Tag: Big Ten West

Wisconsin HC Luke Fickell supports the elimination of the Big Ten West

Wisconsin HC Luke Fickell supports the elimination of the Big Ten West

Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell was one of the first head coaches to take to the podium at the start of 2024 Big Ten media days on Tuesday afternoon in Indianapolis, Indiana.

During the non-televised portion of his press conference, Fickell was asked about the Big Ten’s expansion to 18 programs and the subsequent elimination of the Big Ten’s former East-West division model. He responded by supporting the new model saying “If you ask me, the best two teams should play [for the Big Ten championship] anyway.”

Related: Where Wisconsin lands in USA TODAY Sports 2024 Big Ten football preseason poll

That now-defunct Big Ten division model greatly aided Wisconsin over the last 13 seasons. The Badgers reached six total Big Ten title games during the division era, including three in a four-year stretch from 2016-2019. Part of that rate came thanks to a lighter schedule in the West Division and not needing to overtake Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State in order to reach the championship game.

Penn State, meanwhile, last reached the Big Ten title game in 2016 despite three 10-plus-win seasons since that date.

The conference’s new model is fairer and requires a truly special season to reach the title game. It does, however, hurt former West teams including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa.

Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh set ‘competing for championships’ as the program’s standard upon hiring Fickell in 2022. That will have to come from ascending to the top tier of the Big Ten and routinely finishing the regular season with one of the top records in the conference.

The new format is fair and balanced. Again, that doesn’t necessarily help Wisconsin. But Fickell has understandably set a high bar for his program as it works to establish itself in the new Big Ten landscape.

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Looking ahead to Wisconsin’s 2024 football schedule

Wisconsin’s 2024 football schedule is a gauntlet:

The new era of Big Ten football is here and with it comes gauntlet schedules for everybody in the conference.

That is especially the case for the 2024 Wisconsin Badgers. The program hosts a perennial powerhouse in out-of-conference play before facing at least three legitimate contenders in the conference slate.

For season ticket holders in Madison, Wisconsin, this new schedule means more intrigue and better environments on gameday. For Badgers fans across the country, however, it also likely means 2-3 more losses per year. That is, of course, unless Luke Fickell raises Wisconsin to the tier that Michigan and Ohio State currently inhabit.

The 2024 season is a critical one for that purpose. The Badgers are off a disappointing 7-6 2023 campaign and need tangible momentum in Fickell’s second year. As noted, it needs to be done against one of the tougher schedules in the nation:

Wisconsin finishes 2023 season as highest-ranked Big Ten West team

Wisconsin finishes 2023 season as highest-ranked Big Ten West team

There aren’t any consolation prizes for finishing 7-6 against a Big Ten West schedule without a scary out-of-conference schedule and avoiding having to play Michigan and Penn State. But with bowl season now complete, Wisconsin does finish the 2023 season as ESPN FPI’s highest-ranked Big Ten West team.

The Badgers sit at No. 40, followed by division champs Iowa at No. 47, Northwestern at No. 58, Nebraska at No. 59, Illinois at No. 62, Purdue at No. 68 and Minnesota at No. 69.

It in no way is a consolation prize. If anything, the end-of-season look at the division makes the 5-4 conference record that much more disappointing. FPI has the Badgers with the No. 60 strength of schedule in the nation, in a year before everything changes and the conference path gets exponentially tougher. Next year’s slate is a gauntlet starting with a home game against Alabama in early September.

Either way, Wisconsin’s ReliaQuest Bowl loss to LSU was somehow a moral victory entering the offseason. WRs Will Pauling and Bryson Green both went off, we finally saw Phil Longo’s offense work as advertised and Luke Fickell seems to have the program heading in the right direction.

But whether expectations were too high this season, injuries killed all momentum or whatever reason people point to, the postseason look does not help the feeling around the program’s pedestrian showing this season.

Wisconsin fans are used to heartache at the hands of Tommy DeVito

Wisconsin fans are used to heartache at the hands of Tommy DeVito

Wisconsin fans likely had a feeling of deja vu Monday night as the Packers fell 24-22 at the hands of Tommy DeVito and the New York Giants. For the Badger-Packer fans, at least.

