It may not happen in the coming days, but Luke Fickell does not feel for long at Wisconsin. For the fourth week in a row, the Badgers have come incredibly slow out of the gate. While there is still plenty of time for them to get right vs. the Maryland Terrapins, the first quarter for the Badgers went as bad as anyone in Madison could have hoped for. Billy Edwards Jr. started, and got hurt right away again...
The plan coming in was for Edwards and Danny O'Neil both to play. Clearly, Edwards tried to force his hand and play vs. his former school. As he was trying to loosen up his injured knee on the sidelines atop an exercise bike, O'Neil promptly threw one of the most pitiful interceptions you will ever see. It led to an effortless goal-line score for Malik Washington and the Terps on the ensuing possession.
Clearly, Wisconsin fans have seen enough and do not want to see Fickell coaching after the first bye.
Wisconsin Badgers fans want to fire Luke Fickell immediately yet again
With another atrocious start to a first half, Badgers fans have seen enough out of their head coach.
@UWBadgers just fire Fickell already.
— deer tracks basketball (@basketball_deer) September 20, 2025
Wisconsin should come crawling back to Jim Leonhard and give him whatever he wants to return as #Badger football head coach. Luke Fickell, in his 3rd year after Leonhard was stunningly bypassed, is not the answer. The culture is gone & the team seems headed to another bad season.
— Ed Bark (@unclebarkycom) September 20, 2025
Seems pretty obvious that Billy Edwards didn’t need to gin up all this energy just to try to play against his old team when he’s obviously not well enough to do so. Always strive to be ready during the week, but he’s clearly not. And Luke Fickell should’ve had that foresight.
— George Gerbo (@Gerbo3) September 20, 2025
Terps up 7-0.
— Andrew Bandstra (@andrewbandstra) September 20, 2025
Student section chanting "Fire Fickell"
A lot of football left. #Badgers pic.twitter.com/woH1Xdyaa3
Empty seats everywhere. Fire Fickell chants breaking out. The UW has big time issues.
— Badgermaniac (@THEbadgermaniac) September 20, 2025
Any program that has self-respect or pride or ANYYY sort of standards would have fired Luke Fickell by now. Dude is atrocious. #firelukefickell #badgers
— Kurowsh Saatnia (@KingKuks) September 20, 2025
Luke Fickell will coach his last game with the Badgers today
— The Undergrad CFB (@TheUndergradCFB) September 20, 2025
This is gross. Fickell might need to go
— BlackhawksWisc (@BlackhawksWisc) September 20, 2025
It got worse following the O'Neil interception, a bad snap resulted in a huge loss of yardage near midfield. The special teams had its second kick blocked. The first came on a chip shot field goal during the first offensive possession for the Badgers. The second came on punt in Wisconsin territory. This team is poorly coached and lacks the talent to compete with Maryland in the Big Ten.
When Fickell gets out-coached by Mike Locksley, you know there is a huge problem for the Badgers.
Wisconsin has to be a second-half team in order to save Luke Fickell's job
Getting their clock cleaned by Alabama on the road at Bryant-Denny was one thing, but to get outclassed in the first half at home vs. Maryland is a totally different beast. Entering this season, Locksley was sitting on arguably the hottest seat in the Power Four. If the Terrapins keep playing sound football in all three phases, they will be 4-0 overall and 1-0 in Big Ten play entering Week 5.
The fact that Washington, who is a true freshman by the way, is looking like the best quarterback on the field today for either team, it speaks volumes. Yes, he is a mega talent coming out out of The DMV and is playing for an offensive guru head coach, but this was not the start anyone expected in Madison at all. The Badgers were laying a whopping 9.5 points at home to the visiting Terrapins, y'all!
Ultimately, this era of Wisconsin football needs to end. Two and a third years of the way into this, and what is the point in all this for the Badgers? Maryland was supposed to be a bottom-feeder in the Big Ten this year. At this juncture, the Badgers may not even win a conference game. The big question is if Chris McIntosh will allow Fickell to do his own Mike Gundy or Mike Norvell impersonation and go 2-10.
It is not working and everyone watching this game knows that Fickell is never going to get this right.