The Badgers were led by fifth-year head coach Paul Chryst and competed as members of the West Division of the Big Ten Conference.

To close out the regular season, the team beat rival and eighth-ranked Minnesota on the road to secure their place in the Big Ten Championship Game.

The Badgers were led on offense by junior running back Jonathan Taylor, who, for the second consecutive year, was the recipient of the Doak Walker Award and was a unanimous All-American.

Taylor finished tied atop the Big Ten Conference and third nationally with Ohio State's J. K. Dobbins with 2,003 yards and 21 touchdowns.

11 Michigan in their Big Ten opener, where the Badgers scored 35 unanswered points to start the game before resting the team's starters and allowing two touchdowns from the Wolverines.

Several experts marked this moment as a downward turning point for the Badgers, as they were not able to recover in time tor the Ohio State game, losing in Columbus as well.

[16] The Badgers would bounce back, however, with a narrow home victory versus a ranked Iowa, and a blowout win on the road against a top-ten Minnesota.

6 Wisconsin was upset on the road by unranked Illinois, who took the lead for the first time in the entire game as the clock ran out, with a 39-yard field goal.