LINCOLN, Neb. — Luke Fickell gripped the sides of a lectern underneath Memorial Stadium, his fingers tapping as he spoke in a low voice while shaking his head and furrowing his brow. It was the demeanor and expression of a coach who couldn’t hide his mounting frustration — not simply with losing but with having no explanation as to how to fix it.
“This is getting obviously old,” Fickell began. “I don’t have any excuses. We didn’t play well.”
Fickell happened to say that Saturday after another embarrassing performance by his Wisconsin team in a 44-25 loss to Nebraska. But he may as well have been talking about any number of bad losses during his two-year tenure in charge. This one had to rank near the top considering Nebraska hadn’t beaten Wisconsin in 12 years and hadn’t qualified for a bowl game in seven years — both streaks that ended as the Huskers leapt up and down while “Jump Around” played from the loudspeakers and students stormed the field.
Nebraska players ran with glee from one sideline to the other to hoist the Freedom Trophy, which they had not touched since it was created a decade ago. Badgers outside linebacker Aaron Witt said Nebraska, which snapped a four-game losing streak, celebrated like it had won the Super Bowl. It was a battle of two 5-5 teams to see who could be less mediocre, and it wasn’t even close.
“When you get punched, you’ve got to punch back,” Badgers defensive lineman Ben Barten said. “It’s time for us to punch back.”
Players consistently say Fickell is the right man to lead Wisconsin through difficult times, with Barten calling him “a hell of a leader.” And that may well be true. He and his staff have recruited at a high level, which has created optimism about the future. But the on-field results aren’t different. Fickell is 12-12 overall and 8-9 in Big Ten games since the start of last season.
It didn’t seem possible for Wisconsin to be in more disarray than two years ago when Paul Chryst was fired at midseason, yet here we are. The defense surrendered 40 points in a game for the third time this season, following up blowout 42-10 losses to Alabama and Iowa. That hasn’t occurred since 2001, when the Badgers last missed a bowl game. Even more alarming is that Fickell, paid handsomely to find answers, had none following the thrashing from Nebraska.
On why the team hasn’t played more consistent football: “That’s what I’ve been searching for, for quite a while. I don’t have an answer. I can’t put a finger on it.”
On how to make sense of what he’s seen defensively: “I don’t know. … There’s not one thing that you can just pinpoint.”
On how the team manages the emotions of a rollercoaster season: “That’s what we probably haven’t done as good a job of.”
Wisconsin center Jake Renfro, who played for Fickell at Cincinnati and consistently preaches a positive message, attempted to assure people that he had faith in his coaching staff and things were on the right track. But he acknowledged that “I know it’s hard to see after a game like today” and having a losing record this late in a season “feels terrible.”
Nebraska not only walked the walked but also talked the talk. Renfro earlier in the week said Wisconsin was ready for the challenge and that “this week unfortunately it’s Nebraska — for them, not for us.” He also said Wisconsin would “bring a beatdown to Nebraska.” Huskers defensive lineman Ty Robinson responded after the game by saying: “Unfortunately for them, they had to play us.”
Wisconsin’s failures this season don’t fall on a single player but rather an astounding lack of complementary football, which speaks to an overarching consistency problem. One week ago, the defense played its best game of the season in a 16-13 loss to No. 1 Oregon that highlighted just how deep the Badgers’ offensive deficiencies were and led to Fickell firing offensive coordinator Phil Longo the next day.
Wisconsin’s defense has played well at times, but it needed to rise to the occasion Saturday given all the challenges the offense faced during the week. Tight ends coach Nate Letton called plays for the first time as part of a collaborative effort with the offensive staff. The offense also huddled between plays, with many newcomers accustomed to spread offenses doing so for the first time in their careers. Quarterback Braedyn Locke played one of his best games and threw three touchdown passes.
But the defense surrendered a touchdown on the first drive and withered at critical junctures. Nebraska, which changed offensive coordinators two weeks ago and entered the game ranked 99th in the FBS in total offense, recorded 473 yards of total offense. Quarterback Dylan Raiola threw for 293 yards. Running back Dante Dowdell scored three rushing touchdowns. Nebraska led by double digits during the entire second half and finished with its most points in a Big Ten game in two seasons under Matt Rhule.
“This is on our defense today,” Barten said. “Our offense scored like 27 points or something. Holy s—, if you’re playing Nebraska, you’ve got to win a game. Your defense has got to figure it out. That’s what we didn’t do.”
It didn’t help matters that coaching miscalculations hindered Wisconsin. Two blunders in the first half cost the Badgers dearly. With the score tied 7-7 in the first quarter, Fickell said Wisconsin had a fake field goal planned on what otherwise would have been a 29-yard attempt by kicker Nathanial Vakos. Fickell said he was willing to take a delay of game penalty if the call didn’t match what the Badgers saw presented from the Huskers — even though Wisconsin had a timeout to use. Wisconsin was flagged for the delay of game penalty, Vakos missed a 34-yarder wide left and Nebraska marched down the field for a touchdown to take a 14-7 lead.
The second mistake came with 17 seconds remaining in the second quarter when Wisconsin handed the ball off to running back Tawee Walker from its own 25-yard line rather than taking a knee. Walker lost a fumble, and Nebraska kicked a field goal immediately after scoring a touchdown to enter halftime ahead 24-10.
Did Fickell think about kneeling?
“Now I do,” he said.
Wisconsin (5-6, 3-5 Big Ten) enters its regular season finale on a four-game losing streak for the first time in 16 years and is on the verge of missing a bowl game for the first time in 23 years. That would snap the third-longest active bowl game streak in the FBS. It will require a victory Friday against a 6-5 Minnesota team that took Penn State down to the wire to avoid that calamity.
Reaching a low-tier bowl game was not why Fickell was hired, but it’s the best the Badgers can do to salvage the season. The search for answers, meanwhile, likely will last deep into the offseason and beyond.
“You’re going to find out what you’re really made of,” Fickell said. “We’ve got a long way to go, but there are some steps we’ve got to take ASAP.”
(Photo: Dylan Widger / Imagn Images)
