Quick thought: Wisconsin's loss to Alabama shows how far the Badgers are from being relevant
The loss to Alabama has many fans contemplating whether Luke Fickell can turn this program around.
I’m not sure any realistic Wisconsin fan thought the Badgers would actually pull off an upset in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, but I think there are a great many, myself included, who thought that even with a backup quarterback, they’d put up more of a fight than we saw.
The defense for the Badgers had looked impressive to start the season, allowing just one touchdown in two games, and was able to get pressure on the quarterback with some consistency. Was it just fool’s gold, or is Alabama just that good? I’m willing to bet it’s a bit of both.
So that begs the question. In year three of the Luke Fickell era, can he actually turn this program around? I was among the Fickell supporters at the start of the season, saying he needed some time to get his players in the program and rebuild the culture of the Wisconsin Badgers.
Yes, you can look back at where he started and say he didn’t have much to work with after Paul Chryst was fired. The former head coach had a lot of success with the Badgers, but in the later years of his tenure, the recruiting really fell off. A big part of that was the fact that he didn’t even have a recruiting department—literally nothing.
But when Fickell took over, there was a ton of buzz and excitement about the program. He brought Cincinnati, a G5 (at the time) school, to the four-team College Football Playoff. Think about what he could do with the resources at a Big Ten team like Wisconsin. He brought in a ton of transfers from Cincinnati with him, among other players like quarterback Tanner Mordecai, while retaining stars like running back Braelon Allen.
Now, after two full seasons and three recruiting cycles, shouldn’t Fick have his players in a position to contribute regularly? We should be seeing progress, right? So far, it seems like more of the same thing.
We saw little to no fight from the Badgers after they got punched in the mouth by the Crimson Tide. They held Alabama on a fourth-down play to force a turnover while it was still a scoreless game. Danny O’Neil immediately turned it over on the next play. When that happened, you knew it was over.
It’s something we’ve seen from this Wisconsin program in the past two seasons: they cannot overcome adversity.
So back to my original point: a win wasn’t expected, but everyone wanted to see progress. The game finished 38-14, but it wasn’t even that close. Alabama pulled a majority of its starters late in the game and the Badgers could only muster a special teams touchdown on a Vinny Anthony kickoff return. The offense could do almost nothing, and when they did start moving the ball, they shot themselves in the foot with a back-breaking penalty. Again, an all-too-common occurrence.
The schedule will do Fickell no favors in a year where fans want to start seeing some progress and results. Getting blown out, even against Alabama, is not what Fickell was brought in to do.
Even some of the strongest Fickell supporters are starting to show some cracks.
The Badgers are an irrelevant football program right now, and it doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.
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