Most Wisconsin fans and national analysts agree that Luke Fickell’s job status is in jeopardy after a blowout home loss to Maryland punctuated the Badgers’ forgettable start to the 2025 season.
A 2-2 record through four weeks included back-to-back losses to Alabama and Maryland by a combined 41 points. Wisconsin is down to No. 55 in ESPN’s football power index with an adjusted win-loss record projection of 4-8. The Badgers are 14-15 in two-plus years with Fickell at the helm, including an 8-11 conference record, a 2-7 mark in their last nine games and seven straight losses to Power Four opponents.
The temperature of Fickell’s seat is one discussion. Another important conversation surrounds how the program reached this point. Specifically, how much can be tied to the coach, and how much to the broader athletic department and its investment or lack thereof?
Few are more qualified to help answer that question than those who know Fickell’s coaching the best: his former players at Ohio State (2002-16) and Cincinnati (2017-22).
NBC sports analyst Joshua Perry fits into that group. Hhe played linebacker under Fickell at Ohio State from 2012-15. Perry gave his thoughts on Wisconsin’s form under Fickell while reacting to the team’s loss to Maryland on NBC’s postgame show on Saturday.
“It’s one of those things that it’s started to get away from them,” Perry began. “You mentioned the offense struggling. They’ve had quarterback injuries at the beginning of every year that he’s been there. I can understand an offense struggling. The defense has been good in the front; they don’t have the horses in the back end. The thing that bothered me the most watching that game was the special teams errors. Luke Fickell was a guy, when he was coaching me at Ohio State, who wouldn’t let any of his linebackers go out there on the field to play linebacker unless they were a great special teams player. He believes in that kind of stuff. To see them have two critical errors early in the game that really put Maryland up to start. That’s where I feel like it’s starting to get away from Wisconsin.”
Those errors specifically included both a blocked field goal and a blocked punt in the first quarter; mistakes that handed Maryland a 14-0 lead and eventually proved significant turning points in the loss. As Perry described, the mistakes were alarming, especially coming from both a program and a coach that typically emphasize execution in that area.
Wisconsin fans may challenge Perry’s big-picture outlook on the team’s offense performance, given Fickell’s failed initiative to shift the program to an air raid. Health at quarterback or not, that side of the football has performed far below expectations since Fickell’s arrival.
But Perry’s central point is an important one: Wisconsin’s on-field form is far from what Fickell emphasized when he took over as the coach and even further from how teams historically performed under his leadership. That is the case both on defense and special teams, facets that greatly aided Wisconsin’s success over the last three decades.
How Fickell turns Wisconsin’s season around is unclear. The team exits its bye week with an important road trip to Michigan, before returning home for big games against Iowa and Ohio State. Repeats of the team’s Week 4 showing will only increase the calls for the program to make a change.
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: One of Luke Fickell’s former players reacts to Wisconsin’s recent struggles
Reporting by Ben Kenney, Badgers Wire / Badgers Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
