Luke Fickell delivers blunt assessment of Wisconsin's 42-10 loss to No. 4 Alabama

Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell told reporters that he shared a clear message to his team after it suffered a 42-10 blowout loss to No. 4 Alabama on Saturday:

“If you haven’t had your ass whooped before, you just did,” Fickell explained. “It’s a good old-fashioned ass-whooping, at home, which hurts.”

The blunt assessment comes after mistakes plagued the Badgers for the entire afternoon. Wisconsin lost two fumbles, missed a field goal, and turned the ball over on downs. Alabama turned those four giveaways into 28 points — the difference in the game.

The humbling final score tempers expectations entering the rest of the season. Wisconsin now faces a gauntlet Big Ten schedule with games against No. 11 USC, No. 8 Penn State, Iowa, No. 9 Oregon and No. 23 Nebraska. Improved play will be necessary to escape from the gauntlet with bowl eligibility.

Badgers fans certainly hope this ‘ass-whooping,’ in the words of Fickell, is Wisconsin’s low point of the season. Otherwise, big-picture questions about the future of the program will persist.

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