Asking Luke Fickell to evaluate a quarterback room effectively is like asking a landscaper to do their job with the stealth of a ninja. It is not happening, and the results would be disastrous. Frankly, that is precisely what they have been for Fickell at the game's most important position ever since he took over at Wisconsin. Injuries have played a part in it, but the man has gotten so lost inside of his head.
Rather than let injured quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. get healthy, he rushed him out there a week or so too soon to play two drives vs. his former team in Maryland, only to be on the mend ever since. While there could have been growth opportunities for Danny O'Neil if he got extended run, the fact Fickell pivoted to former FCS starter Hunter Simmons before the Michigan game means he has lost the plot.
How bad has it been? Well, Ian Kenyon pointed out that Simmons is the equivalent of spiking the ball.
Wisconsin quarterback Hunter Simmons had a QBR of 0.8 last week.
— Ian Kenyon (@ikenyonFB) October 14, 2025
Lining up every play and throwing the ball into the dirt 20 times in a row would yield a 0.0 QBR as a point of reference.
It almost comical, but Fickell is the type of man who will make a goldfish climb a tree, blissfully unaware that it would do so much better submerged in water than attempting to scale bark and unable to breathe properly. Simmons was not the answer to begin with, but Fickell saw something in him nobody else did... You almost have to feel for the guy, but Simmons has had no chance this year.
The sheer amount of coaching malpractice put forth by Fickell this season is totally mind-boggling.
Luke Fickell is doing irreparable damage to his coaching career this year
With the grim reaper of college football rapidly approaching, Fickell has his head buried in the sand like an ostrich. He probably thinks those flightless birds from Australia can easily make their trek to Indonesia, strictly because they have wings. Over the course of three seasons, Fickell has somehow found a way to dismantle 40-something years of progress on the college gridiron over in Madison...
The worst part in it all is he apparently had options to leave Cincinnati. Teams like Notre Dame wanted him at one point in time. The longer this goes on, the more and more likely Fickell was propped up by Power Five players playing in a Group of Five league, ones who were coached up by Mike Denbrock and Marcus Freeman. He had an eye for coaching talent at some point, but he has become so blind.
Overall, it is hard to win anywhere at any level when a head coach cannot appropriately evaluate the game's most important position. It should not matter that Fickell cut his teeth as a nose guard for Ohio State back in the day. Everything in modern football is centered around the star quarterback. Wisconsin may need to win with the ground game to get back to good, but this is so embarrassing.
So when Ted Lasso asks fo his players to be a goldfish, this is not what he is taking about at all...