The Wisconsin fanbase wasn't pleased with the 36-9 win over FCS foe Western Illinois. Whether they were turning on Colton Joseph for his lackluster play and inability to hit some of the easy plays. Or turning on the defense, as the Western Illinois offense seemed to just march down the field. They also turned against Luke Fickell and started firing up the engines for another campaign of "Fire Fickell."
The game wasn't stellar, and sure, "win is a win," but these are the wins where the depth chart needs to get exposed, and you should start to feel bad that the score is so out of hand. It shouldn't feel like a hard-fought victory. If there's a silver lining, it's that Fickell is also frustrated about the game. He vocalized two different things that have to be cleaned up this week.
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1. The quarterback play of Colton Joseph
He tried to pass off some of Joseph's struggles as an injury sustained during the Notre Dame game. Nothing major, but he wasn't able to practice Tuesday, and they limited his throwing throughout the week. Yet, that's not a good enough excuse. If he wasn't ready to go, he should have just played either Deuce Adams or Ryan Hopkins.
Fickell wasn't pleased with Joseph's play either, even after letting him go: "We are not satisfied with the way we threw the football." Fickell said postgame, "We have to be a little bit sharper when it comes to throwing the football."
Joseph didn't have a great outing, and now he's gone back-to-back, with Wisconsin fans wondering if he really is the guy. While he wasn't terrible against Notre Dame, he didn't wow anyone. Against Western Illinois, he went 12/22 with 173 yards and one touchdown. If those are his numbers against FCS opponents, we are in trouble. He needs to figure it out quickly.
2. The defense was getting gashed for small chunks
The point of emphasis for Fickell was more on the defensive side of the ball. He wasn't pleased with the showing there. "[Western Illinois] did a good job of possessing the ball. I thought it was a good plan for what they wanted to do." Fickell said, "They were willing to run the quarterback...It caused us a little bit of problems; that methodical movement took energy away from our offense."
It may not have been enough frustration, in all honesty, for a plan that was the textbook example of "bend but don't break." The Badgers ended the day with zero sacks, allowed 154 yards rushing (though 88 was from the quarterback), and gave up 5+ 10-yard receptions. That's just not great against a team that could have been shut out.
Give credit to the scrambling ability of Kennedy McGill, but not even getting one sack on him is wild stuff and something that Luke Fickell and his defensive coaches will have to figure out, hopefully soon. Penn State looms in two weeks.
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