Wisconsin football spent the last week hearing about how it would respond to finally getting the kind of win this program has been chasing.
The answer came pretty quickly Saturday.
One week after rallying to beat No. 13 Penn State on the road, Wisconsin returned to Camp Randall Stadium and handled Michigan State 31-3 to improve to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in Big Ten play.
There wasn’t much drama to it, either.
Wisconsin scored touchdowns on each of its first two possessions, led 17-3 at halftime and never allowed Michigan State to threaten in the second half. The Badgers finished with 373 yards of offense, rushed for 228, didn’t turn the ball over, and held the Spartans to 235 total yards and three points.
The 28-point margin was Wisconsin’s largest in a Big Ten win since beating Rutgers 42-7 in 2024. The Badgers have now won four straight games for the first time since 2021 and opened Big Ten play 2-0 for the first time since 2023.
For Luke Fickell, that mattered as much as the final score.
“We never addressed it,” Fickell said of the possibility of a letdown after Penn State. “All we talked about was, hey, don’t be delusional, don’t be arrogant. We understand who we are and what we’ve got to be able to do, and I think they showed me that today. They showed me that there’s a maturity level that we keep talking about that’s growing, but there’s a recognition of saying who we are and then being who we are.”
Wisconsin heads into its bye week with legitimate momentum and, increasingly, some statistical evidence that this four-game winning streak represents more than simply stacking wins against inferior opponents.
During the streak, Wisconsin is averaging 36.3 points and 403.3 yards of offense while allowing just 10.5 points and 246.5 yards per game.
Here are three things that stood out from Fickell’s postgame press conference.
Fickell finally saw the complete performance Wisconsin has been chasing
Wisconsin has had encouraging stretches through the first month of the season.
Saturday was different because there weren’t many stretches where the Badgers looked like a different football team.
Wisconsin opened the game with a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that took 6:44 off the clock. The defense answered by getting Michigan State off the field on fourth down. Wisconsin scored another touchdown.
That rhythm continued throughout the afternoon.
Michigan State finished 1-for-6 on fourth down, with Wisconsin’s five fourth-down stops its most in a game since at least 2020. The Spartans were also just 5-for-18 on third down. Wisconsin went 8-for-16 on third down, converted both of its fourth-down attempts, went 3-for-3 in the red zone, and averaged 6.0 yards per play. The Badgers also committed zero turnovers after giving the ball away three times at Penn State.
For a coach who has spent four years talking about “complementary football,” this was about as close as Wisconsin has come to actually putting it on film for four quarters.
“I think it was a really, for us, one of our first kind of real complementary wholesome full football games that we played in a long time,” Fickell said.
That’s the standard Fickell has been trying to establish.
“I’d be lying,” Fickell said when asked whether he envisioned this level of consistent play entering the season. “We preach about consistently good. You can write it all day you want, like consistently good, consistently good, not occasionally great. And we haven’t had that, and we haven’t been that over the past few years for whatever reason, injuries and different things. But this is what we hope to be able to continue to see.”
There is some substance behind that progress.
Wisconsin has gained at least 350 yards in four consecutive games for the first time since 2023. The Badgers have also recorded at least 15 first downs in all five games this season after reaching that mark only three times all of last year.
The defense is developing its own streak. Wisconsin has not allowed a touchdown over its last 20 opponent possessions, dating back to the first half of the Penn State game. Opponents have managed only two field goals during that span.
Wisconsin still wasn’t perfect. Six penalties cost the Badgers 67 yards, and Fickell pointed to creating turnovers as one area where the defense needs to improve.
But this looked considerably more like the version of complementary football Wisconsin has spent years talking about.
“This is what I’ve wanted, and we’ve wanted to see,” Fickell said. “Don’t get me wrong, there are things we have to do a hell of a lot better.”
Colton Joseph showed another dimension of Wisconsin’s offense
Joseph didn’t need to throw for 300 yards Saturday.
He did considerably more damage with his legs.
The Old Dominion transfer finished 9-of-20 passing for 145 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. He added a career-high 141 rushing yards and another touchdown on 13 carries.
