After the Wisconsin football team suffered a 38-14 blowout loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide, there is no doubt a feeling of major disappointment from the program, despite being unranked, going against the 19th-ranked school in the country. While Alabama went on to demolish the Wisconsin football team, head coach Luke Fickell would be blunt about the performance after the game.
Speaking to the media in his post-game press conference, he would have an opening statement that he started off by admitting that the loss was “not easy to swallow,” according to SB Nation's Bucky's 5th Quarter. One of the main goals for Fickell's Badgers was to come back strong in the second half after trailing 21-0, but it was “exactly opposite” of what he wanted.
“Well, that’s obviously not, not easy to swallow,” Fickell said. “And the truth of the matter is, I told those guys: that was a much better team than we are right now, and they showed it, and they did everything that they needed to do. They played complementary football, and we did not.”
“We knew we had to come out here in the first half in particular and play solid, play poised, play confident, find a way to make some plays on both sides of the ball,” Fickell continued. “But really, make sure that what we could do was make some adjustments at halftime and come out the second half and make sure that we could put the pressure on them. And it’s exactly opposite of what we did, so it’s tough to swallow.”
Wisconsin football's Luke Fickell on the loss being a “measuring stick”
As Fickell received a contract extension from the Wisconsin football team earlier, even after a sub .500 record in the season prior, the Badgers did start the year hot with a two-game winning streak. The goal is not to let a loss like Saturday impact them, with Fickell emphasizing how he wants to be “committed to being positive.”
“But I promise those guys from the get-go that when we started this thing, I said it was one thing that I’m going to be committed to, it’s going to be committed to being positive,” Fickell said. “And it’s very easy to stand up here and rant and rave and point a finger at a lot of things.”
“We all know that we have to get better. We have to get better as coaches, we have to get better as players,” Fickell continued. “Offensively, defensively, there’s not a whole lot of bright spots. I know somebody can ask about the kick return, but the truth of the matter is, even that right there gets overshadowed by just the way that we executed.”
Fickell would also say that the game will serve as a “measuring stick,” though making sure to say that there is “a long way to go.” The Wisconsin football team is 2-1 with its next game next Saturday against Maryland.
