Craig Has The Scout - Wisconsin 2025

Coming Up

Who: Wisconsin Badgers

When: 6:30 pm – Saturday, November 22, 2025

Where: Camp Randall Stadium

How: BTN

Opponent Primer:

Head Coach: Luke Fickell

Luke Fickell’s Wisconsin tenure has cracked open the question of whether he’s truly a program architect or simply a man who looks sharp when flanked by strong lieutenants. His path began at Ohio State, first as a player, then as a grad assistant, before a brief Akron detour and a return to Jim Tressel’s empire. When the sweater vest collapsed under scandal, Fickell was thrust into the throne room as interim head coach. That season was no coronation but a dress rehearsal; a soldier reciting lines while the empire searched for its next king. Urban Meyer’s arrival gave him cover and time to rebuild his image, and Cincinnati became the glow-up. A playoff run with the Bearcats seemed to confirm his chops. Yet the lingering question remains: was Fickell a mastermind or a guy who got lucky that Brian Kelly ran off some top-flight coaching talent in South Bend. Either way, he exited at the peak, leaving behind a hollowed-out program for the next regime to patch together.

Wisconsin was supposed to be the proving ground, the fortress where Fickell could step out of Columbus’s shadow and prove himself as a builder. Instead, the Badgers look more like a Shakespearean unraveling than a renaissance. The offensive line, once sacred, is now a story of relentless instability and inconsistency. Paired with a defense that can’t defend a pass and the Badgers are guaranteed another losing season.

These failures cannot be pinned solely on players. The issues trace back to coaching hires and scheme overhauls that haven’t clicked. Fickell feels less like a master builder and more like a fixer who leaves behind mismatched IKEA parts. His greatest skill may have been simply getting inside the Ohio State machine. Now, with the crowd murmuring like a chorus of witches, he faces the task of stabilizing a program in identity crisis and proving his past wasn’t just circumstance and assistants. At this moment, he looks like Macbeth with a headset, watching the legacy dissolve under his reign.

Offensive Style: Physical zone‑based run scheme paired with play‑action shots.

Wisconsin’s offense is a study in transition. After the failure of the Dairy Raid, Phil Longo’s attempt to graft tempo and Air Raid concepts onto a program built on mauling guards and fullbacks, Jeff Grimes has nudged the Badgers back toward something resembling their old DNA. The scheme is built on wide‑zone foundations with heavy pre‑snap motion, multiple tight end sets, and play‑action vertical shots. It attacks defenses by stressing run fits, forcing linebackers to declare early, and then punishing them with layered passing concepts. The result is an offense that sometimes looks like vintage Wisconsin, sometimes like a modern RPO outfit, or others a hot mess. It depends on the week, and some with be all three. Consistency remains elusive, but the philosophy is clear. Run first, hit vertically when the defense cheats, and make violence a brand.

Jeff Grimes is an offensive line lifer who climbed the ladder into play‑calling. He played at UTEP being recruited there by Bob Stull (later the Mizzou coach) and OC Dirk Koetter. Grimes’ coaching career started as a GA with Rice and Texas A&M and Division II football before Koetter brought him to Boise State as OL coach. He followed Koetter to Arizona State before setting out on the OL coach journey as coach at BYU, Colorado, Auburn, Virginia Tech, and LSU. He left LSU to become the OC at BYU setting records with Zach Wilson as his QB. He then took over for Baylor where he cratered their offense, then Kansas last season where he cratered their offense, and now Wisconsin whose offense was already cratered. During this journey he was twice a Broyles Award finalist, and he’s best known for coining the “Reliable, Violent Offense” term. His résumé is a patchwork of successful run games and occasional fireworks through the air. He puts off serious Mike Schultz vibes at Illinois, a guy who was lucky enough to reset his clock in Madison after he was going to get fired in Lawrence. He’s tasked as the former line coach who needs to fix the broken offense by reminding them that football still starts at the line of scrimmage.

Defensive Style: Adaptable 3-3-5 with shifting coverages

Wisconsin’s defense is a blend of trench identity and modern multiplicity. The front is built on bulk, with mixing homegrown talent with tackles recruited through the portal to plug the run. The scheme toggles between a traditional 3‑4 look and nickel packages that slide into 3-3‑5 spacing. The goal is to force offenses into inefficient downs. The Badgers look to clog the middle with size, disguising pressure from the edges, and relying on corners to hold up in man coverage so blitzes can hit home. At its best, the unit looks like a classic Jim Leonhard defense that is disciplined, physical, and stingy against the run.

Mike Tressel’s biography runs parallel with Luke Fickell, where his start began with the fact he is Jim Tressel’s nephew. Tressel started out as a GA with the Buckeyes under Uncle Jim, brought in the same year as Fickell. The former Cornell College defensive back got his first full-time gig with Mark Dantonio when Dantonio went to Cincinnati. He had a nice run there as a position coach under Pat Narduzzi, then was in charge as the defense fell apart for the Spartans. He did pick up a Broyles award nomination though. His reprieve came when Marcus Freeman left Cincinnati to become DC at Notre Dame. Tressel was brought in to replace Freeman and Tressel leveraged three NFL DBs and six NFL players overall to a college football playoff appearance. He followed Fickell to Wisconsin in 2023 to decent results but that hasn’t stopped Badger fans wishing for a return of Jim Leonhard.

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