Although the Wisconsin Badgers are well in command versus Western Illinois, it’s become abundantly clear that the tide has once again turned against head coach Luke Fickell – and deservedly so. Although the score may suggest that Wisconsin has held its weight against the inferior opponent, the actual product on the field suggests otherwise.
The Badgers opened the game looking as if this was going to be a good old-fashioned start-to-end stomping – one that Wisconsin fans haven’t really seen in the Fickell era. A 72-yard touchdown on the opening play from running back Abu Sama, followed by a punt block TD and a scoring drive, made it seem as if Wisconsin was gearing up for a stompdown.
However, after those first few drive jitters settled up, the Badgers couldn’t really gain any momentum, something many fans attributed to Fickell’s poor schematics. The run attack that saw Sama log 100 yards on just two carries felt completely stale, as the Iowa State transfer barely even touched the ball for the rest of the half…