Wisconsin Football 2025

[adambr2]

1 hour ago, nate82 said:

The refs on the take and stupid penalties.  Yeah this one is over.

I mean you didn’t really think it was going to be a competitive game, right?

[homer]

For the record, my Leonhard comment was tongue in cheek. I am not advocating that they hire him. I am on the "Fickell ain't it" bus though.

[yourout]

We really don't have a difference maker in the backfield do we. 

 

[LouisEly]

1 hour ago, nate82 said:

This is not Fickell’s last year.  There is a reason no other team offered Leonhard a HC position.  

Not true, a number of top programs contacted him when he was the DC and he turned them down.  He only wanted to be HC at UW.

 

41 minutes ago, nate82 said:

If the Badgers go back to someone like Leonhard they should just get out of the Big Ten and go to conference USA or something like that.  The recruiting would return to PC levels

 

41 minutes ago, nate82 said:

So why wasn't Leonhard offered a HC position?  The answer is obvious he didn't want to do the recruiting similar to PC.

However, these two statements have a lot of truth to them.  Leonhard didn't want to HC anywhere other than UW because he didn't want to move his family around.  That, to me, says that he wanted the title of HC but not the responsibilities of being a HC that would involve not spending a lot of time with your family.

Leonhard was PC's right-hand man and Leonhard had a big part in the downfall in recruiting.  #1 responsibility falls under PC - and I remember a story that a 4-star LB was visiting for a game and nobody talked to him.  Leonhard is the DC, he has some responsibility for that.  

One of the reasons that Mac wasn't sold on Leonhard is that when he interviewed him, Leonhard talked about how he would keep a lot of things the same.  Mac knew that keeping things the same was going to be a disaster.  Fickell always was Mac's #1, but Leonhard did nothing in the interview process to sway Mac into pivoting to Leonhard when Fickell was waffling about taking the position.

Just look at the 2022 game against Ohio State.  That was before PC got fired.  Leonhard's defense gave up 21 in the first quarter, 31 at half, and 45 through three quarters.  Not any different than their performance against Alabama today.

[yourout]

Jason Eck this is the guy I hope they get a decent shot at next as HC

[nate82]

50 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

I mean you didn’t really think it was going to be a competitive game, right?

No but I thought they play a little bit better.  The refs really swallowed those flags in the 4th quarter a lot of roughing the passer calls should have been made against Alabama in the 3rd and 4th quarter.  A few that were similar to the one they called against WI in the first half.  

[nate82]

1 hour ago, yourout said:

Jason Eck this is the guy I hope they get a decent shot at next as HC

No thanks he looks to be an Anderson or PC level HC.  Strong pass on him.  

[yourout]

26 minutes ago, nate82 said:

No thanks he looks to be an Anderson or PC level HC.  Strong pass on him.  

Why would a big name coach have any interest in us right now?

[LouisEly]

9 minutes ago, yourout said:

Why would a big name coach have any interest in us right now?

Luke Fickell was the top coaching candidate on the market in 2022.  He could have gone anywhere.

UW gave him 80% of $54.6M reasons to come to UW.  His $7.6M/year is 3x more than any assistant in college football is getting.

[nate82]

24 minutes ago, yourout said:

Why would a big name coach have any interest in us right now?

As LouisEly has stated money.  UW may not be able to give out a contract like a Michigan or Ohio State but they can still give out a big payday.  

If you are going to replace Fickell you better get someone who is better than him and not a mid major college coach who won't be better than who you are replacing.  You don't want the recruiting to suffer and under Fickell the recruiting has been far better than it was under PC.  Going from Bielema to Anderson and then to PC really killed the Badgers recruiting.  Anderson wasn't all that bad at recruiting it is just he couldn't get the recruits he wanted due to UW's academic requirements.  PC wasn't good at recruiting and you can see that in last years team and during PC's last year.  PC is the reason this program is in the trouble it is in.  I will say this again he should have been fired one or two years earlier when he first started showing he wasn't interested in recruiting.  

The Badgers lost out on so many good recruits because PC decided he didn't want to do recruiting anymore.  Leonhard was starting to do the same.  Neither PC or Leonhard were big on doing the recruiting part of the job they just wanted the HC position and nothing more.  In college you can't do that you need to be able to recruit players.  You just can't be the HC and that is it.  It doesn't work like that in college football.  If you want to do that then go to a Conference USA, MAC, WAC or go coach in the D3.  You can't expect to just be a head coach in division one football in a major conference.  

