Is Wisconsin suffering an identity crisis or are these just growing pains?

MADISON, Wisc. — Wisconsin quarterback Tyler Van Dyke injured his knee on the first drive of the game, got on the injury cart and was hauled off to the locker room. He returned to the sideline in the second half with a knee brace and crutches. So in the moments following Alabama’s 42-10 win over the Wisconsin, it feels kind bully-ish to criticize the Badgers. 

But I’m going to do it anyway. 

Why? Because in an effort to modernize this football program and make its offense more open, Luke Fickell’s Badgers have turned into a team that doesn’t do anything particularly well. Wisconsin doesn’t have dynamic playmakers at its skill positions. Its running game is hit-and-miss and now it doesn’t have a quarterback. This team doesn’t have an identity. It didn’t have one again Alabama. It didn’t have one against Western Michigan or South Dakota.

That isn’t a pot-shot at Wisconsin after losing Van Dyke. Nobody wants to see anyone get injured. But had he not gotten hurt, this game — which was moderately competitive in the first half — may have been a little closer. What continues to ail this Wisconsin program, though, goes much deeper than the quarterback position. It was the thing Fickell knew he had to fix when he arrived in Madison. 

It was clear what would be the difference in this game before it started. It became clearer during the first half. It turned into 8K resolution right before halftime. Then the game turned into a blowout. 

Here is the troublesome sequence: Wisconsin, down 14-3 in the final minutes before halftime, was on a long, sustained drive. The goal, of course, was to score a touchdown and make this a game at halftime. That drive, which started at the Wisconsin 16, didn’t have a single play for more than a 15-yard gain. But Wisconsin, being Wisconsin, moved the ball steadily. Eight-yard run. Twelve-yard completion. Five-yard run. Ten-yard pass. It was an effective drive, but you got the sense it took every ounce of energy the Badgers had to get deep into Alabama territory. 

Then facing a 3rd-and-3 at the Alabama 27 with 39 seconds remaining in the half, backup quarterback Braedyn Locke — in the game only because Van Dyke was out — threw the ball to the end zone to Will Pauling. Pauling got behind the Alabama secondary, but the ball was overthrown. It should have been six.

Instead of knowing it could pick up a few yards on the ground on 4th down, Wisconsin lined up for a field goal to try to get within eight. The field goal missed. Two plays later, Alabama was in the end zone without breaking a sweat. Oh, crap. Ballgame.

For teams like Alabama, moving the ball like that is easy. It has a 17-year-old freshman receiver named Ryan Williams who took a pass 47 yards immediately after Wisconsin’s missed field goal. That is a former five-star recruit from Alabama, a player who will probably wind up being a first-round NFL Draft pick. He’s the type of player Wisconsin hasn’t had on its roster since Lee Evans 20 years ago. Alabama, meanwhile, has had 100 of them. 

Wisconsin has traditionally been a team that wins 10 games a year doing what it does best. It plays strong defense, has an incredibly good offensive line and runs the ball down opponents’ throats. That was its identity, appropriately fitting the types of player you’d find in this geographical region in the country. Wisconsin was as B1G as B1G gets.

When Wisconsin stopped being that at the end of the Paul Chryst era, the Badgers made a ruthless move that implied they didn’t only want to return to the old days of 10-win, smash-mouth football. They showed it wanted to compete for more. 

Wisconsin fired Chryst in the middle of the 2022 season. It wasn’t a very Wisconsin-nice move. And instead of hiring the layup replacement in Jim Leonhard — the Wisconsin native, alum and longtime assistant — it went bigger. It went out and got Fickell, a coach from Ohio who took Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff. 

Fickell hired Phil Longo from North Carolina to take over the offense. This is a coach who knew how to air it out, but also was going to blend Wisconsin’s strength — the running game — into a modern, new offense. In his time at North Carolina, the Tar Heels ran the ball incredibly well when they had Javonte Williams and Michael Carter in the backfield. They also had Sam Howell at quarterback. It was a savvy move, one that made it easy to fantasize about what the old Wisconsin would look like it if had really good skill players. 

Madison is one of the best college towns in America. Camp Randall Stadium is awesome. The fans care. There is a lot to like about this place. You can sell Wisconsin to a skill position player with new, younger coaches with a vision.

But who did Wisconsin get in year two of the Fickell era to make this team more competitive? Pauling came to Wisconsin from Cincinnati and he has been solid, but is this where the Badgers receivers were supposed to be in year two? Is this where Wisconsin’s offense was supposed to be?

Flipping a roster in college football is so much easier than it used to be. And yes, this is still Fickell’s second year with the program, so we may be seeing the identity crisis before the repair. 

But what would it take for Wisconsin to get one player like Ryan Williams on this team? One guy on offense that makes this entire thing work? 

Because whatever we saw in Camp Randall isn’t it.