By Rock Westfall
Since 2020, the Wisconsin Badgers have never been the same. That season the coveted recruit Graham Mertz took over as the starting quarterback. In his first game, he lit up Illinois, going 20-21 for 248 yards with five touchdowns in a 45-7 season-opening win that caused Patrick Mahomes to tweet out praise. At that moment, all seemed possible. Instead, it was too good to be true and served as the beginning of the end for head coach Paul Chryst and the Badger program as we knew them.
Until Mertz took over as QB, Wisconsin was respected nationally for its ever-increasingly unique style of ground-and-pound offenses that featured big, bruising offensive linemen, record-setting running backs and game-managing QBs who would use play-action passes to perfection, keeping defenses off-balance. Nasty defenses complemented it all. Chryst was Madison, born and raised, played QB for UW and was an offensive coordinator for the program under Bret Bielema .
Chryst knew the Wisconsin culture and blueprint for success inside out. In 2017, he led the Badgers to a 13-1 record and was within one possession of the College Football Playoff . In 2019, the Badgers finished with a Rose Bowl . But then Mertz got into Chryst’s head. He never had a QB prospect so highly rated and talented. Chryst tweaked the offense, things went awry, and then the ultimate irony occurred. The “perfect fit” was fired after a 2-3 start in 2022.
Chryst went 15-10 with Wisconsin’s “dream quarterback,” far below its production with the old Barry Alvarez formula that gained its success and revered brand.
Another former Wisconsin player, alum, deputy athletic director, and finally, athletic director, Chris McIntosh , decided that instead of being different, Wisconsin had to keep up with the Joneses.
A Fickell Beginning
When Alvarez took over the Wisconsin football program in 1990, it ranked below Kansas State as the worst in the sport. But like Bill Snyder at K-State, Alvarez engineered one of the greatest turnarounds in the sport's history.
Alvarez had a simple formula of recruiting in-state for its big linemen that he would develop and then get much of the skill from elsewhere. Wisconsin became a celebrated national program that emerged as a perennial Big Ten contender and frequent visitor to the Rose Bowl.
Instead of joining a rat race he couldn’t win, Alvarez created a unique program based on physicality, toughness, character, and development. Wisconsin maintained that style and standard until Alvarez retired as AD after the 2020 Rose Bowl.
MacIntosh, who became an NFL player for the Seattle Seahawks after playing offensive tackle for Alvarez, literally lived the winning Wisconsin formula, yet he decided to reinvent the wheel.
MacIntosh decided to hire Luke Fickell , who worked miracles at Cincinnati. He led the Bearcats to the College Football Playoff and an escape from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12 .
Fickell has a head coaching record that commands respect. Yet it's becoming apparent that he is a poor fit in Wisconsin both culturally and stylistically. Wisconsin has lost its identity and no longer looks the same. Fickell wants to build a hybrid offense of the old power running with the Mike Leach -style Air Raid. This hybrid is the result of Wisconsin not doing anything well. So far, with Miami-FL castoff QB Tyler Van Dyke , it has two pedestrian wins over Western Michigan and South Dakota. The Badgers lack game-breaking receivers and the elite QB to turn Fickell’s vision into reality.
Madison Braces for a Crimson Tide Slamming Into It
Several years ago, when it was announced that Alabama would visit Wisconsin, there was excitement in the Badger State. Chryst was riding high, and the game was thought to be a potential trap for Nick Saban ’s dynasty. But Saban has retired, and Alabama, like Wisconsin, is in the initial stages of its cultural revolution with Kalen DeBoer as the new head coach. But unlike Wisconsin, Alabama has elite players and game-breakers on its roster. The matchup is the FOX Big Noon Kickoff telecast. But it lacks the pizazz that was expected. Alabama is a double-digit favorite.
The Ultimate Self-Betrayal of an Ultimate Insider
MacIntosh stands a good chance to be the Steve Pederson of Wisconsin football. Pederson, the Nebraska alum, turned the program upside down by firing Frank Solich , Tom Osborne ’s hand-picked replacement. This caused a regression that took two decades to reverse.
Most tragically, MacIntosh is wrong. Wisconsin should have doubled down on its old formula once they were rid of Mertz. Wisconsin surrendered the advantage of being different into a weakness of trying to be something it was never meant to be or could be.
Wisconsin was never an option for elite recruits and what it is trying to do requires the Ohio State-level talent it has never been able to attract. Wisconsin could beat Ohio State, Michigan, and the rest of the Big Ten as a power running and developmental program. It zigged when everyone else zagged.
MacIntosh blinked. He had a winning formula and coach. Now he is facing the prospect of perpetual mediocrity and perhaps his eventual ouster. He just had to break something that didn’t need to be fixed.
On Saturday, Wisconsin could suffer a similar fate as Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes did at Nebraska last week. The Alabama game could prove to be the beginning of the figurative end for Macintosh and Fickell.
On Saturday, Wisconsin could formally take the baton from Nebraska as the team that betrayed itself into years of unnecessary misery.
We miss you, Wisconsin.
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