Welp, all it took was one game for all the good energy from Wisconsin and Luke Fickell taking down USC at Camp Randall to be wiped away. In the loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday, sure, Fickell did nothing to make the fanbase think that he's going to be the long-term answer for the Badgers. However, putting all the blame on him is not the move. It's time to talk about Jeff Grimes.
Perhaps the most frustrating part of the 30-0 loss to Iowa was the fact that the offense, which seemingly took positive steps in recent weeks, didn't look ready to go at all. Quarterback Colton Joseph took about 50 steps back, with the Iowa defense giving him all sorts of issues. Few people can argue that Grimes' play-calling did nothing to help him out, too.
Wisconsin's offense looked beyond lethargic in the brutal Week 9 loss to Iowa
From start to finish, absolutely nothing worked, and there were plenty of times when Grimes just tried to get too cute. That's never going to work against a well-coached team like Iowa, and a play in the first half alone was enough for countless UW fans to put Grimes on blast a bit.
We're of course talking about the 4th-down play call with the Badgers all the way down to the Iowa one-yard line. This is Wisconsin football, so a run up the middle for that yard, with your offensive line bulldozing would-be tacklers, was the clear recipe for six points. Instead, a sweep that got stuffed? You've got to be kidding.
STUFFED ON FOURTH DOWN!@HawkeyeFootball takes over on offense pic.twitter.com/8AQJz3dBZj
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 31, 2026
That, of course, wasn't the lone mistake by Grimes, but with Wisconsin down 10-0 and ready to get back in this game, this particular sequence was back-breaking for several different reasons. After this drive, Joseph and Co. couldn't get into any kind of rhythm on offense. It's the little things that can always haunt you in a rivalry game, especially when it's on the road.
Iowa has taken Wisconsin's lunch money consistently of late, winning six of the last seven games between the two sides. What's worse is that the lopsided results only make things worse. Last year in Madison, it was a 37-0 W for the Hawkeyes. The year before, Iowa posted a 42-10 victory.
Coming off the win over USC, the expectation was that the Badgers would carry over some momentum. The opposite turned out to be the case. Again, plenty of blame belongs on Fickell, as he's the leader of this program - there are no excuses for anyone suited up not ready to rock for such a huge Big Ten battle.
With that said, saying the offense looked vanilla is putting things lightly. Grimes had nothing dialed up to confuse the Iowa defense, and with Joseph, who completed just 5-of-14 pass attempts for 90 yards, struggling to find his groove, adjustments needed to be made. That never arrived, with the Badgers falling to 5-3 on the season. It wasn't long ago that Wisconsin was considered a potential sleeper for a Playoff spot. Fast forward to the present time, and the fanbase has been reminded of just how inconsistent the Badgers can be. Not good at all.
Add us as a preferred source on Google