Nothing is going right for the Wisconsin Badgers football program. Last week, Wisconsin suffered a heartbreaking 16-13 loss to No. 1 Oregon, which ultimately led to offensive coordinator Phil Longo getting fired by head man Luke Fickell.
The hope was that the change would wake the offense up a little bit. That wasn't the case on the road against the Cornhuskers, with Nebraska posting a dominant win. Now, the Badgers are 5-6 and on a four-game losing streak.
This was a winnable game for Wisconsin, but they didn't match the energy of Nebraska, which also entered the contest with a 5-5 record. As you might have been able to guess, people are voicing their displeasure with Fickell, as this is yet another setback for this team.
Wisconsin got dominated in the rough loss to Nebraska in Week 13
One of the biggest blunders from the game came at the end of the first half. Following a touchdown by Nebraska, which gave the Cornhuskers a 21-10 lead, Wisconsin's Tawee fumbled and the play ended up gifting Nebraska three points right before half.
This was all on Fickell. Instead of taking a knee to close out the half, he got cute and it backfired on Wisconsin. People are not happy with him at all, with social media being flooded with negative comments:
Luke Fickell deserves to be unemployed regardless of the outcome of this game. We fucked up. Bite the bullet and go hire the right guy this time.
— tweater (@JacobyTweets) November 23, 2024
It took Coach Alvarez 4 years to create a culture of winning, & he started from scratch with a half empty stadium & a team with no identity. For the next 28 years or so, that tradition has more or less been kept. It’s taken Luke Fickell less than 2 years to essentially undo all…
— Todd Allbaugh (@toddallbaugh) November 23, 2024
Maybe the #Badgers should fire Luke Fickell this week and just let the team captains call the plays.
— Haz (@Michael_Haz) November 23, 2024
I’m so sick of pretending Luke Fickell is a good coach
— Cig Bat (@wgoldberg420) November 23, 2024
@UWBadgers Luke Fickell is still an awful coach. Thanks for wasting years and $ on this dud.
— Midwest Mouthpiece (@mwmouthpiece) November 23, 2024
Wisconsin’s best win in 2 years of Luke Fickell is a win against Illinois last year. That’s inexcusable and I’m done. Go get Lance Leipold
— Dylan Pease (@dpease23) November 23, 2024
Kicking a PAT to stay down 3 scores instead of going for 2 to make it a 2 score game is so quintessentially cowardly by Luke Fickell it's pathetic at this point.
— John Witkowski (@connzag3) November 23, 2024
The Badgers have been to a bowl game in 22 straight seasons, but unless they beat Minnesota at home next week, that streak is going to come to a close. There are no excuses for Fickell anymore. He knows he has to deliver for this team, but he's falling short of getting the job done.
The performance against Nebraska was painful to watch. The Cornhuskers are an average team at best, yet they looked brilliant against Wisconsin. How did that even happen? Fickell and his staff got out-coached, something that has been the case far too many times in 2024.