As Wisconsin gets ready for the 2026 college football season, there’s plenty in Madison that can fuel optimism.
The quarterback room has a fresh look. The school has put more money into bringing talent in.
The roster is deeper. After the mess of 2025, the Badgers have at least given Luke Fickell some real selling points heading into his fourth season.
Still, there are real issues lurking as Notre Dame approaches, and some of them are easy to spot. The offense remains a work in progress, it still doesn’t have a clear go-to receiver, and there are multiple important injuries on the offensive line. On defense, the group feels more reliable, but the pass rush is one area that still invites questions.
One area that hasn’t gotten nearly enough attention, though, is the kicking game.
Maybe Wisconsin would prefer it that way. Based on what was seen during the portions of fall camp open to reporters, there’s not much reason to feel settled there.
Gavin Lahm, the presumed starter at kicker, has been up and down. On the new Kellner Family Athletic Center practice field, he looked shaky.
At Camp Randall, he was more accurate. The pattern through camp has been simple: some good days, some bad ones, and not nearly enough consistency.
“It’s one of those things, you never know. I feel like we’re in a different place because we have more options," Fickell said regarding his special teams unit. "We gotta be a little more consistent on our kicks, but there’s some options there that give us a chance to flip some fields and do some things.”
When Fickell was pressed on special teams overall, he leaned into the punt game in his answer. That said plenty on its own, and it still doesn’t clear up the uncertainty at placekicker.
Lahm is the name penciled in there, and Wisconsin didn’t add any offseason competition for him. During the fall camp practices observed, Lahm and punter Sean West both took reps at kicker.
The bigger problem is the résumé, or lack of one. Lahm has never kicked a collegiate field goal or extra point. He also didn’t play in 2025, when Nathanial Vakos handled all of the kicking work for the Badgers.
That leaves Wisconsin with one of its biggest unknowns in a spot where uncertainty can be expensive.
This isn’t shaping up to be a team that wins by blowing people off the field. Even if Wisconsin takes a step forward and handles some Big Ten opponents comfortably, the path there looks more like trench warfare than a scoring barrage.
The offense should be better than last season’s 133rd-ranked unit that averaged 12.8 points per game, but it still doesn’t look like a group built to pile up points whenever it wants.
That’s why the kicking game matters so much. If a lot of Wisconsin’s games end up where they appear headed - close, physical, defensive fights - every missed field goal could loom large. Against another Big Ten team happy to grind things out, a few lost points could be the difference between holding on and watching a game slip away.
Lahm remains an open question. Wisconsin just can’t afford for that question to linger too long.
In Other News...
Luke Fickell Has Wisconsin Looking Like Wisconsin Again
The Badgers have spent enough recent seasons trying to modernize in different ways, but Luke Fickells latest roster build is starting to look a lot more familiar in Madison. Wisconsin now checks in with the heaviest roster in college football by average weight, a sign that the emphasis has shifted back toward the kind of size and physicality that long defined the program.
A big part of that change has come in the trenches, where Fickell has pushed to add bulk to both the interior defensive line and the offensive line, with most of those players now over 300 pounds. For a fan base that has long associated Wisconsin football with winning up front, the composition of this team feels like more than just a roster note. It is a clear nod to the programs old identity, and a reminder of the style the Badgers may be trying to reclaim. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin Suddenly Has A Week 1 Receiver Concern Fans Cant Ignore
Jaylon Domingeaux had already been part of the early conversation at receiver for Wisconsin, but a recent team photo added an unexpected layer to his status heading toward the 2026 season. The transfer wideout was seen wearing a cast on his hand, a detail that immediately shifted attention to his availability and whether the Badgers may have to open the year without one of their more intriguing additions.
The program has not offered any public explanation for the injury, so the scope remains unclear for now, and the practice picture suggests others have been picking up more reps while Domingeaux is sidelined. For a Wisconsin offense still sorting out its pass-catching depth, any issue with a player expected to be in that mix is worth watching closely as Week 1 approaches. [Read more 🡒]
Lance Mason Just Got Caught In A Brutal Big Ten Fight
The Big Tens latest eligibility ruling landed hard for players trying to navigate the fuzzy line between college football and the pros, and Wisconsins Lance Mason is one of the names now caught in the middle. The conference voted to bar players who have already gone professional from returning to play at Big Ten schools, closing off a possible path for veterans who might have hoped for one more shot back in college.
For Mason, the timing makes the issue even more notable. He had no remaining eligibility when he left for the NFL, and after being cut by the Seahawks, he was recently claimed by the Pittsburgh Steelers, underscoring how quickly a pro career can shift. The new Big Ten stance leaves players like Mason with fewer fallback options if the professional route keeps changing on them. [Read more 🡒]