Luke Fickell talks Jack Del Rio, reflections on the bye week and more

MADISON – Head coach Luke Fickell met with the media on Monday for his weekly press conference, where he offered some final thoughts on the 42-10 loss to Iowa, what he learned during the bye week and the situation Jack Del Rio and more.

BadgerBlitz.com has compiled the most important findings.

News broke Monday morning that Del Rio was arrested early Friday and charged with driving a vehicle while intoxicated following an accident in Madison. Del Rio, who coached in the NFL for 26 seasons, joined the program last offseason as a special advisor to the head coach.

Fickell wasted no time in addressing the elephant in the room, bringing it up almost immediately after the press conference began.

“[Del Rio]“He’s going to move on, and he’s going to step back and move on,” Fickell said.

Obviously not many details were given, but Fickell’s main message was not to let the situation become a distraction for him or the team.

“We still have a few weeks left in the season, there are a lot of things we have to keep fighting for and nobody wants to take that away from us. Whether it’s me or Jack or anyone in our football program. So we will move on and now concentrate on the things that really need to be done here when the best team in the country takes their turn.”

Of the many flaws we saw during the recent loss to Iowa, the first to be addressed was their performance on first down.

“Everyone talks about the money down and the third down. Honestly, when you look back, the first down is the most important thing, getting things going.”

On first down against Iowa, quarterback Braedyn Locke completed eight of 12 pass attempts for just 49 yards and one interception.

They didn’t have much better luck on site. Her nine attempts resulted in 15 yards, some of which were missed Darrion Dupree rushes in garbage time.

“So there are some things we need to do. We need to have a better balance. We need to find ways to make sure we can loosen up some people. And sometimes that means giving these things a few tries and feeling confident even when you’re in that two-and-ten situation.”

In case anyone needs to jog their memory, Wisconsin’s final bye week followed a miserable 42-10 loss to Iowa. Fickell was asked if he was thinking about any major changes during the bye week.

“Oh yes, lots of them. Are we tough enough? Are we physical enough?

“We’re going to put this thing behind us and move on. But there is also personal responsibility. So if you don’t take responsibility for all the things that happen, you can’t make anything better out of it.”

Fickell highlighted the team’s inability to fight adversity and bounce back in the second half.

“We have to stop the run better. We need to be better on first downs, as we discussed. There are things we need to deal with better, whether it’s the environment, and then really the ability to make some adjustments and come out in the second half and be who we really are. I know we haven’t had a chance to talk since then, but that’s probably what you look back on and say [about] In the second half we didn’t show who we are. Of course, there are some opportunities for you to evaluate yourself during a bye week. And I think we did that and challenged everyone to be able to do that.”

One of the leaders of Wisconsin’s defense, cornerback Ricardo Hallmannhas largely flown under the radar this year.

That’s generally a good thing for defensive backs, but in Hallman’s case, it draws attention to his lack of turnovers this year. His seven interceptions last season were the most in the country. However, he has yet to make a choice this year. The Badgers overall only have three, along with a -5 turnover rate.

Fickell tried to look at the positive side of Hallman’s decline in sales.

“The most respect people can give you is if they don’t take too many shots at you. And sometimes it doesn’t feel so good. The statistics don’t show it, people can get frustrated, whether it’s Rico in general or even us.

“So that’s part of that self-assessment, that’s part of putting yourself in a control situation to make sure you stay focused. Because the first thing that can happen, especially at this position, is that if you lose focus, the shots will actually start now. And I think in the long run it will be a good sign for Rico.”

Against one of the best quarterbacks in the country, Dillon Gabriel, and Oregon’s potent passing attack, Hallman could have more takeaway opportunities this week than he has all season.

In the midst of an offensive spiral (averaging 279.5 yards over the last two games), Fickell was asked what he needs to get out of the offense for the rest of the season to maintain confidence in the system.

He acknowledged some of the obstacles they faced, namely the injuries of Bryson Green And Riley Nowakowskihowever, insisted he needs to see at least some sort of improvement.

“For me the most important thing is to see the progress, to see these guys find a way to continue to grow and develop with everything we have.” And that’s my challenge after last week.

“This is not the NFL. You won’t be without cables and the like. How can we move forward with what we have? Empower them to see that their growth is happening.”

The offense will be firing on all cylinders this weekend, facing an Oregon defense that has held each of its last three opponents to less than 300 total yards, but after the loss at Iowa, the bar for improvement is pretty low.

One of the few positives to take away from the recent losses is the visible development of some younger stars. Fickell was specifically asked about the improvement he has seen as a second-year linebacker Christian Alliegrowho recently recorded a career-high 16 tackles against Iowa.

“Christian has been a bright spot in the last few weeks and he’s really getting into his stride.

“I think he’s just really coming into his own. He’s getting more comfortable in the game, he’s seeing things a little quicker, which means his natural size, speed and athleticism are now playing a bigger role. And he does a really good job. You’ll see more and more of him. And he’s a guy we’re going to rely on heavily as we make that push in the final weeks.”

As Wisconsin’s current starting linebacker Jake Chaney (Senior) and Jaheim Thimas (Redshirt senior), who is nearing the end of her college career, gave Alliegro a glimpse into the possible future of the position.

Of the many glaring problems that presented themselves against Iowa, perhaps the most costly was the Badgers’ inability to slow down Iowa’s running game.

Running back Kaleb Johnson finished with 135 rushing yards and three touchdowns while the team as a whole managed a whopping 329 yards. It was the first time since 2018 that Wisconsin gave up more than 300 rushing yards.

Fickell was asked about her failure against the run.

“If you can’t control the offensive line, I think it starts there.

“It depends on the physicality. People talk about gaining power in a game like this and creating negative plays. You have to be honest, you have to be healthy, you have to be strong, just kind of in control of the situation. That’s where it really started. Things snowballed and things didn’t get any better in the second half. And then the bigger games began. And then of course the quarterback hurt us. So all things you know, it’s not that we weren’t prepared for it, it’s that we just didn’t do a good enough job of executing it.”

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