Luke Fickell Has Blunt Outlook On Wisconsin Playing Alabama
You need to compete against and beat the best if you want to be a serious college football program.
That's the mindset Luke Fickell has going into what will be a monster September game for Wisconsin against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The Tide and Badgers will meet September 14th at Camp Randall, and it's one of the biggest games of the first few weeks of the season.
It's Fox's noon spot for Big Noon Kickoff and will almost certainly also host College GameDay. What does one of the most important home games in Wisconsin history mean for Fickell and the Badgers?
He's excited about playing the historic powerhouse in order to get an idea of what kind of team he has.
Luke Fickell breaks down Wisconsin playing Alabama.
Fickell told Jim Rome the following, in part, when breaking down what the early season matchup means:
"Ultimately, it gives you an opportunity to figure out and measure where you are. I don’t know that we can put it in a better spot to be honest with you. In game three, at home. Obviously, an early 11:00 a.m. central time. It’s going to be one of those opportunities where we’ll find out where we are. And you need that. I think as we go into the new era of the playoff system where you have 12 teams. It’s a better outlook looking at it forward and understanding that you need to be challenged early in the year, especially, I say, when you’re young or even young and developing a program. You have some young quarterbacks. You don't know what you've got until you're put in those situations."
You can watch his full comments in the video below, and hit me with your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.
As a Wisconsin man, I love this outlook from Fickell. It's 100% the correct one. Wisconsin has had a very rough run over the past few seasons.
Long gone are the 10+ win seasons that you knew were going to happen before a single snap of the year was played.
Wisconsin's past few seasons are as follows:
- 2023: 7-6
- 2022: 7-6
- 2021: 9-4
- 2020: 4-3
That's, frankly, completely unacceptable and 2020-early 2022 seasons are why Paul Chryst was fired. Luke Fickell was hired to inject new energy into a program that had slid into mediocrity. He had a disappointing first year as he had to undertake a massive culture rebuild.
Now, Wisconsin has games against Alabama, USC, Penn State, Iowa, Oregon, Nebraska and Minnesota. None are bigger than the one against the one against the SEC powerhouse.
A win on September 14th would signal to fans a new era is officially underway and working. You simply can't run and hide from big games if you want to be a contender. Fickell knows it, and so do the fans. If you want to be viewed as a power program, then you have to take a shot at the throne and win. Just competing isn't enough.
Luke Fickell previews Wisconsin/Alabama game. The Badgers and Crimson Tide meet September 14th in Madison. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
The buzz surrounding the game is also incredible. I'm spending nearly $5,000 to get there. You'll need the military to stop me from entering that stadium. I can't wait, and the fact Fickell is already hyping it up in June is a shot of adrenaline to the soul. What do you think will happen when the Badgers and Tide meet? Let me know at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.