Fickell says there's 'no Plan B' as Joseph leads Badgers into opener at Lambeau
Luke Fickell has fully committed to transfer quarterback Colton Joseph for Sunday's opener against Notre Dame at Lambeau Field, ten years to the day after Wisconsin's last trip there.
No Plan B: Fickell hands the offense to Colton Joseph
Colton Joseph has had the job locked up since the early jitters of fall camp wore off — the Old Dominion transfer who threw for 2,624 yards and ran for another 1,007 as the Sun Belt's Offensive Player of the Year — and this week Fickell made clear there's no hedge behind that decision. "The whole idea is there's no Plan B," Fickell said, per SI.com. "We're not trying to save things. We've got to be aggressive, we've got to be able to do the things we need to do." It's a mission statement for an offense that combined for 13 interceptions a season ago, aimed at a Notre Dame defense that will be the toughest test of Joseph's career.
Fickell isn't asking Joseph to run away from the moment either. "His ability doesn't have to just be run the football. It could be the ability to just create more time," he said, per SI.com, framing Joseph's mobility as a tool for extending plays rather than the whole plan. Behind him, the backup job has sorted itself: Louisville transfer Deuce Adams has pulled ahead of true freshman Ryan Hopkins for the No. 2 spot, per Bucky's 5th Quarter, while Danny O'Neil — last year's presumed starter before a season-ending leg injury against Washington — remains limited in practice and Questionable for Sunday with a lower-body issue, per Covers' injury table.
Fickell also spent the week talking about what surrounds Joseph rather than just what he can do himself. "More than anything, we've gotta make sure we have balance in what we're doing," he said, per SI.com. "He's gotta let people around him do things, he's gotta be aggressive and do the things he needs to do. At the quarterback position in particular it comes down to decision making." Part of that balance arrives at running back, where Iowa State transfer Abu Sama III steps in as the new complement in the backfield, per the Daily Cardinal — and part of it is simply not handing Notre Dame a short field, which the Daily Cardinal reports has been Fickell's loudest point of emphasis against a defense that ranks No. 2 nationally.
Today’s media availability: @Mattkj06 ➡️ t.co/rf2i1RFiHI @_ColtonJoseph1 ➡️ t.co/3lRAO4rJe1 @catalano_cooper ➡️ t.co/IEOKqX6E9L
Last season ended on a familiar note, and it's why this offseason happened
Wisconsin finished last season the way too much of it went: seven points and a loss, 17-7 at Minnesota on November 29. It capped a stretch that swung both directions — a 21-7 loss at Oregon, a 13-10 escape at home over Washington, a 31-7 loss at Indiana and a 27-10 home win over Illinois — before Minneapolis closed the book on a 5-8 finish against a schedule that included seven ranked opponents.
The Washington game is still shaping this roster nine months later. That's the day O'Neil went down with the leg injury that ended his season and handed Fickell the exact quarterback puzzle he spent the winter solving. Joseph is the answer Wisconsin landed on, and last season's finish is the whole reason this offseason was about nothing else.
Ten years to the day, Wisconsin goes back to Lambeau
Sunday marks Wisconsin's first game at Lambeau Field since a 16-14 upset of No. 5 LSU on September 3, 2016 — a win that helped propel an 11-3 season, per NBC 26. For a handful of Badgers the return is personal: kicker Gavin Lahm, along with Matthew Jung, Cooper Catalano, Taylor Schaefer and Emmett Bork, all grew up in Wisconsin attending Packers games there, and Lahm has called playing at Lambeau a "dream come true" after growing up with grandparents who held season tickets, per NBC 26.
“I don’t think anyone outside our locker room thought we were going to win this game.” We did. Remembering 10 years ago today at Lambeau Field 👐 t.co/DSLBoAVxc2
BadgerFootball marked the anniversary on the exact date this week — 10 years to the day since that LSU win — letting the locker room's own line do the talking: "I don't think anyone outside our locker room thought we were going to win this game. We did." It's the kind of institutional memory that only means something because the program is about to go try to make more of it, against a Notre Dame team that arrives at Lambeau ranked No. 4 in the country.
The trip itself got underway Friday, with BadgerFootball posting that "the trip to Green Bay has officially begun." Fans following the team north have their own gathering to look forward to: Badger Bash North hits Green Bay on Saturday with live music, Badger Football alumni meet-and-greets and a fireworks show, per BadgerFootball, with Wisconsin great Montee Ball fronting the invitation.
A 20-point underdog walks into a defense built to strand Colton Joseph
Wisconsin gets going tomorrow night at Notre Dame, with kickoff at Lambeau Field in Green Bay set for 6:30 p.m. Notre Dame opened as a 20.5-point favorite, and the total was set at 47.5 — a low number that says the market expects exactly the kind of grind-it-out, win-the-turnover-battle game Fickell has been coaching toward all week. Marcus Freeman's Fighting Irish arrive off a 49-20 win at Stanford to finish last season 10-2, led by returning quarterback CJ Carr and a defense fronted by All-American cornerback Leonard Moore that the Daily Cardinal ranks among the best units in the country.
That gap is exactly why Fickell has spent camp talking about balance and ball security instead of fireworks — an underdog with a first-year starting quarterback doesn't beat a top-5 team by trying to outscore it. Win or lose, Wisconsin gets a much softer landing spot the following Saturday, at home against Western Illinois, but Sunday at Lambeau is the game that will say the most about whether the Joseph era is actually built for this level.