Wisconsin’s 24-7 win over No. 16 USC changed the conversation around Luke Fickell’s team, but it didn’t end it.
After a 17-7 loss to UCLA, the Badgers were hard to pin down. Then came a performance that looked a lot more like a team built to win in Fickell’s image: physical up front, dominant on defense and never in danger of losing control.
That’s why Wisconsin suddenly feels different at 5-2 and 3-1 in the Big Ten. The Badgers have already picked up a win at Penn State and followed it by knocking off a ranked USC team at home. Against the Trojans, Wisconsin held them to minus-17 rushing yards and 241 total yards, intercepted Jayden Maiava twice and sacked him five times.
Still, there’s one matchup left that says a lot more about where this program really stands: Iowa.
Fickell is 0-3 against the Hawkeyes, and those numbers are ugly in every direction. Wisconsin has been outscored 94-16 and out-rushed 734-347 in those three games. Iowa also owns a 7-1 edge in turnovers and hasn’t given the ball away against Wisconsin in either of the last two meetings.
These weren’t coin-flip losses decided by one bounce or one late mistake. Iowa has controlled the series.
The last two games were especially lopsided: a 42-10 Hawkeyes win two years ago, when Iowa ran for 329 yards, and a 37-0 shutout at Camp Randall last season. Wisconsin was so beaten down after the 42-10 loss that the Badgers did 42 pushups after practices as a reminder of the score.
The larger picture hasn’t been much kinder either. Iowa has won four straight in the series, Wisconsin hasn’t taken the Heartland Trophy since 2021 and the Badgers haven’t won at Kinnick Stadium since 2018.
Now comes the 100th meeting between the programs, and it arrives with Wisconsin beginning to look more credible than it did a few weeks ago. The question is whether that new version can finally handle the one opponent that has consistently kept Fickell’s team in check.
It likely won’t be a showcase game. Iowa is allowing 14.3 points and 82.9 rushing yards per game, and Wisconsin just won a game in which it threw only 14 passes. This looks like the kind of matchup where field position, physicality and one or two mistakes will decide everything.
That’s fine. Wisconsin doesn’t need to light up the scoreboard Saturday.
If the defense from the USC game shows up again, that might be enough. And if the Badgers can finally beat Iowa, it would check the one box Fickell still hasn’t been able to fill.
In Other News...
Wisconsin Gets A Huge Opening In Iowa Rivalry But One Problem Remains
Wisconsin heads into this weekends trip to Iowa with a chance to do something it has not done in four tries against its rival. Both teams arrive at 5-2, and the Badgers have built their case on one of the nations best run defenses, the kind of strength that usually travels well in a Big Ten game where possessions are precious and field position matters. Iowa, meanwhile, is coming off a loss and has already taken a hit to its backfield, giving Wisconsin a better opening than it might have expected in a series that has often tilted the Hawkeyes way.
Still, the matchup has the feel of another low-scoring slog, which helps explain why oddsmakers have only nudged Iowa ahead. The Hawkeyes remain built for defensive football, and that makes Wisconsins path clear in theory and frustrating in practice: survive the trenches, avoid mistakes and find a way to finally break the streak. The problem is that against Iowa, almost every possession turns into a test of patience, and the Badgers will have to prove their edge on the road before the rivalry turns in their favor. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsins Quarterback Carousel Keeps Raising An Uncomfortable Question
Since Luke Fickell took over, the quarterback spot at Wisconsin has been anything but stable, and the ripple effects have reached well beyond Madison. A string of departures and injuries has pushed the Badgers into constant turnover at the most important position on the field, while former Wisconsin passers have scattered to new programs in search of better fits and clearer paths to playing time. Braedyn Locke, Cole LaCrue, Mabrey Mettauer and Nick Evers are among the names who moved on, each landing in a different situation with different levels of opportunity.
For Wisconsin, the more uncomfortable part is how familiar this has started to feel. Some of those transfers have found modest success elsewhere, others have seen limited action, and the churn only reinforces how much the Badgers are still trying to sort out the position under Fickell. The current quarterback picture is no easier to project than it was a year ago, and with former options continuing to surface in other places, the question hanging over the program is not just who starts next, but when the revolving door finally slows down. [Read more 🡒]
Kentuckys New-Look Roster Just Got An Encouraging Preseason Sign
The preseason conversation around Wisconsins perimeter game got a little more interesting this week when data analyst Evan Miyakawa released a ranking of college basketball teams with the most elite 3-point shooters on their rosters. In a sport where spacing can change everything, those kinds of lists tend to say as much about a teams ceiling as any early preview, and Wisconsin found itself grouped with some familiar names such as BYU, Kentucky, NC State and West Virginia in the broader top-end discussion.
For the Badgers, it is another reminder that shooting still matters in the Big Ten, especially with the roster landscape shifting before the season. Several of the players highlighted in the ranking, including Milan Momcilovic, Paul McNeil Jr., Finley Bizjack and Eian Elmer, are also being watched as potential 2027 NBA Draft prospects because of their shooting and long-term upside, which only adds to the intrigue around how quickly these teams can stretch the floor when the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]