If this isn't rock bottom, we don't want to know what is. The 2024 season just ended moments ago for the Wisconsin Badgers and things could not have gone worse. With a chance to extend the 22-year bowl streak, Wisconsin needed to take care of business at home against Minnesota.
Instead, a 24-7 loss was posted and fans left Camp Randall Stadium booing the performance. Can you blame them for that? Not at all. At the end of the day, head coach Luke Fickell is responsible for what happens on the field. What we saw on Friday against the Golden Gophers was totally unacceptable.
Everything was on the line for the Badgers, yet they started the game off flat and posted 44 total yards of offense in the first half. To finish the season at 5-7, with five consecutive losses, in Year 2 of Fickell in Madison is not what anyone expected. Nor is it something that should be tolerated.
Wisconsin Badgers fans continue to call for Luke Fickell to be fired
The Badgers were able to show a little bit of life in the second half, but it was nowhere good enough. The offense was brutal to watch, which has been the case ever since starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke went down with his torn ACL.
We've mentioned Braedyn Locke in previous articles, but you can't put all the blame on him for this team's failures. Fickell finally admitted defeat on his Phil Longo hire and fired him after the heartbreaking 16-13 loss to Oregon.
However, nothing has really changed despite Longo no longer being in Madison. Instead, this team continued to play poor football. Saying goodbye to the bowl streak is one thing, but to close the year out losing five in a row is downright infuriating.
The last time Wisconsin lost five straight was all the way back in 1991. This team has officially reached a low it hasn't touched in more than 30 years. Again, it's on Fickell. We all expected him to lead this team to a strong 2024, but the opposite proved to be the case.
The expectation is that he'll be given at least one more season from athletic director Chris McIntosh, who was given his handsome raise and extension last summer. However, countless alums are calling for Fickell to be fired. He was a splash hire at the time, but now he has people thinking he's the main problem for the program.