Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell makes tough admission after Notre Dame loss

The Wisconsin Badgers faced the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sunday night at Lambeau Field, giving head coach Luke Fickell a chance to restore his program’s luster with a signature win. The Fighting Irish jumped out to a 10-3 first-quarter lead, but Fickell’s team kept fighting, outscoring Notre Dame 7-3 in the second quarter and making things interesting.

Then, the wheels came off as coach Marcus Freeman’s Irish outscored the Badgers 28-3 in the second half en route to a 41-13 victory, celebrated in style with a Fighting Irish-themed Lambeau Leap.

The fourth-ranked Fighting Irish’s dominant second half showed how far Fickell’s team still has to go, which led to a stark admission from the Badgers coach shared by Evan Flood of On3.com. “The energy and momentum shifted in the second half and we could never get it back,” Fickell said about Sunday night’s game, which left Badgers fans feeling a sense of deja vu from last year’s 4-8 season.

Six penalties, two turnovers, and an anemic effort on offense in the second half doomed the Badgers, whose new starting quarterback Colton Joseph threw a costly pick-six to cornerback DJ McKinney that gave Notre Dame a commanding 27-10 lead.

The Badgers will have a chance to get back on the right track September 12 and September 19 with home games against Western Illinois and Eastern Michigan before Big Ten play begins. Games against ranked opponents Penn State on September 26 and USC on October 24 will give Fickell and his team additional chances to show that their competitive first half against the Fighting Irish wasn’t a fluke.

For now, coach Fickell and his players will head back to the drawing board in hopes of giving their fans something to get excited about in what continues to feel like a forgettable era of a program far removed from its Big Ten glory days.