Rastall Ramblings: Fickell Finally Gets Signature Win

Even if you’re an optimist, I don’t think there was a single Wisconsin fan who was predicting that last Saturday would produce the Luke Fickell era’s first truly signature win when the Badgers were down 17-0 to No. 13 Penn State midway through the second quarter.

It felt like more of the same old story for the Fickell era after UW quarterback Colton Joseph threw a pick-six and another interception that set up a Penn State touchdown on back-to-back drives, leaving the Badgers in a 17-point hole.

Shockingly enough, that didn’t spell doom this time around.

Wisconsin put together an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive late in the half — capped off by Joseph’s seven-yard touchdown run — to slice the deficit to 17-7 at halftime. They still trailed 20-10 in the fourth quarter and seemed to likely be finished after Joseph’s third interception of the day with eight minutes to play.

However, the Badger defense forced four consecutive three-and-outs throughout the fourth quarter to keep themselves in it, and the offense finally broke through late. 

Joseph’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Eugene Hilton Jr. got the score to 20-17, and the biggest play of the Fickell era in Madison came when Colton found tight end Jacob Harris wide open in the middle of the field — sure he might’ve bowled over a defender on a possible uncalled OPI to get that open, but I’m happy to look past that — who laid a sick stiff arm and rumbled free for a slow-motion 72-yard touchdown to give the Badgers the lead with 1:13 to play.

Penn State got into Hail Mary territory on their last drive, but quarterback Rocco Becht’s final desperation pass sailed out of the back of the end zone to complete Wisconsin’s stunning win.

The 17-point comeback was the Badgers’ largest since 2006. It was their first win over Penn State since 2011, their first win in Happy Valley since 2003 and their first road win over a ranked opponent since 2021.

Now personally, I don’t know how good Penn State truly is. The bulk of their core is the same as an Iowa State team that went 8-4 a year ago and followed Matt Campbell to Penn State. But I also don’t think that really matters. 

The Badgers had lost seven straight road games and Beaver Stadium has long been a house of horrors for the program. To erase that kind of deficit and roll with the number of setbacks they suffered on Saturday to still pull out a victory was impressive whether the Nittany Lions finish the season ranked or not.

Hopefully that win marks a turning point for Wisconsin as a program under Fickell. Only time can answer that. For now, it’s all about savoring the sort of victory that had previously been completely elusive for the Badgers during the 2020s.