So if you want to go with someone like Jason Eck then the Badgers football program needs to move out of the Big Ten.  You can't stay in the Big Ten and hire someone like Jason Eck or someone like Leonhard (who doesn't want to recruit).  You just can't do that you have to find someone who can recruit and can change with the times.

[Jim French Stepstool]

As to the game........

What was most disappointing to me was you had a chance to at least make some kind of a statement early on. You got the 4th down stop, then in Bamas' next possession they had a 3rd & 9, you came THIS close to getting a sack but were a split second late, and Zachmann was probably on his man for about 3.5 seconds & it needed to be four. Frustrating. After that it was a downhill spiral of incredibly stupid penalties, O-line play that started out poor & by the 4th quarter got all the way up to mediocre, and a defense that for the most part had to stop pressuring with the LBs because the Bama QB was pretty much always finding the right spot to throw the ball to. I mean, they still tried it but the guy was always one step ahead of what we tried to do. Really impressive.

Riley Mahlman looks like he might barely be adequate as a LT, and if healthy Renfroe is OK. The rest of the O-line is too inexperienced, not very good, or both. We'll see how/if they develop as the year goes on. If the offense continues to fail in keeping defenses honest between the tackles, they'll have big trouble no matter who you line up at WR, in the slot, or how much you try to spread the ball around.

When you're in the spot they're in you need to lean on what proven talent you have. I thought the secondary might be one of those areas, Rico Hallman in particular, and he's really struggled the last two weeks. Had his hands full w/his matchup but he wasn't very good last week either.

We'll just have to see what capacity there is in future weeks--for guys to get better, and for coaches to develop.

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, nate82 said:

No pass rush from the dline.  The only time they have been able to provide some pressure is on blitz's.  

Unless Peterson has his hand on the ground they aren't designed to get any pass rush from the Dline; save for some tackle or guard totally whiffing on a block the LBs are the only pressure you'll see.

[nate82]

5 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Unless Peterson has his hand on the ground they aren't designed to get any pass rush from the Dline; save for some tackle or guard totally whiffing on a block the LBs are the only pressure you'll see.

Yes but they also need to at least push the line forward a bit and not be so stagnant.  The DT on one play got absolutely destroyed on one play that was a passing play.  

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, nate82 said:

 offensively it would be the same boring run ball down the middle of the line play after play after play.  

There's nothing more boring, and ineffective, than throwing play after play because you HAVE to. 

Also, I was a season ticket holder for about 14 years, followed the team closely both before & after that time, and never remembered an offense that did what you're describing, unless they were protecting a late lead (which they did often, and quite successfully). They were heavy on the run a lot of those years because it worked, and apparently the staff had this weird thought that winning games was more important than getting on the Sportscenter Top Ten.

I'm all for balance, but this ain't it. Unfortunately they're stuck with what they have, and Ohio & MTSU are in the rear view mirror.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, nate82 said:

Yes but they also need to at least push the line forward a bit and not be so stagnant.  The DT on one play got absolutely destroyed on one play that was a passing play.  

Yeah, that would be ideal. It's why they brought in some size for the Dline, to occupy blockers. And it worked fairly well in the first two weeks. I'm just concerned that what we saw today will be similar to what's in store now that the Mid-American & Sun Belt portions of the sked are over. Like with the Oline, stay tuned I guess.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Regarding Fickell/Leonhard: Once Fickell showed a real interest in the job Leonhard was pretty much cooked, understandably. To me, the most intriguing part of Leonhard as a HC was the contacts he made both in college & the NFL over the years, and what sort of staff he could've put together based on that. It might've been something impressive, or a big nothing burger. We'll never know. Something like that can't be overlooked, especially when we've seen the back-and-forth, hire, fire & rethink sitcom that has been the Fickell coaching staff,

As for Mac, right now he may have bigger concerns---like his own position.

[LouisEly]

2 hours ago, nate82 said:

As LouisEly has stated money.  UW may not be able to give out a contract like a Michigan or Ohio State but they can still give out a big payday.  

Absolutely.  The Big Ten has by far the biggest TV deal and each Big Ten legacy team is getting $70M/year from TV revenue.  College athletes are initially going to get $20M/year for their share, so they can afford any coach they want to.

[Underachiever]

I wanted to give up my season tickets after last year. Not just because of the product on the field, but the way that I am asked to play the part of an extra in a tv show each week. Wear white! Shine this light when we tell you! Make sure you know which color your section is wearing this week! Stare at the guy on the field with the countdown timer during tv breaks. Used to be you could just cheer on your team. 

