As the final seconds ticked off the clock in Wisconsin’s 27-13 win over South Dakota Sept. 7, a familiar ambiance fell over Camp Randall Stadium. Sure, the Badgers were victorious, finding the second win of their young season. But the mood sure wasn’t joyous.
Now into the second season of the Luke Fickell era in Madison, it has become obvious that something is lacking. Head coach Luke Fickell’s hiring in November 2022 marked an exciting turn in the trajectory of Wisconsin’s football program, but the bonanza of excitement following his hire morphed into more than a year of uninspiring results.
With the almighty Alabama Crimson Tide paying a visit to Madison this weekend, Wisconsin continues to feel stuck in a constant state of drab.
Given two weeks of early-season tune-ups to prepare for one of the most highly anticipated match-ups in Camp Randall history, the Badgers have done little to put any doubts of an old-fashioned blowout to rest.
In Week 1, Wisconsin trailed Western Michigan in the fourth quarter before prevailing late in a 28-14 win. Last week, after an early 14-0 lead, the Badgers allowed South Dakota to get as close as 17-13 in the second half.
With two unstimulating victories, Wisconsin has yet to prove they are any better than the lackluster 7-6 version of themselves they presented last season.
Now, college football’s premier program is coming to town. Alabama has been at the top of college football’s food chain for most of this century, winning six national championships in the past 15 years and appearing in more College Football Playoffs than any other program. The type of success achieved in Tuscaloosa is something programs like Wisconsin dream of.
In their first year since the retirement of its all-time great head coach Nick Saban, Alabama looks like they have no plans of relinquishing its historic success. Under former Washington coach Kalen DeBoer, Alabama started their season with a 63-0 drubbing of Western Kentucky and a 42-16 victory over South Florida.
Beating Alabama will be a monumental challenge for Wisconsin, and everyone in the program knows it.
“It’s the top team in college football in the last 20 years,” Fickell said after the South Dakota victory. “It’s been hanging over the top of your head from the time you walked in the door here.”
But Saturday’s game against Alabama is more than just a marquee showdown against one of college football’s most successful programs. It will be a valuable measuring stick for Wisconsin’s program in what so far is the biggest game of the Luke Fickell era.
Currently the 15.5 point underdogs, it’s obvious the Badgers face a monumental challenge on Saturday. But in the same token, Wisconsin also receives a massive opportunity to gain a program-altering win.
Beating Alabama would change the trajectory of a team seemingly stuck in neutral.
What has Luke Fickell accomplished for the Badgers?
Fickell was hired two years ago to win games like the one ahead.
“We have the same expectations, championship-level expectations,” athletic director Chris McIntosh said back in November 2022.
So far into Fickell’s tenure, Wisconsin expectations simply have not been close championship-level. Last season’s back-to-back losses at Indiana and to Northwestern prove that, as do the lackadaisical performances thus far into this season.
But a win against a program like Alabama would change everything. Suddenly, Wisconsin could skyrocket back into relevancy. For the first time, Fickell’s vision could produce the actual feel-good results everyone involved in the program has been searching for.
Fickell’s hiring made perfect sense, and it still does. When McIntosh hired Fickell, he brought in a big-name, energetic hire to usher in a new era of Badger football. In an increasingly changing time in college football, Fickell was hired to navigate Wisconsin through the recruiting, transferring and Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) mania that modern college athletics present.
And thus far, Fickell has excelled in those aspects. He has delivered in recruiting, bringing in classes of nationally recruited prospects and bolstering the program’s future. Wisconsin’s 2024 class ranked 23rd in the nation, its best since 2021.
Fickell also transitioned elegantly to the transfer portal as Wisconsin fields multiple transfer starters.
And the development of The Varsity Collective, Wisconsin’s NIL program, has allowed Fickell proper resources in the age of player compensation. If there is someone at Wisconsin who represents the recognition that adapting to changes is necessary in this age of college sports, it is Fickell.
Clearly, since the day he was hired, Fickell has been building Wisconsin’s program admirably, making Wisconsin’s uninspiring play the last two seasons all the more frustrating.
But what has Fickell been building for if it isn’t for this game? He said it himself when he told reporters this game has been hanging over his head since his arrival in Madison. If his hiring was truly supposed to make Wisconsin championship contenders for the long-term future, beating Alabama would prove that.
More than that, it would send an energy wave through a program that desperately needs one and create a tide of momentum that Fickell and the Badgers could ride through the rest of this season and into the future.
Wisconsin has been searching for a signature win for the better part of the last decade. A victory over Alabama would be that and then some.
If Wisconsin bows down to the mighty Crimson Tide on Saturday, the doubts surrounding Fickell and his team will continue. But if the Badgers are able to stay in the game and maybe, just maybe, take down Alabama, they would be able to turn the page on a forgettable era.