DeVito’s sudden national prominence aside, it was not the first time he beat a Wisconsin team in a significant spot.

The date was October 1, 2022. Wisconsin was 2-2 and reeling after a 52-21 beatdown at the hands of Ohio State. The Paul Chryst, Graham Mertz-led Badgers were ready to welcome in Bret Beilema and the Illinois Fighting Illini — Beilema’s first time back in Madison since leaving Wisconsin in 2012.

The result: a 34-10 Illinois win. Illinois’ quarterback was the aforementioned DeVito, who completed 18/24 passes for 167 yards that afternoon and added three rushing touchdowns.

The aftermath is well-known in Madison. Chryst was fired, Jim Leonhard was named interim, the season played out, Luke Fickell was surprisingly hired and both Chryst and Leonhard found other jobs. Now here we are, gearing up for Fickell’s all-important second offseason with the program as he looks to improve upon 2023’s 7-5 regular season.

DeVito, meanwhile, somehow has the Giants on the brink of the NFL Playoffs after last night’s win over the Packers. He has a way of beating Wisconsin teams in important spots.

Minnesota’s starting quarterback is entering the transfer portal

Minnesota’s starting quarterback is entering the transfer portal

The week gets rougher for Wisconsin’s border rival Minnesota, as its starting quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis announced recently he would be entering the transfer portal.

Kaliakmanis started for a year and a half in Minneapolis, taking over for an injured Tanner Morgan in 2022. He finished his Minnesota career with a 9-9 record as the starter, a completion percentage of 53.3, 2784 total yards, 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

Given the general mediocrity of the offense and the four-game losing streak to end the 2023 season after a 5-3 start, maybe Gophers fans aren’t crushed to see the news today. After all, losing large quantities of production off of poor units isn’t always the worst thing for the future.

But what it does mean is P.J. Fleck has some big moves to make entering 2024.

Fleck’s mantra and attitude don’t work nearly as well when the team is missing bowl games (but yet still somehow making one because they’re good at academics).

Minnesota has now had one 10-win season under Fleck (11 wins in 2019), and seemed to step backwards in 2023 after consecutive 9-4 seasons in 2021 and 2022. Now with an opening at quarterback, it’s a significant offseason for Fleck and his staff.

 

UPDATE: Minnesota third-string QB Drew Viotto has also entered the portal. That’s two of the program’s top three quarterbacks.

Wisconsin finishes regular season as highest-ranked Big Ten West team in SP+

Wisconsin finishes regular season as highest-ranked Big Ten West team in SP+

Another week, another instance of ESPN’s SP+ metric favoring the Wisconsin Badgers.

The Badgers closed their regular season yesterday with a 28-14 win over rival Minnesota. The win moved the Badgers to 7-5 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten play, two games behind Big Ten West-winning Iowa.

If you’ve watched Iowa play, you’d agree it isn’t the most impressive football team in the world. But it wins games, somehow sitting at 10-2 entering the postseason.

Iowa obviously won the game when the two teams met in mid-October. Regardless, ESPN SP+ still has Wisconsin as the best team in the division.

  1. Wisconsin (No. 27)
  2. Iowa (No. 31)
  3. Nebraska (No. 65)
  4. Minnesota (No. 70)
  5. Northwestern (No. 71)
  6. Illinois (No. 75)
  7. Purdue (No. 90)

It is obviously Iowa that will be playing next weekend for the Big Ten Championship.

A former Wisconsin QB is 6-1 as a starter in the Big Ten this year

A former Wisconsin QB is 6-1 as a starter in the Big Ten this year

One of the stories of Wisconsin’s first offseason under head coach Luke Fickell and Phil Longo was the turnover in the quarterback room. Out went Graham Mertz, Deacon Hill and others. In came Tanner Mordecai, Nick Evers and Braedyn Locke.

It was one of Fickell’s focuses as he started to build his program.

Well, the results have been mixed in year one. Mordecai battled a hand injury and has been fine, while Locke has shown some promise in limited action. The quarterback room has reflected the team as a whole: brilliant at times, yet painfully inconsistent.

