Wisconsin finally has a win it can hang its hat on, but Luke Fickell is not letting the moment turn into a victory lap.
After the Badgers knocked off No. 13 Penn State in Happy Valley, Fickell made it clear the result does not change the way he wants his team to think or work. His message was plain: “can't be arrogant and we can't be delusional.”
That’s the edge he’s trying to keep after Wisconsin’s biggest win under him. The Badgers earned it, but they also had to survive plenty of self-inflicted trouble along the way. Fickell said that’s exactly why the performance has to be viewed as a step, not a finish line.
“But don’t put ourselves in any other position than we know we’re a team that has to grind things out.” Luke Fickell said, “We’re a team that has to grow.
We’re a team that is still continuing to climb. And nothing has changed in the way we go about our business.”
That mindset matters now because Michigan State is next, and Fickell does not know yet how his group will handle the shift from celebration to preparation. He welcomed the chance to enjoy the win, but he’s even more focused on what comes after it.
“I mean, we did some things that ended up being really, really good, and we have to build off of that. So that’s where, you know, that part of this thing for the first time, we’ve got to be able to handle some success and some positives and keep us going in the right direction.”
We said it after the game, like I’m not going to be the first one to try to stop this - celebrate this thing. But just make sure that, you know, whether it was after Week 2 when we said, ‘Hey, we can’t be arrogant or delusional based on the things we’ve got to be able to do,’ and that’s through positives, that’s through negatives...how do we handle the situations, how do we continue to grow?
Do we focus on a thing that is a journey?”
That journey, in Fickell’s view, is the real test this week. Wisconsin has to avoid the kind of emotional dip that can follow a marquee win, especially with a Michigan State team that has already shown some toughness of its own. Fickell pointed out that the Spartans played Notre Dame tougher than Wisconsin did, and while Wisconsin beat Eastern Michigan by more than Michigan State did, none of that matters now.
It’s a new game, and he wants his team treating it that way.
“And this is just another opportunity for us to kind of reiterate some of what this journey looks like." Fickell said, "How you’ve got to be able to continue to do the things you do and believe in the things you believe in and be who you want to be."
For Fickell, the word he keeps coming back to is maturity. He believes that part of Wisconsin’s growth will show up in how it responds after a breakthrough win. The question now is whether the Badgers can turn that momentum into something lasting when Michigan State comes to Camp Randall.
From the outside, the Penn State result also raises another possibility: maybe the win says as much about the opponent as it does about Wisconsin. Maybe Penn State, sitting at No. 13, isn’t quite the team many believed it was. That makes this week even more important for the Badgers, because one upset does not build a season by itself.
That’s the message Fickell is driving home: enjoy it, learn from it, and move on.
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Michigan State comes to Madison next, and Wisconsin is favored to handle the Spartans at home. A victory would give the Badgers another chance to strengthen their case and possibly crack the Top 25, turning last weeks breakthrough into something even bigger as the season starts to take shape. [Read more 🡒]