Ohio State is at the anchor leg of its three-game road relay run over the course of four weeks.
Wisconsin
Badgers
Wins were secured at Washington and at then-No. 17 Illinois with a home victory over Minnesota sandwiched in between, pushing the Buckeyes to 6-0 on the season. Their most rigorous stretch of road matchups this season closes with the least daunting foe of the trio, Wisconsin.
The Badgers are off to another putrid start after going a gut-wrenching 5-7 in 2024, posting a 2-4 record thus far with four straight losses. They‘re fresh off a 37-0 flattening by Iowa and are 0-3 in Big Ten play in 2025. Camp Randall Stadium is always a hostile environment for the road team, but overall, this week should be an opportunity for a blowout victory more in the vein of what Ohio State did to Minnesota than what it did to Illinois.
A Fickell Game
Penn State just coughed up $49 million to buy out James Franklin’s contract and fire the second-longest tenured head coach in the Big Ten. That will only amplify the calls from Badger fans to spend the $25 million required to buy out head coach Luke Fickell’s contract at the end of the 2025 season and hunt for a new head man.
“Fire Fickell” chants were heavy during both Wisconsin’s loss to Iowa – its first shutout loss at home since 1980 – and as the Badgers were losing at home to Maryland on Sept. 22. But the rivalry loss to the Hawkeyes was especially indicting for Fickell’s program. The Badgers had used their 42-10 embarrassment at Iowa in 2024 as a rallying cry all offseason, only to lose in an even more lopsided fashion vs. Iowa in 2025.
“That’s as low as it can be,” Fickell said afterward. “I apologize. I apologize to our guys, to not be ready, to not have them ready, I’m dumbfounded in a lot of ways. But that’s my job. And this is a game we’ve been talking about since January. And I’ve been doing a lot of things to make sure we were ready and prepared, and obviously, we were not. ... It is a challenge right now. This is no place I’ve ever been (as a coach). I don’t know where else there is to go.”
Fickell is one of Ohio State’s own, making a school-record 50 consecutive starts at defensive tackle from 1993 through 1996. He coached in Columbus for 15 years from 2002 through 2016, spending 2011 as the interim head coach after Jim Tressel was fired amid scandal. He became a rising star in the head coaching ranks for his six seasons at Cincinnati, where he guided the Bearcats to two AAC conference titles and a College Football Playoff appearance, back when it was only four teams.
But football is a fickle mistress. Fickell’s record is now 15-17 with the proud Wisconsin program and will continue to worsen. If things don’t change in a drastic way, his time in Madison is likely doomed.
Hapless Offense
Much of Fickell’s issues as head coach at Wisconsin have stemmed from offenses that pack all the punch of a baby kitten. The Badgers finished outside the top 90 in points per game in each of his first two seasons, 2023 and 2024, and are 131st of 136 FBS teams in 2025.
The Badgers are 112th in passing yards per game. They are 116th in rushing yards per game. They’ve turned the ball over 10 times, the second-most in the Big Ten. No running back or receiver has at least 300 rushing or 300 passing yards for Wisconsin halfway through the regular season.
None of these are positive trends when it comes to facing what has been the best defense in college football this year, the 11 that take the field for Ohio State.
Quarterback Misfortune
A major reason for this season’s offense being as bad as it’s been for the Badgers is their awful luck at the quarterback position. Not that their passing attack was expected to set the world ablaze this year, but starting quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. suffered a knee sprain in Wisconsin’s season opener and has only seen the field once since, when he reaggravated the injury against Maryland.
Fickell pivoted to San Diego State transfer Danny O’Neil, but he’s struggled in his reps this season. Outside of a good first outing against Middle Tennessee State, O’Neil hasn’t found much success, tossing five interceptions against his five touchdowns. He does have a completion percentage of 70.6%, but with an average of only 7.5 yards per attempt.
O’Neil dealt with his own injury vs. Maryland, knocking Wisconsin down to third-string quarterback Hunter Simmons, a transfer from Southern Illinois. O’Neil recovered, but in a shocking twist, Fickell stuck with Simmons moving forward. He went 18 of 29 for 177 yards but had no touchdowns and an interception during Wisconsin’s 24-10 loss at Michigan.
The wheels fell off the Simmons wagon vs. the Hawkeyes, however. He went 8-of-21 (38.1%) for 82 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. It’s unclear who will start at quarterback for Wisconsin against Ohio State.
Strength is Run Defense
Among the few strengths for Wisconsin football in the year 2025 is the Badgers’ run defense. They are No. 19 in the country with 97.5 rushing yards allowed per game, though they have surrendered 3.6 yards per carry, just 41st in the country.
Linebacker Christian Alliegro might be the brightest star on Wisconsin’s squad regardless of offense or defense, racking up 41 tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks in 2025, all team-highs. Fellow linebacker Tackett Curtis, a player Ohio State sought heavily on the recruiting trail, trails with 28 tackles and a sack.
Wisconsin cornerback Ricardo Hallman is another name Buckeye fans might recognize. During Ohio State’s last trip to Camp Randall in 2023, Hallman made one of the seven interceptions he hauled in that year and added a pass breakup during a tighter-than-expected 24-10 win for Ohio State. He took home third-team All-Big Ten honors that season but missed the cut in 2024.
Jump Around!
Some college football traditions, like the dotting of the ‘i’ in Script Ohio, date back to before World War II and are coated in majesty and prestige. Other college football traditions, like Iowa’s wave to the children’s hospital that overlooks Kinnick Stadium, evoke strong, poignant emotions.
Others are just fun. That’s the category Wisconsin’s post-third-quarter tradition falls under. On Oct. 10, 1998, No. 12 Wisconsin entered the fourth quarter against a Drew Brees-led Purdue squad at home for homecoming, leading just 24-17. Injured Badger tight end Ryan Sondrup, also a marketing intern in the athletic department, had been tasked with coming up with songs to play during lulls in the game over the stadium jukebox.
One of his selections was House of Pain’s 1992 hit “Jump Around.” Kevin Kluender, Wisconsin’s assistant athletic director for marketing and promotions, had Sondrup’s thrown-together playlist on a piece of paper torn from a spiral notebook and was navigating the song selections throughout the game, as he recalled years later to Channel 3000. Something told him to play that song in that moment.
The entire stadium went nuts immediately, jumping around (as the song indicates) and dancing. Wisconsin won the game, then the Big Ten and the Rose Bowl that season. Jump Around has been played before the fourth quarter in Camp Randall ever since, with the exception of the Badgers’ home opener in 2003, as the stadium was being renovated. Administrators feared the shaking could cause damage while things were under construction. A chorus of boos erupted when it didn’t play and the song returned for the next home game.
