We have to find new and creative ways to keep ourselves sane in these trying times at Wisconsin. While the university continues to empower an ineffective head coach in Luke Fickell for some reason, we have not seen this level of decadence in the Big Ten since Brian Ferentz was calling offensive plays for his dad's team. Yes, the ill-fated "Drive to 325" season for Ferentz was only two years ago...
For those who do not remember what that was all about, here is a refresher. Iowa had an elite defense and special teams unit in the years prior to 2023. The offense kept getting worse under Kirk Ferentz's son's watch. For him to keep his job, Ferentz needed to hit a few benchmarks. Iowa needed to go at least 8-4 on the season, while scoring a total of 325 points, including on defense and special teams.
Right around this time two years ago, it was announced that Ferentz would not return to the Iowa sidelines in 2024. Iowa went 10-4 that season, including an empty-calorie nonsense Big Ten West title and a drubbing to Michigan in the Big Ten Championship. Ferentz left his father's team for Fresno State after athletic director Beth Goetz fired him. That offense was bad, but not on Wisconsin's level.
So let's have a little fun and see if things would have improved if Ferentz was the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin this season with 2023's results. Jeff Grimes has been as much of a disaster as Fickell has in Madison this year. Mike Tressel tries his best to have this team playing good defense, but no offensive output is a problematic continuation. This Wisconsin offense is defining horrendous.
By merely swapping points scored by 2023 Iowa in for 2025 Wisconsin, let's see if it gets any better.
Would Wisconsin's record improve with Brian Ferentz's "Drive to 325"?
Through Iowa's first seven games in 2023, the Hawkeyes were 6-1 with 146 total points scored.
Game | Opponent | Final Score |
|---|---|---|
1 | Utah State Aggies | W, 24-14 |
2 | at Iowa State Cyclones | W, 20-13 |
3 | Western Michigan Broncos | W, 41-10 |
4 | at No. 7 Penn State Nittany Lions | L, 31-0 |
5 | Michigan State Spartans | W, 26-16 |
6 | Purdue Boilermakers | W, 20-14 |
7 | at Wisconsin Badgers | W, 15-6 |
Through Wisconsin's first seven games of the season, the Badgers are 2-5 with just 93 points scored.
Game | Opponent | Final Score |
|---|---|---|
1 | Miami RedHawks | W, 17-0 |
2 | Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders | W, 42-10 |
3 | at No. 19 Alabama Crimson Tide | L, 38-14 |
4 | Maryland Terrapins | L, 27-10 |
5 | at No. 20 Michigan Wolverines | L, 24-10 |
6 | Iowa Hawkeyes | L, 37-0 |
7 | No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes | L, 34-0 |
By subbing in Brian Ferentz's final Iowa offense's point totals with Wisconsin's, these are the results.
Game | Opponent | "New" Final Score |
|---|---|---|
1 | Miami RedHawks | W, 24-0 |
2 | Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders | W, 20-10 |
3 | at No. 19 Alabama Crimson Tide | W, 41-38 |
4 | Maryland Terrapins | L, 27-0 |
5 | at No. 20 Michigan Wolverines | W, 26-24 |
6 | Iowa Hawkeyes | L, 37-20 |
7 | No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes | L, 34-15 |
By simply swapping out Grimes' 2025 offense at Wisconsin with Ferentz's final Iowa one from 2023, The Badgers would be 4-3 on the season, 1-3 in Big Ten play, but with two road wins over ranked teams in Alabama and at Michigan. They may not be ranked in this hypothetical situation of switching bad Big Ten offenses, but the Badgers would probably be receiving a few votes in the AP Top 25 Poll.
We would be viewing the Badgers in a similar vein to what either USC or Mississippi State has done.
Brian Ferentz would be just good enough to maybe save Luke Fickell's job
Admittedly, it is very hard to pick a team in this current season that would be the equivalent of 2025 Wisconsin running Iowa's 2023 offense. There are a lot of teams that are 4-3, but who would have two ranked wins on the road, but three losses in conference play? Again, USC and Mississippi State are the closest approximations. The Bulldogs have overachieved, while the Trojans are quite interesting.
Neither the Bulldogs, the Trojans or this conceived variation of Wisconsin would be playoff teams, but likely and compelling bowl teams. In the end, Ferentz running Wisconsin's offense like he did back at Iowa in 2023 would have Fickell firmly off the hot seat and gearing up for a great 2026. The other big thing is with an offense that is just 53 points better, that might shave some points off defensively, too.
While it may not help Wisconsin win any of the three games it still would have lost in this exercise to Maryland, Iowa and Ohio State, the margins would be closer. So maybe instead of losing by multiple possessions in those revamped games, maybe they are only one-score affairs? If a better Wisconsin offense got better play out of its defense as a result, maybe this team could be 5-2 and even ranked?
This is almost proof that Ferentz may not have been as bad at his job as we tend to remember he was.