2-0 is 2-0, but the Wisconsin Badgers could be up against it in Week 3 during their road date with the Alabama Crimson Tide. After getting in the win column for the first time this season, the Crimson Tide will once again be ranked heading into a ballgame. Although the Badgers looked the part in the second half of their 42-10 blowout victory over the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, baby steps, folks.
While there may be a chance that Wisconsin could pull off the stunning road upset at Bryant-Denny next Saturday, they are going to have to make a quantum leap in their overall play to potentially do this. For better or worse, Wisconsin is proving to be a strong second-half team under Luke Fickell. However, the biggest concern must be if Alabama gets off to a hot start before Wisconsin gets going.
It is why what Fickell had to say at the podium after the Middle Tennessee game sounds so troubling.
What Luke Fickell said about Wisconsin's upcoming game at Alabama
During his postgame press conference, Fickell wants Wisconsin to take a big leap up for Game 3.
"We got to go to work. I think that everybody talks about their greatest jump between Game 1 and Game 2. I told those guys in the locker room that wasn't a great jump there. There were some jumps, but our greatest jump needs to come between Game 2 and Game 3."
While he is stating the obvious here, this kind of backtracks on what he said about how his players were never going to overlook an opponent. For the first quarter and change, it looked to be the case vs. hapless Middle Tennessee. Alabama has a reputation to uphold, but the Crimson Tide are no longer the same team. It is Kalen DeBoer's second year at the helm after taking over for Nick Saban.
Here is the entire postgame press conference from Fickell after the big Middle Tennessee victory.
It may be more in the heat of the moment, but Fickell may have bit off more than he can chew here...
Luke Fickell expecting a quantum leap ahead of Alabama game is a bit rich
So far in Wisconsin's season, the Badgers have played maybe a combined five solid quarters. Four of them came in the second half, while only one or so came before halftime. Again, this may not be the same Alabama team from yesteryear, but Bryant-Denny is still a very difficult place to play as a visiting opponent. Knowing what is at stake for DeBoer, Alabama should be ready to play in this one.
Overall, Wisconsin is starting to play with a bit more confidence in all three phases in this early stage of the season. However, it is going to take a complete game of high execution in all four quarters for the Badgers to come out of Tuscaloosa 3-0 with their most impressive victory in years. The offense cannot sputter out of the gate, especially if Ty Simpson starts to play with confidence from the jump.
Ultimately, these two warmup games at least give the Badgers a puncher's chance to pull off the monumental road upset. That being said, this season's growth model seems to be far more linear than expontential. Like the stock market, nothing in life is going to be a perfectly straight line in the upward direction. There will be bumps along the way, but is this team ready for some real adversity?
If Fickell does get the "greatest jump" he expects for this week, it has to start with first-half execution.