A third of the way into the season, Wisconsin’s record says one thing, but the film has said plenty more. The Badgers are 2-1, and while that matches the basic win-loss expectation, the bigger takeaway is that Luke Fickell’s team has already shown enough good stuff to make the start feel more layered than the standings suggest.
The opening week at Lambeau Field against No. 4 Notre Dame was the toughest test of the bunch, and it also gave Wisconsin its first real glimpse of what this offense could become.
Senior wideout Malachi Coleman was the bright spot in that loss, finishing with four catches for 78 yards and a touchdown, including a sharp stutter step that set up his long score. But Coleman has barely been on the field since then after suffering a head injury in Wisconsin’s 36-9 win over Western Illinois.
Quarterback Colton Joseph has also taken a few games to settle in. In his first taste of power-four football, the redshirt junior threw for 217 yards and one touchdown against Notre Dame. That wasn’t a bad debut considering the opponent, but it was clear he was still adjusting to the level of play.
The next two games came against Western Illinois and Eastern Michigan, and Joseph handled those matchups the way a good quarterback should when the competition changes: he did what the game asked. Against Western Illinois, reports said he was still banged up from the Notre Dame game, and his line reflected that. He completed just over half his passes for 173 yards and a touchdown.
Then came Eastern Michigan, where Joseph finally looked like the version Wisconsin was hoping for. He put together one of the best halves by a Badgers quarterback in program history, throwing for 302 yards and two touchdowns while adding a rushing score in the second half. By the end of the day, he had piled up 408 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns.
After that performance, Fickell pointed to one key change in Joseph’s game.
“I was impressed with how [Colton] ran today,” Head Coach Luke Fickell said. “He ran to score, he ran to make plays. He didn’t just run to get yards.”
That detail matters for Wisconsin as Big Ten play arrives. Joseph’s ability to be a real threat with his legs could swing the difference between a bowl season and a missed opportunity.
The run game has gotten a major lift from senior Abu Sama III as well. He has only played two games, but he looked like a true bell cow against Notre Dame and followed that up with a strong outing against Western Illinois, rushing eight times for 107 yards and a touchdown.
What’s made the ground attack more dangerous is the way Joseph and Sama have changed the shape of the offense. Add in the rotation of junior backs Bryan Jackson II and Darrion Dupree, and Wisconsin has more depth behind its lead runners than it had a year ago.
Another major surprise has come at receiver, where fifth-year man Tyrell Henry has turned into a constant problem for defenses. Through three games, Henry has 22 catches for 293 yards and a touchdown.
That is a huge leap from last season, when an injury-plagued 2025 left him with just 29 yards and a touchdown overall. He spent that year as the team’s kick returner, but this season he has become a starter and a central piece of the passing game.
“We challenged him,” Fickell said. “He’s one of those guys that you’re not gonna keep out of there.”
Henry backed that up against Eastern Michigan, when he set a school record with 14 receptions, a mark that had stood for three decades.
On the other side of the ball, Mike Tressel’s defense has done its part. The first week wasn’t spotless, but sophomore Mason Posa and the front held Notre Dame to 13 points by halftime and kept Wisconsin in the game early.
The last two games have been even better. Wisconsin has posted two sacks, 10 tackles for loss and seven pass break-ups across those contests.
The defense has also produced a few signature moments from its leaders. Fifth-year safety Matt Jung grabbed an interception, while sophomore captains Cooper Catalano and Posa each made a splash play of their own, with Catalano returning a scoop-and-score and Posa picking off a pass.
Fickell said those kinds of plays come back to leadership.
“When younger people see how [Catalano and Posa] do their business… it helps sell all the things we are preaching on a daily basis,” Fickell said. “Consistently good is the mentality that we have, and those guys are the example of that.”
Wisconsin has rolled through two blowout wins and now turns to the part of the schedule that will tell us much more. The Badgers head to Happy Valley on Saturday, September 26, to face No.
13 Penn State. Later on the slate are No.
12 USC and rival No. 17 Iowa.
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Head coach Andrew Riley has noticed the development, and so has the Badgers recruiting staff, which has already landed McIntosh as the earliest Wisconsin commit in the class of 2027. McIntosh also talked about how tight the Wisconsin offensive line group has become among its recruits, a small but meaningful sign of how quickly the connection is forming before he ever gets to campus. [Read more 🡒]