Luke Fickell Gets Brutally Honest About The Terrible State Of Wisconsin Football

Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell recognizes the Badgers are in a brutal position and the season has been an unmitigated disaster.

The Badgers hired Fickell away from Cincinnati, and had been favorites to win the Big Ten West going into the season.

Expectations were sky high, and while that might not have been fair in year one for Fickell, it was the reality of the situation.

Instead of being competitive, the Badgers are sitting at 5-5 and hit rock bottom after a blowout loss to Northwestern last weekend. Now, the man in charge is acknowledging the situation isn't in a good place and it's way more difficult than what he experienced in a tough first year with the Bearcats.

Luke Fickell reacts to Wisconsin being terrible.

"Everything is its own entity. And I would tell you that this is much more difficult and not because I think I know more because in Year 1 , I had not a great clue as to what was going on, but I think every place you go, to things are new and different," the Wisconsin head coach told the media Thursday when breaking down Wisconsin truly awful season and comparing it to his first year at Cincy, according to Bucky's 5th Quarter.

He also acknowledged the incredibly high expectations might have played a role in the epic collapse of the 2023 Badgers.

Wisconsin football coach Luke Fickell reacts to terrible season. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)

"But I don’t know. Maybe it’s the expectations that we walked into, maybe it’s what I truly had envisioned, the things I thought we could be as we grew. And then obviously there are some situations that have caused us injuries and things like that to put us in a little bit of a different mode," Luke Fickell explained.

The struggling Badgers coach further added, "But, in general, I think it just have an expectation for myself and the things that we do that are far greater now than they were seven years ago. And so this is and continues to be and is a hell of a lot more challenging."

Let me know your thoughts on his comments at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

Luke Fickell is struggling in year one with the Wisconsin Badgers. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)

The Badgers are in big trouble.

As OutKick readers know, I'm a Wisconsin man, and I spent a lot of time covering the incredible hype around the team ever since Luke Fickell was hired.

The belief was an easy schedule combined with QB Tanner Mordecai and others transferring would result in a great record.

Everyone bought into what Luke Fickell was selling. However, the team is 5-5, and suffered many embarrassing losses. There's no excuse for Wisconsin to me losing to teams like Washington State, a banged up Iowa with a backup QB, Indiana or Northwestern. The only loss on the schedule fans expected was to Ohio State. That one isn't hard to stomach, but a blowout loss to Northwestern? Yeah, fans aren't ever going to tolerate that.

It's also not just the fans who have had enough. Safety Hunter Wohler unloaded after the loss to Northwestern, and the only takeaway from it that matters is it seems like things are broken behind closed doors.

I have no idea where Wisconsin goes from here, but fans are willing to accept this season being a complete and total fair after having huge expectations. That's where the grace is going to end. It's time for major changes in the offseason. Let me know your thoughts on Fickell and the Badgers at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.