Luke Fickell knows all about Wisconsin’s Week 9 opponent, the Ohio State Buckeyes. However, Fickell is trying to keep the focus on his team as much as possible.

Fickell attended Ohio State and played for the Buckeyes from 1993-96. He would spend a brief stint in the NFL before returning to Ohio State as a graduate assistant in 1999.

Speaking at his Monday press conference, Fickell said this matchup is “not about me.” He went on to say he is conscious about putting the spotlight back on his players.

“For, me, the most important thing to start off with is it’s not about me. I know we have some guys on our staff, myself included, that have some obvious history there whether they went there or played there. But that’s not what it’s about,” said Fickell. “For me, I don’t want to get too much into it but that’s something that will always be stuck in the back of my head. We’re asked ‘Hey can you do a report with a guy you knew in Columbus or the Big Ten Network.’ No, let’s put a player on. Have him do a player.”

Fickell explained any of his experience at Ohio State will not benefit Wisconsin once the game kicks off, so it’s important for the Badgers to focus on the aspects that will have an impact for the game.

“It’s about the players, it’s about our team, it’s about our program. It’s about the journey we’re on it’s about the process we’re in not the specifics of ‘Hey you went to school there, hey you played there, hey you have guys on your staff from there.’ When the ball is kicked off that will have absolutely no effect on anything that happens on that field,” Fickell said. “So we try to just focus on the things that will have the greatest impact on Saturday night.”

While Fickell is downplaying the impact, it’s hard to overlook his time in Columbus. He eventually returned to the Buckeyes on Jim Tressel’s staff in 2002 and spent over a decade in the program. That includes serving as interim head coach in the 2011 season and as a piece of national title-winning teams under Tressel and Urban Meyer.

Now, Fickell will try and lead his new team to a massive upset of his alma mater. We’ll soon find out if the Badgers are up to the task.