My wife, of all people, convinced me not to give it up. I have six season tickets, and when I ask people to go, the response is almost always, "let me check my calendar, or ask my wife, and I'll get back to you." It used to be "Yes! I want to go. Let me just confirm I'm available." Small change, but a definite change in tone of response. (You may think I am the reason they don't want to go, but I assure you, I'm delightful to spend an afternoon with.).

Anyway, there will be six tickets available in H after this year. I'm done. Went to my grandson's game yesterday instead of watching the Badgers. I missed his game last week because it conflicted with the MTSU game. I will go to all the UW games this year, but I won't miss any more of my grandson's games because of the Badgers going forward. Since I was a freshman at UW over 40 years ago, I watched Badger football whenever I could, wherever I was. Not any more. 

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

4 minutes ago, Underachiever said:

I wanted to give up my season tickets after last year. Not just because of the product on the field, but the way that I am asked to play the part of an extra in a tv show each week. Wear white! Shine this light when we tell you! Make sure you know which color your section is wearing this week! Stare at the guy on the field with the countdown timer during tv breaks. Used to be you could just cheer on your team. 

My wife, of all people, convinced me not to give it up. I have six season tickets, and when I ask people to go, the response is almost always, "let me check my calendar, or ask my wife, and I'll get back to you." It used to be "Yes! I want to go. Let me just confirm I'm available." Small change, but a definite change in tone of response. (You may think I am the reason they don't want to go, but I assure you, I'm delightful to spend an afternoon with.).

Anyway, there will be six tickets available in H after this year. I'm done. Went to my grandson's game yesterday instead of watching the Badgers. I missed his game last week because it conflicted with the MTSU game. I will go to all the UW games this year, but I won't miss any more of my grandson's games because of the Badgers going forward. Since I was a freshman at UW over 40 years ago, I watched Badger football whenever I could, wherever I was. Not any more. 

This is how I feel as well.  PC/Mac/Fick have ruined Badgers Football.  Though maybe it was going to get ruined anyways with this NIL stuff and a complete lack of continuity.

In the 1990s, 2000s, and probably the first half of the 2010s, I never missed a big game, Badgers or not.  I could tell you most of the Badgers 2 deep in any given season and it would be fun to speculate on who might be the next to take that next step.  How things are too focused on style over any substance.  Our team is lousy and everything feels "fake" to me.  As a whole, I think NCAA football is failing.   As older milleneals, and Gen Xers get older and have more interesting options in life, I think the "always bigger" TV contracts are going to go the way of the dinosaur, and the current system will collapse.

Outside of the deep south (which sports wise has nothing beyond SEC football), I just see the country viewing CFB is a big "meh".  If you take the focus away from building continuity in a program in CFB away, you are left with the NBA G-League, or maybe, at-best, MILB.  Nobody pays attention to either of those leagues.

[yfinn6]

Apathy from the Chancellor toward UW football and a moron in charge of the AD trickles down to general cluelessness on the football field from the headcoach who is in over-his-head, combined with NIL and BIG expansion has lead to a bad product in Madison. I don't fault any who have given up their tickets until things change (on what UW can change). 

The schedule softens next season, but I have zero faith in Fickell to get this program moving in the right direction. He'll bring in another 5th yr senior at QB next season and Carter Smith will probably transfer and we'll see more of the same of mediocre play, zero development, and just waiting for UW to pull the plug. Hopefully Mac goes with him. 

[LouisEly]

1 hour ago, Underachiever said:

Anyway, there will be six tickets available in H after this year. I'm done.

My family has had season tickets in section H for 55 years.

For most of the last 20 years I've lived outside of WI, so I'm lucky if I get to one game a year.  Thus the novelty is still there for me and I enjoy going to the games, win or lose.  It's the totality of the experience - going back to Madison, walking with the crowd to the game, going to a bar on Regent or Brats before the game, hitting the bookstore and State Street before or after the game, dinner up by the square afterwards.  For me, it's about much more than the game.  Maybe if I went five times a year I might feel differently.

Just curious, other than winning, what would make you feel differently?  Now that it's legal to pay players, and they're in a conference with much deeper pockets in Oregon, Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State, they're very unlikely to finish in the top four and go to the conference championship game and/or the Rose Bowl.  Barring a ridiculously easy schedule fluke I think that 9-3 is the best they are going to be moving forward regardless of who is the coach.