Meanwhile, a former Wisconsin quarterback is winning at an impressive clip. That is Iowa Hawkeyes starting quarterback Deacon Hill, who improved to 6-1 as starter after today’s 13-10 win over Nebraska. Hill was a four-star recruit in Wisconsin’s class of 2021 and appeared in one game as a Badger before transferring to Iowa last offseason.

Are his numbers great this year? No. They’re actually quite awful. 49.7% completion, 882 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions in seven starts. And that leading an offense that barely cracks 18 points per game.

But as we’ve learned with this Iowa team, the offense can be atrocious and the defense and special teams can still win games. Today was a fantastic test of that, as Hill threw a back-breaking last-minute interception with the game tied at 10.

What happened next? Well, obviously Nebraska QB Chubba Purdy answered with an interception of his own which set Iowa up for a game-winning field goal to improve to 10-2 on the season.

Iowa, as we all predicted, will face the winner of Michigan vs Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship in a few weeks.

Wisconsin can still win the Big Ten West

Wisconsin can still win the Big Ten West

This is somehow becoming a semi-weekly article. Wisconsin is still alive to win the Big Ten West, along with every other team in the division.

The Badgers finish at home against Nebraska and on the road at Minnesota. The team needs a win to become bowl-eligible, and two if it has any hope of pulling a wild upset in the division.

Here, simply, is what Wisconsin fans should be rooting for:

  • Wisconsin wins out vs Nebraska, at Minnesota
  • Iowa loses vs Illinois, at Nebraska
  • Illinois beats Northwestern to close the season

This would make Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois all 5-4 to close the season. The Badgers would advance because of their division-winning percentage.

The issue is, nothing from the Badgers on the field over the last month gives any indication that a run is imminent. We’re more in the mode of hoping the team can extend the program’s 22-year bowl streak.

Plus, the Badgers can’t lose to Nebraska on Saturday.

Knowing what would be waiting for the team in Indianapolis (an amazing Michigan team), part of me is just rooting for the max-chaos scenario of Northwestern winning the West in its final year.

Wisconsin football cannot lose on Saturday for one simple reason

Wisconsin football cannot lose on Saturday for one simple reason

Wisconsin football is in the midst of a season many would like to forget. At the least, the hope is 2023 is viewed as an anomaly in Luke Fickell’s tenure as head coach. Win in the immediate future, and many will quickly forget the past.

That past still has two games remaining, though. The Badgers are at home against Nebraska on Saturday and at Minnesota the following week.

We’ll deal with the Minnesota contest as the days pass — hopefully having it not decide whether or not Wisconsin’s 22-year bowl streak is extended.

Up now is Nebraska. It is a game Wisconsin cannot lose for one simple reason: the long and storied history of the Freedom Trophy is at stake, and the Cornhuskers have never held it.

 (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)

The trophy was introduced in 2014 as the two schools tried to manufacture a rivalry. Since that point, Wisconsin has defeated Nebraska in every season except 2020. That streak can’t end this year.

The two programs are actually in interestingly-similar positions. Wisconsin just hired Luke Fickell to attempt to compete with the ‘big boys’ in college football, while Nebraska hired Matt Rhule to try to resurrect the program.

Given two opposite sets of expectations entering the year, it’s hard to not say Rhule has had a more successful season.

That aside, Saturday could be a rebirth of a rivalry that has never existed. It’s necessary Fickell does not let that happen, so Wisconsin can be bowl eligible yet again and we can continue to make fun of a meaningless trophy.

Wisconsin has a decade-long winning streak at stake this weekend

Wisconsin has a decade-long winning streak at stake this weekend:

Wisconsin is in the midst of maybe its most forgettable season in 30 years. The 5-5 doesn’t tell the entire story, especially the story of the last month of losses vs Wisconsin, at Indiana and vs Northwestern.

The season went from can’t-miss to can’t-watch. Two games still remain, and Wisconsin needs one more win to become bowl-eligible for the 23rd-straight season.

The first chance at that feat comes Saturday against Nebraska. But Wisconsin has a lot to figure out before that date if it wants to extend its current 9-game winning streak against the Cornhuskers.

This was the first in that streak, a 70-31 win in the 2012 Big Ten Championship: