WITHOUTW - Where are we with Wisconsin Badgers football?

WITHOUT W

ORDS

A C ERTAIN POINT OF V IEW

I try not to be an alarmist as a sports fan. I think it’s a skill that most baseball fans need to acquire, lest they drive themselves mad over every little peak and valley over the course of a very, very long season, but it’s certainly something that I try to apply to other sports as well.

When people complain about a single baseball loss, I typically pay the criticism little heed, lest it is backed by data that shows negative trends over multiple weeks of play. However, that is something that is both necessary and can be afforded in baseball, where there is a 162 game season. However, when it comes to football, especially college football, these single game complaints gain more credence, simply by the nature of an abbreviated regular season schedule of 12 games and the fact that even one or two losses can mean the end of your season if you are shooting for a national championship. Still, I typically try to keep an even head even in the realm of college football.

All of that being said, even I am left scratching my head following the Wisconsin Badgers’ blowout loss to Nebraska this past weekend.

The loss dropped the Badgers to 5-6 and in danger of not making a bowl game for the first time since 2001. It’s been a weird season. Getting blown out by Alabama and before being trounced by USC in the second half did not set expectations high. But then Wisconsin obliterated Purdue, Rutgers and Northwestern in consecutive weeks, creating a little bit of hope, which was very quickly doused by a 28-13 loss to Penn State and a 42-10 dud against Iowa that was painful to watch. Coming off such an ugly loss to the Hawkeyes, it seemed likely that we were in for more of the same against the number one ranked team in the country, Oregon, but somehow the Badgers were leading the game heading into the fourth quarter. But then they successfully choked away that game and proceeded to be run over by the Cornhuskers this week.

All of this is to point out that this year has been…tumultuous, to say the least, but to also show that this is not just one game, but a season’s worth of head scratching play. There have been consequences already, with the Badgers parting ways with offensive coordinator Phil Longo, but fans are seemingly growing impatient with the entire process under head coach Luke Fickell, who is now 13-12 while leading Wisconsin.

I can certainly relate to some of the frustration. The hire seemed to be made with the idea of “modernizing” Wisconsin’s offense, a shift away from the runheavy schemes of Paul Chryst, Bret Bielema and Barry Alaverz that Wisconsin had become known for over the past three decades into something more versatile and would change the fortunes of a team that always seemed to fall short when going up against the best of the best. But what we’ve seen in the past two years doesn’t exactly show any improvement on that front. Add to the fact that the usually stout defense has also been more malleable and suddenly Wisconsin could be facing its first losing season in over two decades. When you combine that with the fact that the Badgers have just barely floated above .500 the prior two seasons (though Fickell had nothing to do with the 2022 season), frustration certainly builds.

But I also can’t necessarily agree with those looking to have Fickell fired. At this point, it wouldn’t make any sense and you could be dooming the team to at least another four years of mediocrity if such a rash decision is made. Building a college team takes time, and Fickell has really only had one full season of recruiting so far to do so. He is largely working with players that were recruited for an entirely different scheme of offense and defense, and while the new transfer portal rules can help in that regard, it’s still a difficult task to make the kind of overhaul that Fickell is attempting.

There are certainly reasons to be concerned; even without his own recruits, one would hope that the team would be more competitive than the blow out losses to Iowa and Nebraska would make them to be. But until we can see what the vision fully looks like, it would be rash to pass too much judgement. It’s also easy to forget that Wisconsin has had to rely upon a back-up quarterback for most of the season, and while Locke has shown flashes, his accuracy does not help an offense designed around completing short passes.

It’s tough to watch now, but only time will tell whether the drastic shift in offensive philosophy will work for Wisconsin. When your program has built a reputation over 30 years, it may be hard to shake that image for potential recruits.

NATHANIEL U NDERWOOD REPORTER

BY