Wisconsin football 2026

[owbc]

2 hours ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

The Big Ten realignment after the additions of the Pac 12 schools also brutalized the Badger program, because they made hay being the best program in the worst Big Ten division (Big Ten West) - that guaranteed them a spot in the Big 10 title game annually unless they were in a total rebuilding year.  

After the divisions were eliminated, their typical conference schedule got tougher at the same time as some of these marquee out of conference matchups with blue blood programs show up on their schedule, and they don't have the NIL war chest that the biggest programs in the conference have to compete.  They're back to being an afterthought on the national stage, which sucks.

 

None of this explains how we became worse than Minnesota after dominating them for a decade and a half. 

[tmwiese55]

If the QB doesn't get hurt this year, I'd expect them to make a bowl with 6 or 7 wins since the schedule is so light.  Which I think is enough for them to keep him around another year since it shows progress.  With their logic mostly being that the money to buy him out and for a new coach would be better spent on players.  I haven't looked in a bit so memory might be off, but every year or two more they get out of him reduces that cost. And the  bs one year extensions every year do not change the buyout, hopefully that hasn't changed.

I'll put the caveat on there that in their losses there isn't a big time blowout to a team the likes of Iowa/MN/MSU etc.  If you lose to them its ok as long as you play real games vs them then its progress.   Just get the two cupcake Ws, roughly split against the winnable remaining games, don't get blown the F out by other blah B1G teams, stop fumbling kicks every game, is enough progress. Step 1 is to actually roll over the crap team this weekend instead of struggling vs teams like this as they have the last few years.

Anything less than that though, yea I agree he's gone. Even if the QB injury excuse is there again

[homer]

1 hour ago, owbc said:

None of this explains how we became worse than Minnesota after dominating them for a decade and a half. 

and Iowa and Indiana....

[sdbrewfan]

Last year everyone became worse than Indiana.

[homer]

9 minutes ago, sdbrewfan said:

Last year everyone became worse than Indiana.

I guess they spent $11 teen billion in NIL

[nate82]

13 minutes ago, homer said:

and Iowa and Indiana....

Indiana is an easy one they spent more in NIL.  Indiana has also been out recruiting the Badgers since the final three years of the PC times.

Recruiting or the lack there of was a problem for PC.  Fickell improved the recruiting nationally just none have really worked out or haven’t seen the field yet.

The QB cupboard was absolutely bare after PC refused to do any recruiting for a QB after getting Mertz.  That is also I believe the year when PC completely gave up on recruiting and he decided he had enough of that.  Unfortunately that is one of the most important part of being a HC in college football.

The Badgers were heading to the 4 or 5 win team for a long time before Fickell arrived.

[owbc]

42 minutes ago, tmwiese55 said:

If the QB doesn't get hurt this year, I'd expect them to make a bowl with 6 or 7 wins since the schedule is so light.  Which I think is enough for them to keep him around another year since it shows progress.  With their logic mostly being that the money to buy him out and for a new coach would be better spent on players.  I haven't looked in a bit so memory might be off, but every year or two more they get out of him reduces that cost. And the  bs one year extensions every year do not change the buyout, hopefully that hasn't changed.

I'll put the caveat on there that in their losses there isn't a big time blowout to a team the likes of Iowa/MN/MSU etc.  If you lose to them its ok as long as you play real games vs them then its progress.   Just get the two cupcake Ws, roughly split against the winnable remaining games, don't get blown the F out by other blah B1G teams, stop fumbling kicks every game, is enough progress. Step 1 is to actually roll over the crap team this weekend instead of struggling vs teams like this as they have the last few years.

Anything less than that though, yea I agree he's gone. Even if the QB injury excuse is there again

That would be the worst case scenario. Just good enough so Fickell doesn’t get canned. 

[owbc]

2 minutes ago, nate82 said:

Indiana is an easy one they spent more in NIL.  Indiana has also been out recruiting the Badgers since the final three years of the PC times.

Recruiting or the lack there of was a problem for PC.  Fickell improved the recruiting nationally just none have really worked out or haven’t seen the field yet.

The QB cupboard was absolutely bare after PC refused to do any recruiting for a QB after getting Mertz.  That is also I believe the year when PC completely gave up on recruiting and he decided he had enough of that.  Unfortunately that is one of the most important part of being a HC in college football.

The Badgers were heading to the 4 or 5 win team for a long time before Fickell arrived.

Fickell arrived a long time ago, enough time elapsed that we could have fired him and his replacement by now…or are we too poor to correct our hiring mistakes too? 

[nate82]

22 minutes ago, owbc said:

Fickell arrived a long time ago, enough time elapsed that we could have fired him and his replacement by now…or are we too poor to correct our hiring mistakes too? 

