There is certainly some quarterback drama happening in Madison this week. Wisconsin fans have been calling for freshman Ryan Hopkins to make the starting job over struggling Colton Joseph for a few weeks. Since Big Ten play, Joseph has been ineffective, and the offense has been stymied time and time again.
The fever pitch for Hopkins got to the point that even Barry Alvarez weighed in on ESPN Madison. Now Luke Fickell has spoken ahead of the Rutgers game about making the switch to Hopkins. He basically silenced any injury concerns for Joseph.
Here's what happened: Wisconsin decided to make the switch to Hopkins for the Rutgers game, with the original report saying that Joseph was dinged up and dealing with some injuries. Yet, fans immediately jumped on that with air quotes around injury. Assuming it was a phantom injury just to give an excuse to bench the expensive NIL quarterback for the young freshman signal caller.
Fuel was added to the fire when Joseph never showed up on the injury report. He was never listed as questionable, and there was no mention of any injuries. Yet, Hopkins is getting the start, and Fickell says that Joseph is healthy. He told Mark Tauscher before the game, "We could see both of them. Colton is up and ready to roll, but Ryan's going to get the opportunity to lead the offense."
#Badgers coach Luke Fickell on the QBs: "We could see both of them. Colton is up and ready to roll, but Ryan's going to get the opportunity to lead the offense." https://t.co/aRjZ6ZIQBf
— John Steppe (@JSteppe1) November 7, 2026
Wisconsin is truly turning to Ryan Hopkins for Rutgers and the Joseph injury was a phantom
Related: Wisconsin vs. Rutgers final game day odds and a score prediction before kickoff
All this does is add a bit more fuel to the fire, but it may also silence some of the growing rumbles. Fickell is doing what fans are demanding, giving Hopkins a chance to run the offense in a soft-landing spot against Rutgers.
The offense has been terrible, and somehow it has to be kickstarted. The hope is that Hopkins has the juice to actually get a passing attack going. Joseph can run the football really well, but he hasn't been able to really get anything going through the air since the Big Ten started. That's not going to cut it, and last week's blowout to Iowa only made matters worse.
Eventually, Hopkins got to play over Joseph in that game, and afterward Fickell said it was simply just giving the young quarterback reps. However, something happened this week to change his mind, as the team has decided to actually let Hopkins "lead the offense." That's a huge development, and it has nothing to do with an injury.
Maybe Joseph was a little dinged up and the stars aligned to make this decision, but clearly he's now the backup quarterback to Hopkins against Rutgers. Now the hope for Wisconsin fans is that Hopkins does so well that he never gives the job back to Joseph. It becomes the Hopkins show for the rest of the season.
This Rutgers game will tell us a lot about how the quarterback controversy shakes up for the rest of the season and into the Maryland game.
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