Wisconsin Badgers’ head coach Luke Fickell acknowledged the challenging schedule ahead of his team this season as he took the podium Wednesday afternoon in Las Vegas, during day two of three Big Ten Football Media Days.
Each coach receives one question after their remarks, and Fickell was asked whether he’s doing anything differently this season to prepare for the Badgers’ “uncommonly challenging schedule,” by a Reddit college football reporter.
“As I said to our guys in the past, this isn't the Big Ten West anymore,” Fickell said. “I can honestly say, with that schedule has brought upon probably a lot of the changes which we have, whether it's guys that are no longer with us or guys that are with us today.”
The Badgers are set to host tough games against conference powers Ohio State and Illinois, and will face difficulties on the road against Big Ten competitors Oregon and Michigan, as well as the SEC’s Alabama. Despite the undeniably challenging months ahead, Fickell is able to find positives.
“The great thing about that schedule is it's pretty easy to be able to lay it down right in front of everybody, whether they're coming back fifth year or fourth year, or guys coming into our program. Everybody knows what they signed up for, and everybody knows what they stuck around for, and the beautiful thing about that is we've been able to embrace that,” Fickell explained. “We're not going to say, hey, this is the elephant in the room. We understand what being part of the Big Ten, what being part of this conference, [is] and in order to be at the top and be at the best, you've got to compete and you've got to beat the best. It gives us a challenge and an incredible opportunity in front of us as well.”
It didn’t appear Wednesday that the mounting pressure is getting to Fickell.
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Last week, he was ranked No. 10 on On3’s Ari Wasserman’s list of college football coaches facing the most pressure in 2025. Fickell’s Badgers were projected to finish No. 12 in the Big Ten in a media poll Monday, with the head coach himself receiving 11 hot seat votes, the most of any conference coach. On Tuesday, CBS Sports ranked Fickell No. 11 among all 18 conference coaches, a six-place drop compared to his preseason ranking last year.