If this was the NFL you would be correct.  This isn’t the NFL where you can turn things around after one or two drafts and some FA signings.

I think he has this season to prove what he has done in the recruiting part has worked or not.  I think they give him another year rather than buying him out.  They will instead use that money on NIL.  So the earliest I see the team firing Fickell is at some point next year if things are still not looking promising.

Leonhard probably lucked out on not getting the Badgers HC job.  Far better for him career wise to be a d-coordinator in the NFL than a HC in college.  I don’t believe it would have gone any better with him as the HC over Fickell.  

[LouisEly]

2 hours ago, owbc said:

None of this explains how we became worse than Minnesota after dominating them for a decade and a half. 

Gentle reminder that they lost to Minnesota in 2022 and 2021 (as a ranked team). 

They were already worse than Minnesota when Fickell was hired.

(And they lost to Iowa in 2022 and 2020.)

[homer]

1 hour ago, nate82 said:

Indiana is an easy one they spent more in NIL.  Indiana has also been out recruiting the Badgers since the final three years of the PC times.

 

how much more?

[JosephC]

5 hours ago, tmwiese55 said:

If the QB doesn't get hurt this year, I'd expect them to make a bowl with 6 or 7 wins since the schedule is so light.  Which I think is enough for them to keep him around another year since it shows progress. 

You are forgetting the most important factor.  Fickell's boss did not hire him.  If there is one thing top-line administrators have in common, it's that they want  "their guy" in what they deem important positions.  Fickell very likely has this working against him in a big way.

I think anything less than 8 wins is a guaranteed firing.  Not even sure that 8 wins will save him, AD could use the weak schedule as justification.

Next two games are easy wins.  Then comes Penn State at Penn State, which if you believe the pollsters should be an automatic loss.  Considering they lost a huge chunk of their team when Franklin left, I don't know how anyone could project Penn State.  They might be very good, they might not be very good.  But bottom line is that it's a road game against a ranked team, so project that as a loss.  Then comes Michigan State at Wisconsin.  Michigan State has been an even bigger mess than Wisconsin, so this is a must win game considering it's a home game.  I'll predict that if the Badgers lose this game, and start 2-3, Eichorst will not wait and allow Fickell a chance to recover, he'll pull the trigger and fire him after this game.  Do I think Wisconsin will lose both of those game...well definitely not the Michigan State game.  But if it happens, I don't think Fickell is around for that trip to UCLA.

[LouisEly]

15 hours ago, JosephC said:

You are forgetting the most important factor.  Fickell's boss did not hire him.  If there is one thing top-line administrators have in common, it's that they want  "their guy" in what they deem important positions.  Fickell very likely has this working against him in a big way.

Eichorst has shown that he's not afraid to make changes if they're not "winning the games that matter" (although Nebraska did state that Pelini was fired for "a pattern of unprofessional, disrespectful behavior toward players, fans and Nebraska employees (caution - strong language)").

The question is if the university is willing to put up the funds.

[LouisEly]

On 9/8/2026 at 11:56 AM, homer said:

Can you back that up with some facts? They haven't been getting the top rated guys in the state (I guess we will blame NIL) but is the overall pool worse the last 5 years?

In the class of 2021, three players made it to the NFL - Mbow, Allen, Wohler.   The #1 ranked player hardly ever saw the field at UW.  Adebogun quit football, Crawford got kicked out, Acker was meh.  Nobody else rings a bell.  Some top talent, but no depth.

In the class of 2022, Schrauth made the NFL and Hinzman likely will (they signed in 2021 and enrolled in 2022, so that's on Chryst).  Brunner is decent, but hasn't even made honorable mention all conference.  Hamm went AWOL/personal issues, Nelson has been hurt, Burkett couldn't throw the ball downfield.  Much was made about missing on Cross, but he never developed into anything and left Penn State.  Caught one pass for Memphis last year.  Some top talent, but no depth.

2023 - oof.  Self-explanatory

2024 - Sexton played on special teams last year, didn't start the opener this year.  Harbour played his first game last week, didn't start.  Corey Smith was 4th string at Penn State and transferred to Toledo.  Roy is starting at LT for the Goofs, but he didn't grow up in WI and moved there in high school; there was no emotional connection to UW.  Fickell put the full court press on him for six months and almost pulled him in, but the relationship with PJ had already been developed under Chryst's nose.  Jensen entered the portal a second time this year and I can't even find where he is; he may have quit football.  Gilbert switched to DL and has gotten some playing time.  Booker retired for injury reasons.  Pilof may have gotten in some hot water in HS from what I heard, UW may have pulled their offer.  Liebfried is a backup at Indiana seeing garbage time.  Hoitink played on special teams at Stanford last year.  Interesting that the only one who is doing well is perhaps the one Fickell tried the hardest to get.

Anything more recent is too soon to tell.