Those 141 yards were the second-most by a quarterback in Wisconsin history, trailing only Tanner McEvoy’s 158 against Bowling Green in 2014. Joseph’s 47-yard touchdown was also his longest run of the season.
Fickell thought Joseph used his legs differently.
“I think we saw, at least I saw him today, run to win,” Fickell said. “You know, I think two weeks ago we saw a little bit of that where I challenged him, like, look, if you’re going to run, run to win, run to score. And I just think he saw, we saw a little bit more of that today.”
That threat also opened up other parts of Wisconsin’s offense.
Joseph’s second touchdown pass to tight end Jacob Harris came after the Badgers had repeatedly hurt Michigan State with quarterback runs. Wisconsin showed the run again, drew the defense toward Joseph and slipped Harris behind it for an easy 15-yard touchdown.
Harris finished with two catches for 35 yards and two scores, becoming the first Wisconsin tight end with multiple touchdown catches in a game since Clay Cundiff against Washington State in 2022. He’s also the first Badgers tight end to catch a touchdown in consecutive games since Jake Ferguson in 2018.
Malachi Coleman later added a 46-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter.
Taken together, Joseph became just the third Big Ten quarterback since 2020 to throw three touchdown passes and rush for at least 100 yards in the same game.
After the volatility Wisconsin lived with from Joseph at Penn State, Saturday’s performance showed the other side of the equation. He accounted for 286 yards of offense and four touchdowns without turning the ball over.
Fickell sees Joseph’s development as representative of something bigger happening with this team.
“I think he’s a microcosm of our team,” Fickell said. “Each and every week you’re seeing something a little bit different and a little bit better and a little bit more mature. He’s a prime example of who I think we are.”
Wisconsin’s offensive line changes paid off immediately
Wisconsin didn’t wait until the bye week to shake up its offensive line.
The Badgers moved Kevin Heywood from right tackle to left tackle, shifted Colin Cubberly from right guard to left guard, kept Austin Kawecki at center, inserted Styles Blackmon at right guard, and moved Emerson Mandell back to right tackle, where he played most of last season.
The reasoning was straightforward.
“I think we just want to continue to find a way to get our best guys on the field,” Fickell said.
Wisconsin then ran for 228 yards and 5.4 yards per carry.
The reshuffling was tested further when Kawecki left the game with an upper-body injury and was eventually ruled out. Ryan Cory stepped in at center, and Wisconsin continued moving the football.
Fickell wasn’t ready to make sweeping evaluations before watching the film, but he noticed what didn’t happen when Cory entered the game.
“I don’t know exactly how it looked, but I know in nature, I think those guys played pretty well,” Fickell said. “And the combination, I don’t know if you guys noticed, but Ryan Cory went in there and played really well.”
Fickell later compared Cory’s response to Darrion Dupree stepping up at Penn State.
“Last week I kind of said DD stepped up and was a grown man for us,” Fickell said. “I would say the same thing. I haven’t watched the film. I don’t know exactly, but Ryan stepped up and was a grown man for us today.”
He also used Cory as an example of why retaining and developing players still matters in an era increasingly dominated by the transfer portal.
“It just reminds you that what a guy a third year in your program really is and can be and how valuable they are when sometimes we forget about high-profile transfers and new guys that are coming in, and then you really look at the roots of your program and why you feel like you’re growing and in a much better place because of guys like Ryan Cory, because of guys like Colin Cubberly,” Fickell said.
That’s another piece of what Wisconsin has been searching for.
The Penn State win showed the Badgers could survive adversity. Michigan State gave them an opportunity to show they could handle success. They did both.
Now Wisconsin heads into its bye week at 4-1, 2-0 in the Big Ten and riding its first four-game winning streak in five years.
Fickell still wants plenty of things cleaned up. But after four straight wins, there is finally something more substantial than optimism behind the idea that Wisconsin is moving forward.
“It does feel good,” Fickell said of the win. “And the truth of the matter is last week felt really good. And last week’s practice felt different. … There’s a positive energy that has built and is continuing to build.”
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