The Wisconsin Badgers were awful on offense against UCLA. There's really not much silver lining when it comes to how the entire offense played as a unit, and every position group shares some blame. While a lot of blame is being tossed around at Colton Joseph and Jeff Grimes (rightfully so), Luke Fickell continues to bring up a unit he's frustrated with: the wide receivers.
He does it in the most Luke Fickell way, but giving credit to the UCLA receivers first, followed by noting that the Wisconsin receivers weren't doing the same things (politely), and then telling everyone that it's an area of growth. But the long and short of it is, Fickell is calling out the Wisconsin wide receivers, and he's done it in both press conferences in the last few days. Immediately post-game and yesterday in the weekly press conference.
He's right to call them out, too; the data backs it up, and so does the analysis. The wide receivers simply did not have a good game, and the effort may have been lacking. That's not good, but very fixable.
"I think that’s one of the bigger, glaring issues or differences: their wideouts made some plays," Fickell told reporters after the UCLA loss, "Whether they were pretty good throws, throws behind them, or winning in man coverage, they made the plays they had to make to keep the drives alive, and I don’t know that we did.”
He didn't even watch the tape at this point, but with his own eyes, he knew there was a big difference between what UCLA's receivers were doing and what Wisconsin's were doing. After a few days of reflection and tape study, he didn't really change his tune.
"If there's one thing everybody took from last week's game, " Fickell said at his weekly presser. "I've got to give [UCLA's] wide receivers a lot of credit. They made some very difficult, contested catches that I think, vice versa, we've got to find ways to come down with some things."
The simple eye-test and the hard data also proves the WR unit needs to be better
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Fickell didn't really stop there, as his film study revealed one example of a player who did make one of those plays he wants to see. "JD came down with a really big contested catch that maybe was not the perfect ball, but your job as a wide receiver is to make your quarterback look good. So, I think there's a combination of those things where we've got to grow.”
The data backs up his decision to call out the wide receiver room. First, with the simple eye test.
I've begun my All-22 rewatch of the Badgers offense vs. UCLA. First impressions:
— The Dairy Raid 🏴☠️ Ryan Andersen (@thedairyraid) October 20, 2026
1. a masterful gameplan by Colin Hitschler
2. I like Stylz Blackmon at center
3. Effort issues continue to plague the WR group
4. Some linemen (no not him) have obvious tells when they are pulling
"Effort issues continue to plague the WR group." It's not a great line to read, but it's necessary. Ryan Andersen is right; the wide receivers simply weren't doing enough to help Colton Joseph out. He was running more than he needed to because his wide receivers either wouldn't make plays or weren't getting open. Some of that is on Joseph, but plenty is on the receivers.
PFF's data is also clear:
Chris Brooks Jr. was the highest-graded receiver at 68.4, followed by Eugene Hilton Jr. at 60.8. Neither is a good score at all, and it doesn't get much better:
Tyrell Henry: 58.4
Shamar Rigby: 57.6
Jaylon Domingeaux: 53.3
Malachi Coleman: 42.8
A bad day at the office for that specific offensive room, and it has to get better against USC. Hopefully, Luke Fickell's callout helps that room grow and be a big reason Wisconsin walks away with a win on Saturday.
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