Luke Fickell’s coaching tenure at Wisconsin has devolved into an embarrassment as the team was defeated 37-0 by the Iowa Hawkeyes on Oct.11.
Fickell’s Badgers are staring down the prospect of having the program’s lowest win total in 35 years and the team has no clear identity.
Fickell’s offensive schemes belong in a third-tier conference, not the black-and-blue Big Ten and Wisconsin’s defense is a far cry from what any fan is used to.
The Badgers are playing the worst stretch of football in the modern history of the program. The team gave up four rushing touchdowns to a mediocre Iowa team, which at one time would have been unheard of for a Wisconsin defense.
Offensively, Fickell continues to shove his pass-on-every-down offense down everyone’s throats (well, except for Wisconsin’s opponents) and appears to have no answer for the spiral his poor vision for the Badgers has put the team in.
Fickell faced chants from the student section calling for his firing during a game against Maryland. The boo birds have been out in full force all season, a noise Fickell may soon have reprieve from since Camp Randall attendance diminishes with every passing game.
Everyone understands it takes time to turn a college football program around. This isn’t the NFL, where a good draft class can help a team suddenly turn the corner. In high school, an elite standout or two are so far above the rest of the pack that they are able to control a team’s fortunes singlehandedly. A college football program, on the other hand, can take years to make progress.
But this is year three of Fickell’s plan to get Wisconsin to the college football playoff, and the team is further from that destination than it has been in 40 years.
And things are about to get a whole lot worse.
Next weekend, Wisconsin welcomes its blood rival, the top-ranked and undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes, to Camp Randall.
Ohio State is as good as it has ever been, particularly defensively. They are currently holding opponents to less than a touchdown per game on average, giving up a nation-leading 6.8 opponents’ points per game.
Ohio State has outscored its opposition 221-41 through six games, with nearly half of those 41 points being scored by Illinois last weekend.
Wisconsin’s offense presents zero threat to the Buckeyes’ vaunted defense. Wisconsin ranks 131 of 136 teams in Division 1 points per game.
It is time for athletic director Chris McIntosh to put his good friend Fickell out to pasture. Penn State just fired its coach, James Franklin, after a slow start to the season.
At least Penn State fans were able to witness their team make it all the way to the national championship game last year under Franklin.
That is a far cry from the wage theft Wisconsin fans have endured from Fickell.
