The Wisconsin Badgers football team may have a bye this week, but that doesn’t negate the fact that people are still quite upset with Luke Fickell. When you lose a rivalry game to Iowa, that’s going to be the case, especially when the score is 42-10.
Things won’t get any easier for Fickell and Co. Next time they’re on the field. In Week 12, the No. 1 Oregon Ducks are preparing to make their way into town to do battle in front of a sellout crowd in Madison. There will also be countless viewers across the country.
This is because it has been announced that the Wisconsin vs. Oregon game will be in prime time on November 16, with NBC broadcasting the game nationally at 6:30 PM CT, 7:30 PM ET. Wisconsin hopes to make this happen soon, but Fickell and company also face added pressure with so many people ready to watch this:
🚨 At 6:30 PM, CT vs. Oregon game on NBC 🚨 pic.twitter.com/8HsQgegJca
– Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) November 4, 2024
Fickell is 0-5 against ranked teams as the Badgers’ head coach. A lot of Wisconsin supporters are willing to assume he’ll drop to 0-6, as the Ducks have looked quite hot this year. Dan Lanning has his own cooking team, but the same can’t be said for Fickell.
It looked like things had hit rock bottom after a 32-point loss to Iowa. Losing in the Heartland Cup by more than 30 points was an embarrassing performance, as Caleb Johnson and Iowa’s ground game was unstoppable.
That was on Fickell and defensive coordinator Mike Tressel for not having his guys ready to rock. That simply cannot be the case against Oregon, as Lanning’s players will make Wisconsin pay big if they come out of the locker room looking sluggish. It is Fickell’s responsibility to prevent that from happening, and since this is a prime-time game, he simply cannot let things go that way.
