Luke Fickell was once one of the rising figures in the world of college football coaches. After guiding Cincinnati to some elite double-digit win seasons and a College Football Playoff appearance, Fickell finally took a marquee job via the vacancy at Wisconsin.

While Fickell was always viewed as an elite hire, his arrival in Madison was not without some murmurings. Jim Leonhard, the longtime defensive coordinator and former Badger star, served well as an interim head coach but was bypassed in favor of Fickell. (And Leonhard would opt not to return as a part of Fickell’s staff.)

Fickell further compounded the murmurings of his hiring by announcing a major schematic change to the Wisconsin offense. He revealed he was hiring Phil Longo as offensive coordinator in order to implement the Air Raid offense with the Badgers.

To call that move surprising would be an understatement. Bringing the Air Raid to Wisconsin was viewed by some as wearing a parka in Miami.

That’s not to say the move couldn’t work, but it’s fair to say that move alone added additional pressure to Fickell’s early tenure. And after getting boat raced by Alabama inside Camp Randall Stadium, it’s fair to say this about his version of the Badgers.

Fickell needs to find a major facelift for his program moving forward.

Defenders of Fickell will point to the quarterback position as part of the explanation for the offensive woes of the Badgers. That plays a role, but injuries to 2023 starter Tanner Mordecai (and the Saturday injury to this year’s starter Tyler Van Dyke) can only account for a small portion of the struggles.

Consider that in 16 games since the start of the 2023 season, the Badgers have reached 30+ points just 4 times. They have reached 38 points only twice, and those outputs came against Buffalo and Purdue.

Overall, Wisconsin is averaging just 23.13 points per game to open Fickell’s tenure. And considering the first 2 games of this season came against Western Michigan and South Dakota, it’s not like the struggles against Alabama are some sort of outlier in the process.

And to anyone who wants to include the Alabama game as an outlier, they are free to do so. But you must also account for losses to the likes of Indiana and Northwestern (at home) while also losing to Iowa at home in particularly horrific fashion last season.

What’s even more worrisome is the only other aspect defenders of Fickell could point to at this point in his Wisconsin tenure is the performance of the Badger defense. And sure, the raw numbers from 2023 look… okay, until you dig deeper.

It must be said that Wisconsin’s 2023 defensive numbers were greatly aided by a B1G West that produced a historically awful performance offensively. Iowa, Nebraska, Northwestern and Minnesota were all dreadful offensively, and holding those opponents under 25 points is not noteworthy.

Wisconsin’s best defensive performance of the year was honestly limiting Ohio State to 24 points in mid-November. Even that performance deserves the clarification that the Buckeyes produced their worst offensive season of the Ryan Day era with Kyle McCord struggling.

Overall, Wisconsin has given up 31+ points in every nonconference matchup with a Power 4/5 opponent under Fickell. That includes matchups against Washington State and LSU in 2023 to go with Alabama’s 42 points Saturday afternoon.

So, where does that leave us with the Badgers after getting eviscerated by Alabama? Fickell isn’t going anywhere this early into his tenure, and fans are left with one of two options.

You can either make excuses for a loss to a very good (but likely not great) Alabama team. Or, you can face up to the fact that Fickell’s attempts to rebuild the Badgers into a program of prominence has been mediocre at best across his first year and change.

And once you face up to the fact Fickell has been mediocre, it will be easier to see the writing on the wall in Madison. Fickell needs a major facelift — as in, something to establish a true program identity — over the final 9 games of 2024.

Failure to find that identity — with or without Van Dyke in the lineup — could lead to increased anxiety and feelings of uneasiness heading into 2025.