Mercifully, the season came to an end Saturday for Wisconsin’s football team.
The Badgers, in Luke Fickell’s third season, finished 4-8 and missed qualifying for a bowl game for the second straight year.
Pathetic. Embarrassing. Disgusting.
The program encompasses that and so much more.
The “demise” of Wisconsin football is less a single catastrophic fall than a slow, disorienting drift away from the identity that once made the Badgers one of the most reliably tough, disciplined, and successful programs in the Big Ten. For decades, Wisconsin thrived on a clear formula: power running, dominant offensive lines, complementary quarterback play, and a defensive front that battered opponents into submission. It wasn’t flashy, but it was unmistakably Wisconsin—and it worked. From the Barry Alvarez era through much of the 2010s, the Badgers were a model of consistency, winning division titles, reaching New Year’s Six bowls, and producing a pipeline of NFL-caliber linemen and running backs.
The current sense of decline stems from a disruption of that stability. Coaching turnover, beginning with Paul Chryst’s dismissal and continuing into the transition to Fickell’s modernized vision, fractured the continuity that had been the program’s backbone. The attempt to shift from a smashmouth, pro-style system to an up-tempo, spread-inspired attack introduced growing pains that proved far greater than expected. Instead of reaping the benefits of innovation, Wisconsin found itself caught between identities—no longer the bruising team opponents feared, but not yet the explosive offense it aspired to be.
Recruiting challenges have compounded the issue. As the Big Ten expands and NIL reshapes the competitive landscape, Wisconsin’s traditional developmental approach—turning under-the-radar players into stars—has become harder to sustain. The program’s historical strengths have been squeezed by schools with deeper NIL resources, broader recruiting footprints, and more attractive offensive systems.
Yet calling it a permanent demise may be premature. What Wisconsin faces is a critical inflection point: adapt successfully to modern college football or risk slipping into long-term mediocrity. The Badgers’ future hinges on rediscovering a coherent identity—whether old, new, or somewhere in between—and rebuilding the cultural and schematic stability that once made them great.
Please, please let that happen.