Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell addressed the media following the Badgers’ 44-25 loss to Nebraska on Saturday.
The Badgers’ season may have reached its lowest point in the contest. UW allowed the Cornhuskers to pick up nearly 475 yards on offense and score 20 consecutive points spanning the second and third quarters. The team has lost four consecutive conference games to drop to 13th in the Big Ten.
Luke Fickell addressed the loss bluntly after the game.
“This is getting old,” Fickell said. “I don’t have any excuses. We didn’t play well. We didn’t play well in the complementary football that we have to on the road in particular. We played really, really poorly, especially tackling-wise in the second half.”
With a must-win game against Minnesota fast approaching, Wisconsin will need to regroup quickly if it wishes to have any shot of clinching its 23rd straight bowl game.
“We have to challenge ourselves,” Fickell said. “We have to look real deep in a short week and find out who’s with us and who’s willing to lay it all out on the line. … I don’t have a problem having blind faith. When you struggle like that, I’m sure there’s guys that have some doubts in their minds. … You’re going to have to find ways to pick yourself back up and have some faith in the process.”
Luke Fickell: "this is getting old"#Badgers pic.twitter.com/ZyXwyfnyIa
— Andrew Bandstra (@andrewbandstra) November 24, 2024
The challenge for the Badgers, however, seems to be the pressurized situations. As fans have witnessed against Penn State, Oregon, Iowa and Nebraska, events can unravel quickly.
“We can play really, really well, and then we get to a situation where things don’t go well and can’t find a way to regroup or have the poise to make adjustments,” Fickell said. “I don’t have an answer. I can’t put a finger on it other than go back to work and make sure you know who you have with you.”
The one bright spot, though, was quarterback Braedyn Locke. The Texas native threw for 292 yards and three touchdowns in the loss in arguably his best individual performance of the 2024 slate.
“He managed what we asked him to manage, and he took the shots when we needed to take shots, and he made some good decisions,” Fickell said. “Those are the kind of things we need to continue to build upon. But it’s hard to see through right now.”
All focus now turns to Minnesota in what will be Wisconsin’s final game of the regular season. If Wisconsin wins, it secures a bowl bid. If it loses, the season becomes a full-on disaster.
“I don’t know if there’s any more pressure on us than finding a way to get up and go back at it to play a rivalry game that’s as important as anything we do all year,” Fickell said. “Are there other things that lay in the balance? Yeah, there are, but I don’t think those are things that are going to be in the forefront of what we have to do.”
Wisconsin and Minnesota will kick off on Friday at noon ET, 11 a.m. CT at Camp Randall Stadium.