Luke Fickell ought to be ashamed, and he should be visibly frustrated. It’s bad to be shut out by the Iowa Hawkeyes in a rivalry game, even if he has the Badgers on a better path this season. There should be someone fired after this, and Jeff Grimes is probably a good start. It is unacceptable. Following a lackluster offensive showing that appears to carry over week after week. Additionally, you might persuade us to bench Colton Joseph. But that’s for another article.
Fickell has never had any answers for the Hawkeyes. He has never beaten Iowa as the head coach of the Badgers, and in that time, the Hawkeyes have outscored Wisconsin 124-16. Not only does he lack answers going into the Iowa games, but he also lacks them coming out. He said following the game, “That’s an old-fashioned butt-whipping… I’m not going to sit here and say I have any answers for you. “
Find them fast because the Badgers were a JV high school program, and Iowa was the best team in the country today, but they are a team that Wisconsin needs to learn to defeat. Even close to each other, they didn’t seem to be. And it’s not ideal.
This is intolerable year after year; Luke Fickell has to fire someone this week.
Last week, Wisconsin went out and shut down Lincoln Riley’s USC offense, performed some incredible accomplishments, and then allowed a Hank Brown-led team without their star running back, Kamari Moulton, to completely take them apart.
The worst defeat of the season. Not even close. It was anticipated that Notre Dame would win. Although losing to UCLA was plagued by officiating issues and some early, easy ones (and UCLA does seem extremely excellent), being thumped by the Hawkeyes is a very serious concern for Fickell.
It’s not ideal that he has no answers. He must locate them fast. Despite the schedule being simpler in the future, this seems like a coach-defining defeat. One that everyone will reflect on at the season’s conclusion and say, “Yeah, but he can’t solve Iowa. “
Perhaps he gives someone the axe by looking his coordinators in the eye. Perhaps he benches his quarterback after seeing him play. He can accomplish a lot of things, but he needs to figure out what’s happening against Iowa and address it. This cannot be the new norm. With a Heartland Trophy on the line, it’s as if Luke Fickell doesn’t give a damn.
We have to deal with the truth that this Iowa team lost to Minnesota last Saturday, and that if Wisconsin still has no solutions for Minnesota in the season’s last week, Luke Fickell must go. A coach who skips rivalry matches is not something we can tolerate.
