Luke Fickell explains how Wisconsin is using last year's game against Ohio State

Luke Fickell wasn’t the head coach of Wisconsin last season but he is well aware of what happened when the Badgers faced Ohio State last season. The Buckeyes ran rampant on their way to a 52-21 victory.

The two teams will face off again Saturday, and Fickell said during his press conference Monday the team is using last year’s game as a reference point for closing the gap between the two teams.

“I think that we’re always looking for those gaps in whatever it is,” Fickell said. “Whether you’re an individual, you’re a team, you’re an offense, you’re always trying to close the gaps. If you’re the guy at the very top, then you’re trying to make sure you don’t allow ’em to close the gaps. We can look back at last year and last year is last year. And like I said, once the ball is kicked off, it’ll have not a whole lot of bearing, hopefully.”

The Buckeyes totaled 539 yards in the game last year. CJ Stroud threw for 281 yards and five touchdowns.

Running back TreVeyon Henderson ran the ball 21 times for 121 yards while Miyan Williams added 101 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries.

“If we don’t use what happened last year as a learning lesson, whether we were here or not, then we wouldn’t be doing our job as coaches and as players as well,” Fickell said. “So finding ways to continue to close the gaps, there’s gaps in everything. Every week there’s a gap in something, whether they’ve got better this than you or you got better that. I think we’re up for anything, you can really measure yourself and find out where you are as an individual, as a program and as a team. But we’ve got to continue to close gaps.”

There’s a lot of changes on both sides from last year’s game, most pronounced on the Wisconsin side. Just over one week after that game, Paul Chryst was fired, which lead to Fickell’s hire in the offseason.

The Badgers are 5-2 on the year with a 3-1 record in Big Ten play in Year 1 under Fickell. But this week’s game versus Ohio State is Wisconsin’s best opportunity for a statement win of where they could be heading under Fickell.

“The best teams don’t always win games,” Fickell said. “The most talented teams don’t always win games. College football every Saturday, it’s crazy, how things happen. Regardless of what that is, it’s about the preparation. It’s about figuring out where you got to close some gaps and then ultimately can you play loose? Can you play fast? Can you still play aggressive, no matter who it is you’re playing against.”