FanPulse Update: Badgers fans have high confidence in direction of football and basketball teams

College football season has come and gone, and oh what a season it was. In the end the LSU Tigers proved to be a team of destiny and took home the National Title with a perfect 15-0 season. It was as storybook of an ending as you could possibly draw up. As a result, the Tigers finished first in the last FanPulse release of the season.

Our very own Wisconsin Badgers also put together a pretty good season going 10-4 and finished at No. 18 in the latest release despite finishing No. 11 in the Final AP Poll. It appears the fans don’t care that three of the four losses were to teams that finished the season in the top-five. The thing is though, the final rankings of the season don’t really matter much unless you’re number one. The other 24 teams in the rankings essentially got a thanks for coming out card, see you in 2020, and that’s ok!

Despite the FanPulse and AP Poll disagreement, it appears confidence in the football program continued among Badger fans continued to hold steady down the stretch of the season. After just 67% of fans expressing confidence in Week 9, that number rose to 100% in Week 16. It appears that each and every Badger fan who participated in the voting has full confidence in the direction of the program which is impressive even to the biggest Paul Chryst stan out there (I’m just saying this in hopes he invites me to the cookouts).

After a less than ideal end to the football season the attention turns to the court where the Badgers men’s basketball team is starting to find some momentum and confidence from the fans. In early December, Wisconsin fan’s confidence in the program appeared to hit an all time low with just 48% of fans buying into the current direction. However, after winning six of seven games since that point the fans have appeared to buy back in. Beating three ranked teams, two of which on the road, certainly helps. We’ll see just how high confidence gets after the Badgers head to East Lansing Friday evening for a crucial Big Ten bout.

In addition to the confidence polls, fans were also asked to put on their prediction caps for the 2020 college football season. In a question posed to each participant, SB Nation asked who fans thought would be the NCAA champion come this time next year. Unsurprisingly, 47% went with the runner up Clemson Tigers and 20% went with Ohio State. A surprising 12% went with “someone else” while 8% went with Alabama. Not exactly any bold prediction from the crowd, but we’re still a long ways away from kickoff, so you’ve got time to ponder.