There's good news, bad news, weird news, and everything in between this week for the Wisconsin Badgers. Let's focus mostly on the fallout from the Wisconsin loss to Maryland, some NFL news, and a little flash in the pan of Mike McCarthy, causing Badger football fans to freak out when he shows up at the volleyball game with Chris McIntosh. Let's dive in.
Wisconsin lost to Maryland and the fallout is full of splashes
The loss of Maryland by the Badgers has focused on the hope of Wisconsin fans that Luke Fickell will be fired. However, it starts well before that when injury news broke that Jake Renfro and Preston Zachman would both be out for the game. Billy Edwards Jr. would get the start but would also take some plays off for Danny O'Neil.
That plan backfired from the beginning, and Edwards tweaked himself enough that he couldn't even play more than just 1.5 drives. And then the fans turned on Fickell when Maryland scored first. It started with booing, and quickly turned to "FIRE FICKELL" chants. And when the game was lost, the firestorm by the fanbase was extreme, even though most of the fans at Camp Randall didn't even stay to watch the whole game.
Fans then were googling "Luke Fickell buyout", "fire Chris McIntosh", and "5 coaches to replace Fickell" like it was going out of style. An insane amount of links and coverage.
NFL News, some good with TJ Watt, Nick Herbig, and Jonathan Taylor, and some bad with Russell Wilson
Fans found the NFL a bit cathartic the next day. Watching their favorite teams, but also former Badgers, do well. We saw Jonathan Taylor dominate again, and he still leads the league in rushing yards. There was the cool play where Nick Herbig stripped the ball and TJ Watt recovered it.
Oh, and Russell Wilson had a forgettable day. New York Giants fans are not pleased and are doing their own chanting of wanting Jaxson Dart.
Mike McCarthy rumors swirl with an appearance at Wisconsin volleyball
Raise your hand if you knew Mike McCarthy was a Wisconsin volleyball fan. Yeah, probably not raising your hand right now. But he was among the sellout crowd in the UW Fieldhouse to take in the Wisconsin vs. Florida volleyball match. Which is interesting, but what made it fascinating is that he was in Chris McIntosh's suite chumming it up with the Wisconsin athletic director. The day after, fans are calling for the firing of Luke Fickell. Weird.
The rumors were circulating and the pot was stirred.
That's the recap for this week!