Barring a miracle, or better yet extreme apathy from the university administrators, this should be the final game that Luke Fickell coaches the Wisconsin Badgers. They had a great opportunity to pull off a home upset of the rival Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday night, but Fickell's team did seemingly everything in its power to make sure that was never going to happen. What an unmitigated disaster...
Much of what led Wisconsin to trailing Iowa 23-0 at halftime had to do with Fickell's moronic decision to start Southern Illinois transfer Hunter Simmons for the second straight week. He could not have been more reckless with the football, as he threw two horrendous interceptions, as well as fumbled the ball on a terrible pass behind the line of scrimmage. Iowa scored 17 points off those turnovers.
The "Fire Fickell" chants coming out of the stands erupted into a deafening roar during the first half.
More "Fire Fickell" chants here as Iowa recovers Hunter Simmons' backward pass. Third turnover by the Southern Illinois transfer tonight.
— John Steppe (@JSteppe1) October 12, 2025
To make matters worse, Darrion Dupree is carried off the field with an injury.
Disastrous night for the #Badgers.
It was one of those halves where it was simply undeniable that this thing is totally cooked and should not be allowed to continue. The only team who might feel worse right now in the Big Ten is the Penn State Nittany Lions. After a 3-0 start, they have lost three in a row in Big Ten play to Oregon, UCLA and Northwestern. Now, they have just lost their starting quarterback in Drew Allar for the season...
As for Wisconsin, basketball season could not start any sooner. Fickell needs to be fired on Sunday.
Wisconsin boosters need to come to their senses and fire Luke Fickell
At some point, this is no longer defensible. Money should not matter because this is a sunk cost if there ever was one. With the Milwaukee Brewers playing in a win-or-go-home Game 5 in their NLDS with the division rival Chicago Cubs, it is hard to see anyone from Wisconsin choosing to watch this latest disaster from the Badgers over this game where a Wisconsin-based team could actually win it.
Right now, it is hard to see things getting better under this current operation. No longer can the players on this football team convince itself that it is indeed a good one. You are what your record says you are. At this time, Wisconsin is a 2-3 team, trending towards being a 2-4 one in a matter of minutes. There is no logical explanation for why Wisconsin is allowing this to continue besides money.
Ultimately, apathy has set in big time with this program. This is the worst run of football we have seen out of Wisconsin in 40 years. Fickell is becoming the 21st century version of Don Morton before our very eyes. He is not only running out of time to get this thing back on the track, but he is doing irreparable damage to his reputation. Fickell is probably never going to lead a Power Four team again.
The bigger question is not can Wisconsin turn this around, but what head coach is going to do that?