IOWA CITY, Iowa -- There's really no debate about the spot that marked rock bottom for the University of Wisconsin football program in its first season under Luke Fickell.
It was November 11, 2023, when an average Northwestern outfit scored on its first four possessions of the game, built a 21-point halftime lead and walked out of Camp Randall Stadium with a two-touchdown win over the Badgers.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new entry for consideration.
It's too early to tell if what happened Saturday night at Kinnick Stadium will go down as the lowest point in Year 2 of the Fickell era -- there are still three games remaining in the regular season -- but it's hard to imagine things getting much worse than this:
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Iowa 42, Wisconsin 10.
If that score sounds familiar, it matches the beating the Badgers took against Alabama at home in September. That 32-point rout wasn't fun for Fickell, but it felt like a day at the beach compared to this one.
Fickell walked into a cramped interview room, sat down at a table and let out a sound that was part sigh, part groan before making an opening statement that made it clear just how miserable he felt.
"That's the first time that I've really felt this," Fickell said. "Even after the Alabama game, it wasn't the same thing. This was something that's kind of your worst nightmare, to kind of be overtaken and manhandled and dominated."
Those are strong words and yet maybe not powerful enough to describe what happened to the Badgers.
Iowa finished with 329 yards rushing, the most by a Wisconsin opponent since Oregon finished with 345 in the Rose Bowl to end the 2011 season.
Iowa's Kaleb Johnson (135 yards, three touchdowns) is a fantastic running back who has great patience and burst, and sometimes he even ran right through the Badgers.
But mostly this was Iowa's offensive line bullying Wisconsin's defensive front. The worst part was the Badgers knew it was coming and still didn't -- couldn't? -- do anything to stop it.
"You plan to stop the run all week and get the job done," Wisconsin nose tackle Curt Neal said, "so that's very demoralizing, especially when a team can run the ball and you really don't force them to pass."
Iowa attempted 10 passes and completed seven. Fickell is now 0-2 against Iowa at Wisconsin, and the Hawkeyes have completed a grand total of 13 passes in those games.
"We knew what the fight was going to be," Wisconsin safety Hunter Wohler said, "and we just got dominated."
Remember, it was Wohler who spoke from the heart after that aforementioned loss to Northwestern 51 weeks ago. He looked into reporters' eyes that night and let people know what was on his mind because he'd reached his breaking point and felt it was time to decide whether teammates were on board with Fickell's plan or ready to jump ship.
Wohler was much more subdued this time around, albeit still angry.
"If you're not pissed," he said, "then you're not in the right place. You shouldn't be playing this game."
Fickell, meanwhile, seemed more discouraged than anything. This loss was another painful reminder of just how big the task is in front of him.
Forget beating the elite teams in the Big Ten. This was a 32-point loss to a team in the second tier of the conference.
"We all know what we signed up for," Fickell said. "It's the same thing that every kid in that locker room truly understands. You signed up for the best, and so the expectation is you need to play the best, and right now that's not the case."
That answer was in response to my question about whether Fickell is realizing this job -- this rebuild -- was bigger than he expected. The Badgers haven't gone backward this season, but they haven't exactly provided enough evidence to prove they're moving forward, either.
Even if you're of the belief that he needs time to clean up the mess left by Paul Chryst, zero signature victories in 23 games for Fickell is a damning stat.
He'll have a bye week to ponder some important questions hovering over the program that need to be answered in the next month:
Like ... is he willing to stick with this broken offense or is it time to send packing Phil Longo and his version of the Air Raid scheme?
And ... does he have the right scheme in place on defense? The Badgers were excellent on that side of the ball in wins over lightweights Purdue, Rutgers and Northwestern, but what happened against Iowa should lead Fickell to do a full autopsy on the defense. Does it need tweaking, a new leader or just better players?
Which brings us to ... how much money can Fickell and Co. find in the NIL coffers to find difference-makers on offense and defense? The Badgers have a quarterback issue, but other positions need to be addressed as well. Defensive line and outside linebacker are two that jumped out against Iowa.
"One thing about coach Fickell that I love because I'm a similar way is he takes the losses really hard simply because he loves the game and he loves this team," wide receiver CJ Williams said. "Obviously he was upset, but he says we need to be (critical) of ourselves. Don't point a finger at anyone, bend the thumb backwards and go from there. I think that's what we all need to do. I know he's doing that to himself, and we all need to take that from the top down and allow him to be a leader and show us how to do it as well."
The Badgers seemed to think the worst part about Saturday's loss was that they have to sit with it for two weeks because of the bye week.
Even more scary is this reality: The next time they take the field, it'll be against No. 1 Oregon.
Contact Jim Polzin at [email protected].
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