The University of Wisconsin football team (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) finally has a different challenge to deal with.
For much of Luke Fickell’s tenure, the conversation after a significant game has centered on how the Badgers respond to disappointment. How do they regroup after a lopsided loss? How do they keep one bad Saturday from becoming two?
After Wisconsin rallied from a 17-0 hole and beat No. 13 Penn State 24-20 in Happy Valley, Fickell spent Monday morning talking about the other side of that equation.
How does Wisconsin handle success?
Fickell called Saturday “one of the bigger wins I’ve been a part of,” particularly because of how it happened. But he also made it clear that beating Penn State didn’t suddenly erase the issues Wisconsin put on film along the way.
“We can’t be arrogant, and we can’t be delusional, right?” Fickell said. “I mean, we did some things that ended up being really, really good and that we have to build off of that, but don’t put ourselves in any other position. We know we’re a team that has to grind things out. We’re a team that has to grow. We’re a team that has still continued to climb.”
Now Wisconsin has to prove it can carry that momentum into Saturday’s matchup with Michigan State (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten).
Here are three things that stood out from Fickell’s Monday availability.
Wisconsin has to learn how to handle success
This is relatively unfamiliar territory for Fickell’s program.
Wisconsin has spent plenty of time over the past few seasons talking about responding to adversity. Saturday gave the Badgers something tangible to celebrate. They went on the road, survived three turnovers, trailed by 10 late in the fourth quarter, and still found a way to beat a ranked Big Ten opponent.
Fickell isn’t interested in minimizing what that meant.
“I think there’s a point of this that, look, you’ve got to celebrate it,” Fickell said. “We said it after the game. I’m not going to be the first one to try to stop this, celebrate this thing.”
But there’s a difference between celebrating progress and assuming one result means Wisconsin has arrived.
Fickell acknowledged that the Badgers didn’t play four quarters of particularly good football, especially offensively. Wisconsin scored seven points in the first half and needed its defense to repeatedly keep the game within reach.
That leaves plenty to correct before Michigan State comes to Camp Randall.
“We’ve been preaching it since we started in January,” Fickell said. “We’ve been preaching it all through spring football and fall camp about how do we handle the situations? How do we continue to grow? Do we focus on a thing that is a journey?”
For the first time this season, Wisconsin gets to answer those questions coming off the kind of win that can change how a team sees itself.
As Fickell put it, “the maturity is going to be tested.”
Fickell says fixing Colton Joseph is a collective responsibility
Colton Joseph’s performance at Penn State was difficult to summarize without contradicting yourself.
He threw three interceptions, including a pick-six, and helped put Wisconsin in a 17-0 hole. Then he accounted for three touchdowns and helped lead a fourth-quarter comeback.
Fickell described Joseph’s experience as a potential “roller coaster” immediately after the game. After reviewing the film, his assessment of the mistakes was straightforward.
“We know we’ve got to make better decisions with the football,” Fickell said. “That’s what it comes down to.”
Fickell thought Joseph’s first interception came on the correct read but a poor throw, while calling the other two “not good decisions.”
But he was equally adamant that cleaning those mistakes up cannot fall entirely on Joseph.
“I know it falls on the shoulders of the guy that’s taking the snap to make those decisions, but we look at it as a collective group,” Fickell said. “I think there are some things we can do as coaches better. I know there are some things we can do as wideouts better because I’m not saying that it doesn’t fall on both their guys’ shoulders, but ultimately, like we know, it reflects on the quarterback and the coach.”
That distinction matters after Fickell never seriously considered pulling Joseph at Penn State.
Wisconsin appears willing to live with some of the volatility that comes with Joseph because of what he can create. Through four games, he has accounted for nine touchdowns, seven passing and two rushing, the most by a Badgers QB through four games since Alex Hornibrook in 2017.
That production matters. But so does finding a more consistent version of it. Joseph has thrown five interceptions through four games, and Wisconsin isn’t going to make a habit of overcoming three-turnover afternoons against Big Ten opponents.
“We won’t continue to have the feelings we had the other night if we can’t mitigate and change some of that decision-making,” Fickell said. “That’s for sure.”
Darrion Dupree showed Wisconsin something different
Iowa State transfer Abu Sama III started at running back against Penn State, but when he went down, Darrion Dupree’s role changed considerably.
Dupree responded with 96 yards from scrimmage, rushing eight times for 52 yards and catching four passes for another 44. More important to Fickell was how Dupree handled the expanded responsibility when Wisconsin needed him most.
Fickell initially called it a “grown man performance.”
Later, he upgraded the description.
“I did say it was a grown-ass man’s performance in a way that you don’t know exactly what your role is always going to be,” Fickell said.
Dupree entered the game as part of a rotation. By the fourth quarter, Fickell said Wisconsin wasn’t going to take him off the field.
That required Dupree to handle more than an increased workload.
“He had to handle himself physically, but he also had to handle himself emotionally,” Fickell said.
Dupree’s path at Wisconsin hasn’t always gone quite as expected. He has been part of crowded running back rooms and entered Week 4 without a clearly defined role as the featured option.
Penn State gave him an opportunity to become one.
“I’m not saying he didn’t have it in him. I’m not saying he doesn’t have it in him,” Fickell said. “But I also think that there’s a guy that’s been around here and is continuing to grow in a lot of the things that we’ve been through.”
That might be the larger theme Wisconsin carries out of Happy Valley.
The Penn State win mattered. Fickell wasn’t interested in pretending otherwise. But one comeback doesn’t answer every question surrounding this team.
Now comes another one.
Can Wisconsin take one of the biggest wins of Fickell’s tenure, learn from everything that went wrong along the way, and put a better version of itself on the field against Michigan State?
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