Wisconsin Football Fall From Grace Is a Hard Reality Check

It has now been almost 24 hours since the Wisconsin Badgers lost to the Indiana Hoosiers in football, 20-14, and I am still in complete disbelief. UW has lost two straight games to IU, historically the worst team in the Big Ten.

Seriously, look it up!

The Hoosiers have the most B1G losses (534) and the second-worst B1G winning percentage (.301), only ahead of Rutgers. The University of Chicago, who hasn’t played a Big Ten football game since 1939 mind you, only has 103 fewer B1G wins than the Hoosiers.

Indiana has been ranked in the final AP Poll six times…out of the 124 years they’ve played in the Big Ten. Now, all of this historical losing doesn’t have much to do with what happened in 2023, but Indiana is also one of the worst Power 5 teams in the country this year!

Entering Saturday’s contest against the Wisconsin football team, Indiana was on a four-game losing streak and hadn’t won a conference game yet.

They had been blown out by Ohio State, Michigan, Maryland, and Rutgers. They actually played Penn State tough but still lost by nine and benefitted from multiple obscene, blown coverages by the Nittany Lions. Their two wins came over Indiana State and Akron, a pair of dreadful programs in their respective divisions, and IU fans were clamoring for a midseason coaching change.

What I’m trying to say is, whatever problems you think your team is dealing with this year…Indiana is dealing with worse. They have approximately zero all-conference players on offense and maybe two on defense. It doesn’t appear that they have much, if any, NFL talent on the roster (although LB Aaron Casey probably should get a look) and they play home games in a morgue, especially now that basketball season is starting.

Can you imagine being a Big Ten team LOSING to this team? Well, you don’t have to imagine because your Big Ten team DID lose to them.

IU spent the first half dominating Wisconsin up and down the field and went into halftime with a 17-7 lead. The Badgers opened the second half with a nice touchdown drive and then…failed to score for the final 25 minutes of the game and lost by six.

Even after holding UW to a measly 14 points, IU is still averaging 28.0 ppg allowed (85th out of 133 FBS teams), and even after scoring 20 points, the Hoosiers are only averaging 18.8 ppg (119th out of 133). That is a pathetic team — a pathetic team that beat Wisconsin football.

Lowest postgame win expectancy in a win, Week 10:

Duke > Wake 12%
UCF > Cincinnati 21%
SHSU > Kennesaw 26%
Indiana > Wisconsin 30%
Stanford > Wazzu 31%
OSU > OU 38%
Houston > Baylor 43%
CMU > NIU 43%
Texas Tech > TCU 44%
UTSA > UNT 45%

FUNKY WEEK!https://t.co/fjsWyQPXfP

— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) November 5, 2023

Wisconsin Football Has Seen Better Days 

I vacillated back and forth over the summer on how I thought Year one of Luke Fickell’s tenure would go in Madison before eventually landing on a “successful march through a weak division by beating our rivals but then losing to Michigan/OSU/whoever in Indy.” I, and many others, were dead wrong. This is not a good football team. 

In fact, I’d venture so far as to say they are a bad one.

There are no difference makers on offense and few on defense. Big plays by wide receivers or running backs are non-existent. The offensive line play has been subpar (at best), and the penalties they’re committing are crippling to an already hindered group of skill players. 

Perhaps the most important position in Big Ten West football, punter, has been bad. They keep depositing kickoffs out of bounds. The play-calling hasn’t been adjusted to fit the (admittedly limited) skills of the quarterbacks/running backs/wideouts. 

The Wisconsin football team comes out of the gates slowly and finishes poorly. The talent level is the “highest” in the West Division, but it isn’t good enough to just “show up and win” against anybody. The lack of development over the past few years, which is part of why there is a new head coach this year, is glaring when backups are forced to play.

This is a football program that has some lean years coming up, and everyone (I’m mostly saying this for myself) needs to accept that sooner rather than later. This year’s schedule is the easiest Fickell will ever face at Wisconsin. 

Have you watched Oregon and Washington play this year? Those teams aren’t fucking around, and they’ll be in the Big Ten, along with UCLA and Southern Cal, next year! Do you know who else is on the schedule next year? Alabama. Jesus Christ, next season could be a bloodbath.

However, that’s a problem for next season. There are too many current problems to worry about in Alabama right now. For instance…why has this team seemingly gotten worse during the season? 

I understand that almost all of these players were recruited to play for different coaches and in different systems, but it is the first week of November, and nobody looks any more comfortable than they did in the first week of summer camp.

This team constantly commits boneheaded penalties that stall drives and leave points on the field. They’ve also managed to extend a number of opponents’ drives that resulted in points when they could’ve gotten off the field sooner. The sheer number of presnap procedural penalties this team commits is so embarrassing for Luke Fickell and his staff that I’m assuming they must not discuss snap counts or formations during practice. 

They also apparently only have one (1) player on the roster who can snap the ball in the shotgun consistently…and he has been hurt all year.

Final Thoughts 

Wisconsin football has suffered some unfortunate injuries, sure, but so does every team! And it’s not like the offense (missing their starting QB, top two RBs, and top WR) was lighting the world on fire before the injuries. This is a team that has underachieved against even the lowest of expectations that fans had for them. 

While the Wisconsin Badgers still, mathematically, have a chance to win the division, I am more confident that they will lose out than make it to Indy to be sacrificed to the Grand Michigan Cheating Machine.

I have always wanted the Wisconsin Badgers to take the mythical “next step” in college football. I want them to compete with Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State for conference titles and CFP berths.

Firing Paul Chryst and hiring Fickell was the first step towards doing that, but taking a step back so far that you lose to Indiana? That was not a part of the deal. Wisconsin has already lost a trophy game to Iowa (second year in a row) this year. They have two more coming up against Nebraska (have won nine in a row) and Minnesota (have lost two in a row). Hell, not only do the Badgers need to win those games for morale purposes…they might need to win one of them to even get bowl-eligible this year!

Those are the teams that the Wisconsin Badgers should be measuring themselves against now because they are so far from the OSU/PSU/Michigan tier of college football that they might as well be playing a different sport. 

I think Luke Fickell was a good hire and will eventually get Wisconsin football back to where we want them to be, but it’s going to take a lot longer than we thought. And there are going to be plenty of embarrassing bumps along the way, so put on your seat belt.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read our work at BadgerNotes.com. For more Wisconsin Badgers Athletics and Big Ten content, follow us on Twitter & Facebook. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can also follow Drew Hamm on Twitter @DrewHamm5.

Also, be sure to check out our shop, subscribe to our newsletter, and the BadgerNotes After Dark podcast, which is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other streaming platforms. Because of your support, we have become one of the fastest-growing independent media outlets focused on giving a voice to the fans!