Prior to the 1990s, neither the Oregon Ducks or the Wisconsin Badgers were seen as college football powers. It took two hall-of-fame head coaches in Mike Bellotti and Barry Alvarez to really set in motion greatness. While Oregon has largely been able to sustain this level of success ever since, Wisconsin has fallen on hard times under Luke Fickell. Dan Lanning has Oregon thinking playoff here.
Part of the reason why the Ducks and the Badgers had long down periods before the 1990s has everything to do with in-state talent and financial resources. Oregon has something like, four million people living inside its massive boundaries. Phil Knight is an alumnus, but Nike did not take off until the mid-1980s thanks to Michael Jordan's greatness. Wisconsin has some players, but bad weather.
So whether it be rain, snow or whatever, Oregon and Wisconsin have had to overcome challenges historically and geographically to get to where they want to be on the football field. While Oregon is operating at close to peak efficiency, Wisconsin has devolved into rancid milk without any direction. Coaching is part of it but Oregon has not won every hire either. What is the difference between them?
Heading into Saturday night's matchup at Autzen, Wisconsin could learn a thing or two from Oregon.
Oregon has a strong identity, while Wisconsin has lost its along the way
When the Pac-12 largely dissolved and Oregon was one of the four teams to join the revamped, 18-team Big Ten, these are the type of matchups us as fans were hoping for. Seeing Oregon and Wisconsin play in conference games is the stuff that TV executives wanted all along. Sadly, the Badgers have more than circled the drain under their current administration during realignment.
This is not meant to be an indictment of Fickell, although those are often merited. It all comes down to what is the first few things you think of when you think of each team. When it comes to Oregon, you think uniforms, Nike money, fast, up-tempo football, with occasionally decent defenses. On the contrary, critics often poke holes at Oregon for being soft and not about the necessary grit to win big.
When it comes to Wisconsin, you think about a ground-and-pound, ball-control offense behind five homegrown linemen. You also think of the home crowd being a huge factor every home game, as illustrated by "Jump Around". There is also a certain togetherness the defense plays with, one where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Under Fickell, this program has lost every single trait...
In a way, the decision to hire Fickell and have him bring an Air Raid offense to Wisconsin has done irreparable damage to the program. The Badgers have lost the ability to run the football, causing the offensive line to be softer than Oregon in a letdown game. In turn it has made marginal quarterbacks tasked to do too much aerially to counterbalance. It has contributed to the defense shutting down...
So where do we go from here? Outside of removing Fickell from the equation because he is so clueless, the Badgers need to get back to developing homegrown talent, especially in the trenches. Wisconsin was good not that long ago, so prospective recruits from the Midwest may want to come to Madison anyway to turn this around. It is all about total team buy-in, which Oregon has in droves.
At the end of the day, there is something Oregon does that may work in Wisconsin, but not entirely.