With toe meeting leather at 11:00 a.m. CT on Saturday morning, there is not much time left to say what needs to be said. For the No. 19 Alabama Crimson Tide, anything short of a blowout victory over the Wisconsin Badgers will raise even more causes for concern for second-year head coach Kalen DeBoer. As for Wisconsin, what a fantastic opportunity lies ahead for the Badgers and Luke Fickell!
It is all about perspective heading into the biggest game of the Badgers' season so far. It will be the final of three non-conference games before Big Ten play commences for them later this month. They have passed both tests so far over Miami (OH) and Middle Tennessee. Though neither were with flying colors, a win is a win is a win is a win! So what about getting a third one on the season this Saturday?
In a weird way, Fickell only has something to gain from this, when compared to his counterpart of DeBoer. This is because Alabama is laying over 20.5 points at home to visiting Wisconsin. Pretty much everyone outside of Madison expects for the Badgers to lose this one ... but what if they do not? A win over the Crimson Tide would be Fickell's first signature victory since taking over the team.
Furthermore, it would almost certainly guarantee he will be getting a fourth year on the job in 2026.
Luke Fickell can reclaim Wisconsin coaching narrative with Alabama win
It seems like ages ago, but Fickell was a bona-fide coaching prospect coming up from Cincinnati only a few years back. He had the Bearcats not only dominating in The American, but had them playing in the four-team College Football Playoff as a Group of Five team. That 2021 Cincinnati team will always be held in high regard for accomplishing all it did. Could Fickell recapture that now with the Badgers?
That should be the goal. However, he may have bit off more than he could chew in trying to fix Wisconsin. He was a total outside hire, one that struggled to accept the program's long-entrenched identity of running the football effectively and playing great defense. He may be starting to come back around to that notion of overall football philosophy. Wisconsin can only hope that is the case.
To tie a bow on this heading into the critical Week 3 game for both teams, if Fickell can coach with confidence, that should trickle down to the rest of the team. If Alabama plays tight, the Wisconsin has to play loose. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win. Most importantly, Fickell cannot be a reason why the Badgers come up painfully short. He has an opportunity to flip the narrative yet again.
A huge win over Alabama could be exactly what this team needs to rally around their head coach.