It all comes down to this, only Wisconsin does not realize this yet... Saturday's Big Ten opener at home vs. Maryland may largely decide how this year goes for the Badgers. They enter play at 2-1 on the season. While wins over Miami (OH) and Middle Tennessee were largely expected, so too was the blowout loss on the road to Alabama last week. It is up to the players to decide how this season goes.
Much has been, and will be, made about Wisconsin's frustrating head coach Luke Fickell. Through the first two and a quarter seasons of him at the helm, Fickell has yet to look the part of a Power Four coach, much less one a traditional power like Wisconsin expects to have helping their guide their way through a challenging Big Ten schedule. It all comes down to how well the Badgers play the Terrapins.
If the players on the field decide that last week was not good enough vs. Alabama, then maybe real progress will be made within this growing team. Should they wallow in the mire of a brutally bad road loss, it could compound into the roughest season Wisconsin football has had in the 21st century. The importance of the Maryland game could not be any more obvious, but do the players recognize this?
They have the chance to regather some momentum heading into the bye or stay a deflated balloon.
Wisconsin fans should know right away if this year's team is up for it
This is not meant to call out the players or anything like that. It is about understanding the task at hand. Losing on the road to a potential playoff team like Alabama is not the end of the world. What would be is not taking care of business vs. a Maryland team that should fired its struggling head coach back in November. A win here could seize momentum. A loss would signify a dead battery.
So what is it going to be, Wisconsin players? Will it be more of the same sorry crap or will it be a moment of reckoning for these players in this current regime? Fickell can only take on so much of the blame. At the end of the day, these are Power Four players playing for a Power Four school. Wisconsin may be in a bit of a rebuild, but there are far better resourced than some of the other teams around.
In the end, Wisconsin needs to treat its home opener vs. Maryland like a playoff game. In a way, it kind of is... A loss here could indicate that an 0-9 conference season is coming. That is a bit farfetched, but good luck trying to convince anyone Wisconsin will be going 5-3 the rest of the way when the Badgers could not beat a rebuilding Maryland team at home ahead of the bye. Just take control here!
Saturday will be a moment in which America will learn how mentally tough Wisconsin football really is.