Any hope for the Wisconsin Badgers to improve to 3-0 on the season with a shocking road win over the Alabama Crimson Tide appears to have gone out the window... Outside of a kickoff return for a touchdown, there has been next to no offense out of this Badgers team for the better part of the contest. Even more concerning, the defense looks completely outmatched vs. Alabama's offense.
Yes, this was a tall ask for Wisconsin to come in and keep pace with Alabama, but why is Kalen DeBoer seemingly running laps all over Luke Fickell in this one? Alabama may always have better players than Wisconsin, but it should not be this painfully obvious. Fickell is supposedly keen on recruitment, but in the early stages of year three at the helm of the program, it is more of the same.
Wisconsin fans are sick of this and would much rather see the program go in a different direction.
Luke Fickell seems to be coaching his way out of his Wisconsin job again
The fine folks over on X let Fickell have it for the umpteenth time, but got rather creative with it here.
I’m glad we hired Luke Fickell who can allegedly recruit, clearly stars dont mean anything
— Jake (@J_Max_well) September 13, 2025
In 3 yrs he ruined what Wisconsin Football has been for the last few decades. So glad his RC classes were ranked high though!
This is the most embarassing time ever to be a #Badgers fan
“Luke Fickell” is my coach
— Dr. Marte (@Badgers_44) September 13, 2025
“Danny O’Neil” is my QB
Blown out AGAIN
Secondary is awful
Not making a Bowl😭✌️
Who POSSIBLY has it worse than me?
pic.twitter.com/a8Z93ApKE0
I miss the old Wisconsin when we’d go on the road and play tough pic.twitter.com/ycrSePptRV
— Evil Luke Fickell (@EvilCoachFick) September 13, 2025
Luke Fickell has buried this Wisconsin football program
— Rob King V (@VKing7783) September 13, 2025
no one wants to come to Wisconsin to play football anymore -he sucks. He’s the worst evaluator of talent and this team just goes down the drain every year. They get worse and worse.
sad - no more house of pain anymore!!!
Buy out Luke Fickell and fire Chris McIntosh. This is embarrassing.
— Pa (@ppeep0opoo) September 13, 2025
I can’t defend Luke Fickell anymore. This has never worked, and it’s not going to. He’s in way over his head. He and McIntosh both need to go.
— In Development 🎯 (@j__1252) September 13, 2025
Asked Luke Fickell to beat a quality opponent without Mike Denbrock or Marcus Freeman pic.twitter.com/DeeZhzBj2w
— 𝕮𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖞𝖇3𝖙𝖙𝖆 (@cincyb3tta) September 13, 2025
Luke Fickell is 0-6 against ranked opponents and 3-11 against teams with winning records since taking over as head coach at Wisconsin.
— Dillon Graff (@DillonGraff) September 13, 2025
Six of the next nine games come against AP Top-25 teams. Plenty of chances for Fickell to land the signature win that’s been missing.
The biggest indictment of Fickell is he seems to only be as good as his coordinators allow him to be. He was fantastic as a head coach over at Cincinnati, but he may have been propped up by Marcus Freeman and Mike Denbrock in all honesty. No, this is not the first time a CEO-type head coach fell to pieces because he did not have the right coaches around him. Fickell has looked so pathetic already.
What needs to happen for Wisconsin to get back to its winning ways for Fickell to even save his job?
Luke Fickell's issues against ranked opponents continue to mount for him
Perhaps the most damning part of the Fickell tenure in Madison is how poorly he has performed against high-quality teams. He entered play on Saturday with an 0-6 mark against ranked opponents since taking over at Wisconsin. Even more concerning, he only had a 3-11 mark when facing teams who had winning records. Under his watch, Wisconsin is only beats college football bottom-feeders.
Overall, there is just not any good reason to allow this to continue. Fickell getting extended this past offseason was an egregious error by the athletic department. It is why so many Badgers fans want athletic director Chris McIntosh gone as well. This is not Wisconsin football that anyone is watching. There was a standard set in place by Barry Alvarez years ago, and the program has really lost its way.
Ultimately, what is it going to take for Fickell to be able to keep his job? He will have gone 2-1 in non-conference play after this week. Anything short of a 4-5 record in the Big Ten is simply not okay. The Badgers will beat a few teams in league play this season, but they are really not doing their part of playing up to their level of competition. The big question is how much dreck is left on their schedule.
No matter how anyone slices it, this type of effort cannot continue for Wisconsin under Fickell here.