Fresh off the bye, it's go time for the Wisconsin Badgers and Luke Fickell. This team has posted disappointing results vs. Penn State and the Iowa Hawkeyes in recent games, but it's time to flush those losses and focus on the task at hand.
That task is trying to find a way to somehow take down the No. 1 Oregon Ducks in Madison on Saturday night. Fickell knows there's an uphill climb ahead for this team. He's also ready to inspire his guys in any way that he can. He's also trying to light a fire under them, calling out the team's toughness a little bit leading up to kickoff.
“Are we tough enough? Are we physical enough? Those are the changes we need to make sure,” Fickell said via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We need to look in the mirror and make sure we can address ourselves and sometimes have a self-check of things that happen. Nobody likes it.”
Wisconsin is hoping to stun the world vs. No. 1 Oregon in Week 12
As you can tell from that quote, Fickell hasn't been pleased with how his team has been performing. Can you blame him for that? The Badgers were in a great spot to upset the Nittany Lions at home, but a second-half meltdown led to James Franklin and Co. posting the victory.
Then against Iowa, everything went wrong on both sides of the ball. Wisconsin never even showed up for that loss, falling 42-10. Mike Tressel continues to get called out for his defense allowing 329 rushing yards.
Oregon has been cooking this season and they'll arrive at Camp Randall Stadium with a perfect 10-0 record. Wisconsin is a major underdog for this one, but it's going to be on Fickell to make sure his playmakers know what's at stake in this one. He's pushing them to give it their all and play with passion. We'll find out Saturday night in primetime if that turns out to be the case or not.