebraska gets a brutal schedule for 2026 although they didn't schedule a power 4 non-conference opponent.

Ohio State
Oregon
Indiana
Iowa

Nebraska is 1-9 against Iowa in the last 10 games.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
They certainly do not have a tougher schedule in 2026 than they had in 2025. Sagarin rated last year's schedule as the toughest in the nation.
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Yeah, Sconnie should have a better record just by nature of not playing the brutal schedule they played last year. Tough to say how good they will be but there is no doubt Fickell needs a good season to keep his job.

Nebraska has a rough Big Ten schedule

Iowa is going to be a really interesting one. They lost a lot of talent to the draft and they have a brutal start to the Big Ten schedule with 3 of their first 4 on the road with @Michigan, vs. Ohio State, @Washington, and @Minnesota. They do get a bye before playing us but they will be coming off a pretty tough stretch to start the conference schedule.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
They certainly do not have a tougher schedule in 2026 than they had in 2025. Sagarin rated last year's schedule as the toughest in the nation.
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I would say it is the toughest again. Minnesota is on the schedule again................
 


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