The Late Kick’s Josh Pate Expects Wisconsin Football to Compete for CFP in 2026

When Luke Fickell became the head coach for the Wisconsin football team, expectations to compete were immediately sky-high, and for good reason. Fickell is widely regarded as one of the best head coaches in all of college football. He and his staff have shown they can recruit at a high level, but can also develop players into NFL-ready prospects.

After a disappointing first season, the Badgers ended the 2023 season with a 7-6 record and a loss to LSU in the ReliaQuest Bowl. But there is still plenty of reason for optimism.

Fickell joined the Wisconsin football program after the Badgers went 7-6 in 2022. And like almost every other situation with a new coaching staff, there was a lot of change before last season. With the transfer portal and a whole new coaching staff and schemes, there is bound to be a lot of turnover and learning curves. In order to reach their potential in these new offensive and defensive schemes, you need players to that fit that mold. That takes more than a year.

We’ve seen, and will probably continue to see, that you can’t live and die by the transfer portal like Coach Prime is doing at Colorado. The Wisconsin football team is trying to build this program the right way. And according to one college football expert, the Badgers are doing things the right way and are going to compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff sooner than later.

Josh Pate Expects the Wisconsin Football Team to Compete Sooner than Later

Josh Pate, the host of The Late Kick with Josh Pate podcast, is one of the most knowledgeable people in the college football media landscape. His podcast is the most consumed college football podcast on the internet. If you love college football, I would highly recommend subscribing to his podcast. He brings a lot of great insight to the sport.

While he tends to talk a lot about the SEC, he ventures quite a bit into the Big Ten as well.

He did a mailbag episode last week, asking for questions to answer on his Late Kick Extra podcast. I took a shot and asked him when he thought Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin football team could realistically compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff, and wouldn’t you know it, he answered my question.

Here’s what he had to say.

‘About one more year. I think they’ll be a candidate.” He goes on to say there is an outside shot that they could compete this year, but says next year and beyond is more likely.

“Next year and moving forward, that’s three classes that they’ve have recruited and developed. I’d feel pretty confident that Wisconsin is going to be a major player from that point moving forward.”

So part of Pate’s confidence comes from the Wisconsin football staff’s ability to do what they were brought to Madison to do: draft and develop.

But the other side of the coin would be the fact that the College Football Playoff is expanding from four to 12 teams, lowering the bar for competition and raising the chances that they would get in.

“Again, we are talking about a lowered bar here.” Pate says. “You are talking about a 12-team field, and you are talking about them being in one of the two favored conference in college football.”

Another ringing endorsement for the Wisconsin football program, this time from one of the most knowledgeable people in the college football landscape. There’s plenty of reason to stay patient and optimistic for the future of this program.

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