Luke Fickell went into the transfer portal and secured one of the top signal callers available. A player who fits the Jeff Grimes system perfectly. His explosiveness with his legs and his big-arm ability are exactly what Grimes loves to use in his systems. Yet, through two weeks, starting quarterback Colton Joseph has been underwhelming at best. The word Joseph would use for his play is "mediocre."
Fans are not thrilled, especially with how things went against last week's FCS opponent in Western Illinois. Joseph was missing open receivers all day and wasn't even tucking the ball to run. He was in cement in the pocket and couldn't hit his receivers. It wasn't all bad, but there was enough bad to cause some concern.
Joseph agrees; he told Evan Flood and other reporters that his play was mediocre and he was unimpressed with himself, " I'm not playing to the extent that I know I can play at, and I want to be playing at.” He plans to get to work this week and showcase a better version of himself against Eastern Michigan.
Colton Joseph described his play as "mediocre" in the #Badgers first two games of the season.
— Evan Flood (@Evan_Flood) September 16, 2026
Admittedly feeling the weight and pressure of playing quarterback at the power-four level, Joseph is going to put his head down and get back to work this week.
“Not playing to the… pic.twitter.com/avhPTDV5RE
Colton Joseph's third impression better be a good one for Wisconsin
Related: Wisconsin gave Luke Fickell more than $25 million for 2026 and it still isn't enough
Joseph hasn't had the start to his Wisconsin career that he was hoping for, but he's healthy, and it's Week 3, so he's already ahead of his predecessors under Luke Fickell. Against Notre Dame, he had some good moments, and it's tough to blame him for the loss, even if he could have played better. He actually had a higher QBR than CJ Carr (70.5 to 70.2).
Joseph had one moment that he would love back: an interception that went for a touchdown and may have been the nail in the coffin for Wisconsin. Even with that, it was mostly a B- on the report card for Joseph.
Notre Dame beat him up a little, and he came into the Western Illinois game working on his recovery and wasn't fully throwing or running. It was arguably worse than mediocre. Joseph went 12/22 with 173 yards and one touchdown. His final QBR (which isn't the be-all-and-end-all) was 28.7. Yikes!
Joseph is now looking for a third impression with Badger fans against Eastern Michigan. It doesn't need to be a superhero performance, but fans will certainly be watching to see if he can run the offense and keep drives moving. It would be nice to see him use his legs, get a 100-yard rushing game with a 200-yard passing game. That would be amazing.
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