At some point, Wisconsin has to accept what Badgers fans everywhere have come to learn as the truth. This football program is going nowhere fast with Luke Fickell at the helm of it. His teams are so woefully unprepared every week. While they occasionally play great defense, the offense often goes back into the dark ages. In the end, this needs to end before it gets better. Fickell needs to go already.
That being said, we all understand the complicated nature of his buyout. It will be pricey to move on from the guy, but then again, why did Chris McIntosh give him an extension last offseason for no reason at all? In the end, Fickell not only struggles to beat rival teams, he is starting to come up dead vs. every Power Four team he faces. It is why Saturday night's game vs. Iowa may be the tipping point.
Historically, the Badgers and the Hawkeyes have had one of the most competitive rivalry series in the sport. Wisconsin holds the slight edge of 49-47-2 all time in this annual affair. However, this game in particular has been a total referendum on Wisconsin's decision to hire Fickell. Wisconsin lost 15-6 at home two years ago and got annihilated on the road 42-10 last season. They have lost three in a row.
So with a winnable game at home on Saturday night, it would be a real shame if Fickell loses it again...
Losing to Iowa again should be the last straw for Luke Fickell at Wisconsin
Even if the university has lowered the bar for what is acceptable from the football program, it is hard for any athletic department to stomach losing badly to rival teams on the regular. Where things stand now, Iowa is Wisconsin's second biggest rival behind only Minnesota. Nebraska has entered the fold in recent years to give the Badgers a compelling third one. However, Iowa and Minnesota's top theirs.
What is important to understand is that neither Iowa, Minnesota or Nebraska are world-beaters by any stretch of the imagination. That makes losing to any of them even more painful. What makes potentially falling to Iowa for the fourth year in a row so damning is this is the Hawkeyes have routinely put forth some of the worst offenses imaginable annually. So what does that say about Wisconsin?
The incredibly low point total should play into Wisconsin's favor. This game is at home and it is at night. Iowa is so unbelievably banged up. It is like the Big Ten is begging for the Badgers to win this game. In the event that they do not, we might be living in a world where Fickell has won his last game as the head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers. There are only so many lay-ups to be had. Make them!
Losing to Iowa would be like losing to Maryland, unlike falling to Alabama and Michigan previously.