2026 Wisconsin Season Thread

[bayareabadger]

Yeah, I remember everything said about Chryst at the time, but I expected the team to improve following his firing. It did not. Under Leonhard, maybe, but honestly, maybe not. It's not as though it was a complete turnaround. They won games they would have been expected to win, and lost games they would have been expected to lose--except for the Michigan State game, which they lost. I wonder--which is purely hypothetical, of course--if Chryst would have been capable of righting the ship, because when he was on, he was really on. Those first five years were amazing.

And 2012...interesting. Was Brett's foot already out the door? I recall whispers about drinking too much and carousing with the coeds, which might well have been related to Mrs. Bielema not loving Madison. Backfield with Ball, White, and Gordon. Stave under center. Inexcusable loss to Oregon State at home, then lost to Nebraska, to start 3-2, but with the three wins over garbage teams. The loss to Michigan State at home, mid-season, was also an ugly one, even if in OT. The OT losses to Ohio State at home was excusable; and the OT loss on the road to Penn State wasn't terrible (it wasn't excusable, either; PSU wasn't that good that season). The domination of Nebraska in the Big Ten Championship game was fun, and they put up a pretty good fight in a Rose Bowl they had no business being in. Kind of a strange season, capped with the head coach leaving for Arkansas.

In 2012, it was about the QB and seemingly some hangover from the year prior. Ball had gotten jumped while drunk in the offseason and later said he was a high functioning alcoholic. No QB was good. Line had that messy situation. The OC came in trying to fuse systems and was a tough coworker.

Just a blending of a bunch of issues. But mostly, bad QB, inconsistent line, messy workhorse RB, gonna be a tough road. (Six games under 5 yards per play, three in September, three with the third string QB, one the godawful MSU game)

Also, Stave, then a former walk-on RS freshman, was only seriously playing from the UTEP game through half the MSU game. So mostly handling the garbage. 

[847badgerfan]

Saw this coming. The new AD is not gonna like this.

Wisconsin attendance in football home opener lowest since 1990s

[SFBadger96]

It's gonna be worse next year if they keep Fickell. Honestly, I think a bowl game this year is a toss-up.

E. Michigan: should be a win (2-1).
@ Penn State: L (2-2) (0-1)
MSU: toss up, but call it a win (3-2) (1-1)
@ UCLA: L (3-3) (1-2)
USC: L (3-4) (1-3)
@ Iowa: L (3-5) (1-4)
Rutgers: W (4-5) (2-4)
@ Maryland: toss-up
@ Purdue: W (5-5) (3-4)
Minnesota: toss-up

Those two games could very easily go against the Badgers--so could the MSU game. Right now Maryland looks decent, but it's September, so who knows. Also, How will this team react to being 3-5 with a three-game losing streak? If it's 2-6 because of a loss to MSU, they are cooked.

The good news is a 5-win season should guarantee a coaching change. Six and a bowl game? Should still get him canned. Seven and a bowl game, but uncompetitive against Penn State, USC, and Iowa? Should still get him canned, but probably will not. I'll be surprised if they win more than 7.

Oh, and the opener against Southern Illinois isn't exactly going to pack them in.

[FearlessF]

E. Michigan going to pack them in?

MSU after a loss to PSU?
USC after a loss to UCLA?
Rutgers after a loss to Iowa?

[SFBadger96]

It doesn't look good. 

If that means a change in the head coach, I think that's for the better.

[847badgerfan]

Give me a shortlist.

1. One of my leaders is actually on the staff right now. Would likely be the interim after Fickell gets fired for losing to Eastern Michigan.

He's probably the best recruiter, gets a lot out of his position, and he has head coaching experience.

117-31 record at Grand Valley State.

No prior loyalties to Fickell, which is good. He does have ties to the current DC from playing together in college. I don't think those are super-deep ties.

Need to get rid of all the former OSU guys/plants on the staff, except for Tuf Borland. Yeah, he played at OSU, but his dad was a Badger under Dave McClain. He is also a really good young coach and recruiter.

2. Mike Shanahan, IU OC - Young. Has worked under Cignetti since 2019. That's enough for me.

3. Jason Eck, former Badger OL player and GA under Alvarez, and is now a head coach. Will be interesting to watch the Lobos play at Oklahoma this weekend.



I'm out on Sean Lewis. Thanks, but no thanks.

[bayareabadger]

It's gonna be worse next year if they keep Fickell. Honestly, I think a bowl game this year is a toss-up.

E. Michigan: should be a win (2-1).
@ Penn State: L (2-2) (0-1)
MSU: toss up, but call it a win (3-2) (1-1)
@ UCLA: L (3-3) (1-2)
USC: L (3-4) (1-3)
@ Iowa: L (3-5) (1-4)
Rutgers: W (4-5) (2-4)
@ Maryland: toss-up
@ Purdue: W (5-5) (3-4)
Minnesota: toss-up

Those two games could very easily go against the Badgers--so could the MSU game. Right now Maryland looks decent, but it's September, so who knows. Also, How will this team react to being 3-5 with a three-game losing streak? If it's 2-6 because of a loss to MSU, they are cooked.

The good news is a 5-win season should guarantee a coaching change. Six and a bowl game? Should still get him canned. Seven and a bowl game, but uncompetitive against Penn State, USC, and Iowa? Should still get him canned, but probably will not. I'll be surprised if they win more than 7.

Oh, and the opener against Southern Illinois isn't exactly going to pack them in.

MSU and UCLA are so key (and PSU if they could somehow win).

If they lose all three, it feels like just a matter of time before they sent him packing. If he can win two of them, he’s in a good spot. If he just wins one, then he has to negotiate the soft backstretch.

The goal for us all is no 7-5. Better than that can build at least some goodwill, worse and he is obviously fired.

[bayareabadger]

Give me a shortlist.

1. One of my leaders is actually on the staff right now. Would likely be the interim after Fickell gets fired for losing to Eastern Michigan.

He's probably the best recruiter, gets a lot out of his position, and he has head coaching experience.

117-31 record at Grand Valley State.

No prior loyalties to Fickell, which is good. He does have ties to the current DC from playing together in college. I don't think those are super-deep ties.

Need to get rid of all the former OSU guys/plants on the staff, except for Tuf Borland. Yeah, he played at OSU, but his dad was a Badger under Dave McClain. He is also a really good young coach and recruiter.

2. Mike Shanahan, IU OC - Young. Has worked under Cignetti since 2019. That's enough for me.

3. Jason Eck, former Badger OL player and GA under Alvarez, and is now a head coach. Will be interesting to watch the Lobos play at Oklahoma this weekend.



I'm out on Sean Lewis. Thanks, but no thanks.

Would be fine with all those. I think I’m a little more gun shy on Shanahan, just because I have no idea what you can take from that alchemy (I mean, I think he’s a good coach)

I like Lewis as an idea and appreciate that he’s been somewhat flexible, but his offense hasn’t been firing and is spiritually not in line with UW.

[SFBadger96]

I see Badger ties as a plus, but not required, and not in and of themselves sufficient. I'm also fine with a promotion for a coordinator who has shown success--as long as that coordinator believes in hard-nosed, trench-focused teams. Obviously Barry is the gold standard, but I bet when Richter interviewed him, he knew right away that Barry was a leader of men and could get the most out of them. Barry was only the DC for two seasons at ND when Richter hired him, and I think we're probably at a place now that we should look for a little more of a resume than that, but...

this is all purely speculative until Fickell is out.

BAB, I appreciate your optimism, but I'll be shocked if we can win in Happy Valley or Los Angeles.