It took only one half for fans to totally turn on Luke Fickell vs. Middle Tennessee

It is not even conference play yet, and Wisconsin Badgers fans want to exile head coach Luke Fickell to some part of Canada where the sun never rises. After winning an ugly game vs. the Miami RedHawks last week, Fickell's Badgers did not look the part in the first half vs. the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders. While Wisconsin did hit pay dirt in the second quarter twice, they were trailing during it!

Fickell told everyone and their brother that his players were not going to overlook one of the worst teams in FBS on Saturday in lieu of Alabama being on the schedule next week. While two touchdowns and a forced interception gave the Badgers some momentum heading into halftime, it was another first quarter to forget for Wisconsin this season. When is Fickell's team going to stop starting slow?

The offense is showing no creativity and the defense is getting pushed around by a lesser opponent.

The fine folks over on X let Luke Fickell and Wisconsin have it in Week 2

The comments people were firing out on X about Fickell and the program were unbelievably scathing.

This may be a team ushering in a new offensive coordinator in Jeff Grimes, as well as Danny O'Neil getting his first career start in a Wisconsin uniform, but nobody outside of Murfreesboro, Tennessee could have envisioned this first half going like this up in Madison. Against all odds, Derek Mason looks like the better head coach over Fickell in this one. He is a cautionary tale for how things can go south.

For as rough as the first two games have looked at times, Fickell might not be getting another season.

Luke Fickell is starting to lose the plot at Wisconsin in front of everyone

Even if Wisconsin is able to hold on and beat the Blue Raiders at Camp Randall, people are going to look back at the brutally bad first quarter and wonder if poor coaching is going to put this team out of games long before they are decided. Alabama had its issues with Florida State last weekend, but the Seminoles are far more bona-fide than the Blue Raiders ever will be. They cannot start slow yet again.

As O'Neil begins to find his footing within the context of Grimes' offense, we have to wonder what exactly Fickell is bringing to the table. Under Bret Bielema, the Badgers were winning Big Ten Championships. Under Paul Chryst, at least the Badgers were still getting to Indianapolis on the regular... Now in year three under Fickell, getting to a bowl game should not be this program's ceiling.

Overall, maybe Wisconsin ends up being a second-half team? That would be par for the course for a defensive-minded head coach like Fickell. Every head coach is different, but this should not have been as difficult of a transition for him going up from the Group of Five level at Cincinnati to a Wisconsin team that had somewhat lost its way under Chryst. Is this better than Jim Leonhard?

For now, Wisconsin must find within itself some more composure to keep Middle Tennessee at bay.

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