Wisconsin Badgers football coach Luke Fickell may have reached the end of the line following a second straight goose egg on Saturday afternoon with the Ohio State Buckeyes in town. OSU blasted UW 34-0 at Camp Randall Stadium, just one week after the Iowa Hawkeyes beat down the Badgers 37-0 in Madison.
USA Today’s Paul Myerberg spoke of the Fickell era as winding to a close in a piece deeming Wisconsin a loser in Week 8.
“No one expected Wisconsin to beat No. 1 Ohio State. Scoring a point would’ve been nice, though. One week after getting shut out at home by Iowa for the program’s first shutout loss in Camp Randall Stadium since 1980, the Badgers were blanked 34-0 by the Buckeyes to suffer back-to-back home shutouts for the first time since 1968. This is a bleak, bleak time for Wisconsin as the wildly disappointing Luke Fickell era winds to a close,” Myerberg wrote.
Fickell is looking less and less likely to survive the season. More embarrassments could be in store with the Oregon Ducks and Indiana Hoosiers hosting the Badgers in two of their next three matchups. There’s no reason for Wisconsin to expect to be favored against the Washington Huskies, Illinois Fighting Illini, or Minnesota Golden Gophers, either.
This team looks like it’s given up on their third-year head coach. A $25 million buyout payment to Fickell may not be an overpay to cut the cord on a tenure that’s sputtered out of control quickly.
Badger great Melvin Gordon shared his take that Jim Leonhard should be Fickell’s successor. Many across America’s Dairyland would agree. Most of the crowd comprises those who have someone else in mind to replace Fickell.
Fickell has lost the plot. Two straight scoreless weeks is a cry for help from this locker room to have the leader replaced.
Wisconsin AD Chris McIntosh may know that his fate is tied to Fickell’s after publicly backing him in September. Whenever this change happens at the head coach spot, it may happen above him on the totem pole at UW as well.
