The 2018 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

in the

2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 149th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) ...

. The Badgers were led by fourth year head coach

Paul Chryst Paul Joseph Chryst (born November 17, 1965) is an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 2012 to 2014 and the University of Wisconsin—Madison from 2015 to 2022. Chryst had previously ...

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, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. 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 List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

. Returning many key players from their

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

-winning 2017 team, the 2018 team was expected to compete for a Big Ten title and a spot in the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...

. They were ranked fourth in the pre-season AP Poll, tied for the highest start in school history. In the third game of the year, the Badgers were upset by unranked BYU. Wisconsin ultimately lost four more games during the season, including a loss to

rival A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

that snapped a Wisconsin 14-game winning streak in the series dating back to 2004. The Badgers were 5–4 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for second place in the West Division. They were invited to the

Pinstripe Bowl The Pinstripe Bowl is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football bowl game held annually since 2010 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York City. Through 2025 it is affiliated ...

to play Miami (FL) in a rematch of the 2017 Orange Bowl, where they defeated the Hurricanes once again to finish the season at 8–5. The Badgers were led offensively by sophomore running back Jonathan Taylor, who led FBS in both rushing yards (2,194) and rushing attempts (307), and was awarded the

Doak Walker Award The Doak Walker Award honors the top running back in college football in the United States. Established in 1990, it is named in honor of Doak Walker, a former running back who played for the SMU Mustangs from 1945 to 1949 and in the National Foot ...

as the nation's top running back. He became the third Badger player to eclipse the 2,000 yard mark in a single season after Ron Dayne and Melvin Gordon. Taylor was named a consensus first-team All-American, as was offensive lineman Beau Benzschawel. Four members of the offensive line received first-team all-conference honors: Benzschawel, Tyler Biadasz, Michael Deiter, and David Edwards. Quarterback Alex Hornibrook led the team in passing with 1,532 yards and 13 touchdown passes.

Offseason

2018 NFL draft

Recruiting

The Badgers signed a total of 20 recruits.

Preseason

Award watch lists

Schedule

Wisconsin's 2018 schedule consisted of 7 home and 5 away games in the regular season. The Badgers hosted Big Ten opponents

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

, and

and traveled to

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, Northwestern, and

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

, and

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

. The team's three non–conference games were against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers from

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

(C-USA),

New Mexico Lobos The New Mexico Lobos are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of New Mexico, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque. The university participates in the NCAA Division I in the Mountain West Conference (MW) since 1999 ...

from the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

(MWC), and the

BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the Big 12 C ...

, who compete independently in football. Schedule Source:

Personnel

Roster

Position key

Game summaries

Western Kentucky

New Mexico

BYU

At Iowa

Nebraska

At Michigan

Illinois

At Northwestern

Rutgers

At Penn State

At Purdue

Minnesota

vs Miami (FL)–Pinstripe Bowl

Rankings

Awards and honors

Players drafted into the NFL

Signed undrafted free agents

* Beau Benzschawel, OL,

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

* T. J. Edwards, LB,

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

* Alec Ingold, FB,

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

References

{{Wisconsin Badgers football navbox

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

Wisconsin Badgers football seasons Pinstripe 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 Bi ...