[yourout]

3 hours ago, LouisEly said:

My family has had season tickets in section H for 55 years.

For most of the last 20 years I've lived outside of WI, so I'm lucky if I get to one game a year.  Thus the novelty is still there for me and I enjoy going to the games, win or lose.  It's the totality of the experience - going back to Madison, walking with the crowd to the game, going to a bar on Regent or Brats before the game, hitting the bookstore and State Street before or after the game, dinner up by the square afterwards.  For me, it's about much more than the game.  Maybe if I went five times a year I might feel differently.

Just curious, other than winning, what would make you feel differently?  Now that it's legal to pay players, and they're in a conference with much deeper pockets in Oregon, Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State, they're very unlikely to finish in the top four and go to the conference championship game and/or the Rose Bowl.  Barring a ridiculously easy schedule fluke I think that 9-3 is the best they are going to be moving forward regardless of who is the coach.

Honestly a couple things have made the game day experience much worse over the last 20 years. 

Excessive media timeouts are obviously not a plus. 

And when it's colder out my butt with winter gear is wider than my space allowance.

The advance in television quality and 100-in TVs for $1,000 have made the couch experience better than being at the game in many ways. Especially for older guys like me that need multiple bathroom trips.

Honestly the UW hockey game experience is far better even when they're not winning. 

Better seats, more comfortable seats, limited media breaks and contest that are generally around 2 hours.

[RedStickBrew]

Despite the result I had a good experience at Bama yesterday.  It honestly felt to me like the game was over when we came up with the fourth down stop on D then gave it right back to Bama on the interception and they went on to score.  UW never really put any pressure on them the rest of the game.

Multiple Bama fans approached me and said how great it was to see so many Badger fans there and how nice we are etc.  

 

 

[BrewerFan]

On 9/13/2025 at 1:32 PM, LouisEly said:

One of the reasons that Mac wasn't sold on Leonhard is that when he interviewed him, Leonhard talked about how he would keep a lot of things the same.  Mac knew that keeping things the same was going to be a disaster.  Fickell always was Mac's #1, but Leonhard did nothing in the interview process to sway Mac into pivoting to Leonhard when Fickell was waffling about taking the position.

Just look at the 2022 game against Ohio State.  That was before PC got fired.  Leonhard's defense gave up 21 in the first quarter, 31 at half, and 45 through three quarters.  Not any different than their performance against Alabama today.

Didn't we kinda end up with one anyway?

I get it, I don't blame him. He went for the big shot.

That OSU offense you're talking about, if you put all the players from that team on the same offense, it'd be an elite unit. 

You sacrificed good for a shot to be great and compete with the top programs and it hasn't paid off. It's going to be tough at Wisconsin, especially with the new NIL "cap." 

[Jim French Stepstool]

11 hours ago, TwinsBrewersWorldSeries said:

This is how I feel as well.  PC/Mac/Fick have ruined Badgers Football.  Though maybe it was going to get ruined anyways with this NIL stuff and a complete lack of continuity.

In the 1990s, 2000s, and probably the first half of the 2010s, I never missed a big game, Badgers or not.  I could tell you most of the Badgers 2 deep in any given season and it would be fun to speculate on who might be the next to take that next step.  How things are too focused on style over any substance.  Our team is lousy and everything feels "fake" to me.  As a whole, I think NCAA football is failing.   As older milleneals, and Gen Xers get older and have more interesting options in life, I think the "always bigger" TV contracts are going to go the way of the dinosaur, and the current system will collapse.

Outside of the deep south (which sports wise has nothing beyond SEC football), I just see the country viewing CFB is a big "meh".  If you take the focus away from building continuity in a program in CFB away, you are left with the NBA G-League, or maybe, at-best, MILB.  Nobody pays attention to either of those leagues.

A lot of the stuff in this post reflects my feelings.

Without going into details of the changes, I just refer to it as the "NFL-ification" of the college game. I gave my tickets up many years ago for unrelated stuff but if I still had them, well, I wouldn't for long. I still think the college game will survive & probably thrive, as long as there are alumni & people who like to gamble. But the style over substance you mentioned, yeah, you can feel it. I too followed the two-deep closely, watched who might stand out on special teams or climb the ladder during bowl prep, get an occasional look in a 3rd down package, etc. A far cry from 25, 30 or 40 players changing teams every year. Still a fan from my living room, but no desire to financially support something like that.