2026 starts the fourth year of the Fickell era. It has not had the results Badgers fan wanted after firing Chryst. People thought he was coming in to update the offense and keep the good defense. Luke hired Phil Longo to be his offensive coordinator from North Carolina. Londo coach quarterbacks like Matt corral, Sam Howell, and Drake Maye. All three of those quarterbacks made it to the NFL. The only thing is Longo is a spread offense coach which, Wisconsin has never been and didn’t have the players to run it.
Luke Fickell searched the transfer portal to find those players. He found three to commit to Wisconsin. Nick Evers, Tanner Mordeci, and Brayden Locke. All three were running quarterbacks that could run the spread offense. The Badgers would run 95% out of shotgun formation. Longo wanted a fast pace offense . Wisconsin’s offensive line was made to run the ball in Iformation and huddle after each play. Fickell brought Mike Tressell over with him from Cincinnati. His defense scheme is a 3-3-5. Wisconsin has been a 3-4 defense for the last 15 years.
So again Wisconsin hit the transfer portal to get players. The Badgers mostly recruited linebackers. When the season started they looked ok but, not up to par with old Wisconsin teams. All the fans knew it would take a bit to get the new schemes down. In the fifth game Tanner got hurt and miss 3/4 of the season. Brayden Locke stepped in but, was not good. At the end of the year they were 6-6 but, made a bowl and won it.
The next offseason the brought in Tyler Van Dike from Miami to play quarterback. Mike Tressel brought in big defensive linemen because we could not stop the run at all. In the fifth game against Alabama Tyler Van Dike got injured and miss the rest of the season. Brayden Locke stepped in again and was not good again. Thy finish 5-7 and missed a bowl game for the first time in 20 years.
Third year starts with a new offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes from Kasas. He runs a more run heavy offense. Wisconsin fans were excited. in the first game the quarterback they brought in got hurt. For the third year Wisconsin ended up using back up quarterbacks. They finished the season 4-8
In this offseason the badgers have brought in a lot of transfers including quarterback Colton Joseph from Old Dominion. Multiple running backs and a few wide receivers. 2026 Wisconsin record?