Wisconsin counting on refurbished roster to help Badgers rebound from two straight losing seasons

Read the original at Toronto Star ↗
Cite

Megargee, S. (2026, August 18). Wisconsin counting on refurbished roster to help Badgers rebound from two straight losing seasons. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/football/wisconsin-counting-on-refurbished-roster-to-help-badgers-rebound-from-two-straight-losing-seasons/article_f0a0a71f-15a1-55ce-bf5a-83aa04bf1e99.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Toronto Star · collected 2026-08-18 · by Steve Megargee

Quick Summary

Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh invested in the team's roster, adding 34 transfers, including 27 from Bowl Subdivision programs, to help the Badgers recover from two straight losing seasons. The team had a Power Four-leading 22 consecutive winning seasons before this downturn. Wisconsin opens against No. 4 Notre Dame and has a lighter schedule compared to last year, which may aid their return to bowl eligibility. The Badgers' linebackers Mason Posa and Cooper Catalano are considered a strong point, having made an impact in the previous season.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-08-18, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Wisconsin is hoping that its revamped roster will help the Badgers bounce back from two straight losing seasons. The team had 22 consecutive winning seasons before this recent downturn, but has gone 4-8 in each of the past two years. To address this slide, athletic director Chris McIntosh invested heavily in recruiting, bringing in 34 transfers, including 27 players from other Bowl Subdivision programs. One reason for optimism is the duo of young linebackers Mason Posa and Cooper Catalano, who both saw significant playing time as freshmen and showed promise in wins over Washington and Illinois last year. With a lighter schedule and an improved roster, Wisconsin hopes to return to bowl eligibility this season. The team's first game will be against No. 4 Notre Dame, but the conference schedule does not include any of the three Big Ten teams that made last year's College Football Playoff (Indiana, Ohio State, and Oregon).

Written for “Wisconsin Football Season Preview” on 2026-10-16, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Wisconsin Football Season Preview
Sports · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 4% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Florida attempts to 'wake the beast up' following 4 losing seasons in 5 years different event · 95%
Toronto Star
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 5% hedged 1 of 20 📰 publisher trust 63
“Article A is about Wisconsin's rebuilding efforts after back-to-back losing seasons, while Article B is about Florida's attempts to turn around their program with a new coach and returning players.”
QB Dante Moore returns and No. 2 Oregon aiming high again in Big Ten, national title chases different event · 90%
Toronto Star
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 12% hedged 2 of 17 📰 publisher trust 63
“The articles describe different teams (Oregon and Wisconsin) with their respective preseason expectations, roster changes, and past performance records”
No. 25 Missouri faces a brutal slate as QB Austin Simmons arrives and RB Ahmad Hardy recovers different event · 90%
Toronto Star
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 15 📰 publisher trust 63
“The articles mention different teams (Wisconsin Badgers and Missouri Tigers) and there is no overlap in their content, suggesting they are reporting on unrelated events”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
24
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
4%
1 of 24 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
63/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-08-18 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

Steve Megargee
35 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 35 articles by Steve Megargee →

Topics

Badgers Big Ten Indiana Notre Dame Wisconsin

Subjects

Wisconsin ORG · 11× Badgers ORG · 4× Big Ten ORG · 2× Indiana GPE · 2× Notre Dame GPE · 2× Ohio State ORG · 2× Old Dominion ORG · 2× Chris McIntosh PERSON · 1× MADISON GPE · 1× Wis. GPE · 1×

Narrative

Wisconsin opens against No. 4 Notre Dame, but the conference schedule doesn’t include any of the three Big Ten teams that made last year’s College Football Playoff (Indiana, Ohio State and Oregon).
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-08-18
🔮 McIntosh believed Fickell could win at Wisconsin if he got more financial support.
2026-08-18 · Toronto Star
Wisconsin counting on refurbished roster to help Badgers rebound from two straight losing seasons · assertive framing

Claims (24 extracted, 1 hedged)

Wisconsin believes its increased investment in roster construction can help the Badgers bounce back from back-to-back losing seasons. asserted
Badgers → believe → seasons
Before departing as athletic director to take a job in the Big Ten office, Chris McIntosh decided to stick with Luke Fickell rather than making a coaching change. asserted
McIntosh → depart → change
McIntosh believed Fickell could win at Wisconsin if he got more financial support. uncertain
he → believe → support
Wisconsin then added 34 transfers, including 27 from other Bowl Subdivision programs. asserted
Wisconsin → add → programs
Wisconsin had a Power Four-leading 22 straight winning seasons before this recent downturn. asserted
Wisconsin → have → downturn
An improved roster and a lighter schedule ought to help the Badgers return to bowl eligibility this season. asserted
Badgers → help → eligibility
Wisconsin opens against No. 4 Notre Dame, but the conference schedule doesn’t include any of the three Big Ten teams that made last year’s College Football Playoff (Indiana, Ohio State and Oregon). asserted
that → open → Playoff
Strengths include young linebackers asserted
Strengths → include → linebackers
The linebacker duo of Mason Posa and Cooper Catalano gives Wisconsin reason for hope. asserted
duo → give → hope
Both moved into the starting lineup late in their freshman seasons and provided a spark in victories over Washington and Illinois last year. asserted
Both → move → Washington
Posa made such an impact that he earned third-team all-Big Ten honors from the league’s coaches despite starting just five games. asserted
he → make → games
Weaknesses include issues on offense Wisconsin ranked next-to-last among all FBS programs last year – ahead of only UMass – in yards per game and yards per play. asserted
Wisconsin → include → play
The Badgers did plenty of work to upgrade their talent base on that side of the ball in the offseason. asserted
Badgers → do → offseason
There’s no doubt Wisconsin’s offense will be better this season than it was a year ago. asserted
it → ’ → ?
But there was such a long way to go that simply getting back to respectability would be a major step forward. asserted
getting → be → respectability
New faces S Marvin Burks Jr. started 26 straight games for Missouri from 2024-25. asserted
Jr. → start → 2024
He had 66 tackles in 2024 and 49 last season. asserted
He → have → 2024
QB Colton Joseph comes over from Old Dominion to become the fourth straight transfer to open a season as Wisconsin’s starter at this position. asserted
Joseph → come → position
He threw for 2,624 yards and 21 touchdowns while rushing for 1,007 yards and 13 more scores last year to help Old Dominion go 9-3 in the regular season. asserted
Dominion → throw → season
CB Javan Robinson made 26 straight starts at Arizona State from 2024-25. asserted
Robinson → make → 2024
RB Abu Sama III rushed for 1,933 yards at Iowa State the last three seasons. asserted
III → rush → State
He ran fot 732 yards and gained 5.2 yards per carry last year. asserted
He → run → carry
OT PJ Wilkins has a good chance of opening the season as Wisconsin’s starting left tackle. asserted
Wilkins → have → tackle
He primarily played guard at his two previous schools: Charlotte (2024) and Mississippi (2025). asserted
He → play → schools
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