Luke Fickell’s days in Madison appear to be numbered.

Wisconsin, once known as the pride of the defunct Big Ten West, dropped to 2–5 on the season after an ugly 34–0 loss to No. 1 Ohio State at Camp Randall Stadium—a defeat that followed an equally discouraging 37–0 loss to Iowa last weekend. It marked the first time the Badgers were shut out in back-to-back games since 1977.

Fickell’s hot seat couldn’t be much hotter. The Badgers are 15–18 since he was hired in November 2022 and didn’t make a bowl game last year for the first time since 2001. Wisconsin has also lost its last 10 games against Power Four opponents—a drought that dates back to the Badgers’ 23–3 win over Northwestern almost exactly one year ago on Oct. 19, 2024.

The 2025 schedule certainly hasn’t helped Fickell’s case. According to ESPN FPI, the Badgers have played the ninth-hardest schedule in all of college football with three losses to opponents ranked at the time in Alabama, Michigan and Ohio State. It doesn’t get much better moving forward, either, with No. 8 Oregon and No. 3 Indiana awaiting the Badgers over the next three weeks.

Following the Badgers’ fifth straight loss Saturday, Fickell was asked if he has a message to Wisconsin fans, who notably didn’t fill the Camp Randall Stadium seats for the matchup against the Buckeyes.

“What can I say? Look, man, you love these kids and you hopefully can see the fight in them. Yeah, you want to see better. I want to see better,” Fickell said. “There’s disappointment inside that locker room. But it’s not from a lack of guys that are trying to put the product on the field and represent the ‘W’ the way the ‘W’ is supposed to be represented. If that’s not good enough, that’s not good enough.

“When we win games, they’ll come back. And that’s our job.”

Wisconsin signed Fickell to a contract extension through the 2031 season back in February. That decision might come back to haunt them.

CBS announcers address Luke Fickell's hot seat during Wisconsin–Ohio State broadcast

If you want to know when a coach is really on the hot seat, it’s when his job status is mentioned during the television broadcast.

CBS play-by-play announcer Brad Nessler and analyst Gary Danielson discussed Fickell’s job status during the fourth quarter while looking at a list of the nine college football coaches already fired this season.

“The endangered species list could very well include Luke Fickell as well here in Wisconsin. I’m just being honest,” Nessler said. “Athletic director Chris McIntosh and the chancellor Jennifer Mnookin—there could be decisions coming up. We forget about the families they have and all of that. So and so got fired, so and so got fired. He’s got six kids.”

“Luke understands that,” Danielson chimed in. “He knows the game he’s in. When we met with him on Friday, he knows exactly where he stands. He even said, ‘You know, it’s tough on Chris McIntosh.’”

If Fickell survives this week, he’ll probably be even in more hot water this time next week when Wisconsin travels to Autzen Stadium to take on No. 8 Oregon.

More College Football on Sports Illustrated


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Luke Fickell Has Message for Wisconsin Fans As Historic Slump Continues.