Seventeen thoughts from the Week 4 slate, on and off the field:
1. We can make every excuse in the world for Luke Fickell if we really wanted to. We can point to all of the QB injuries. Or the ridiculously hard schedules these past two years. We can say he made one wrong OC hire and deserves a mulligan.
2. And yet … name one area where Wisconsin looks like it has improved even the slightest bit the past three years. You can’t, right?
3. And if you can’t beat Maryland at home — let alone lose 27-10 in a game that was over by halftime — then who exactly are you supposed to beat on a schedule that ends with at Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State, at Oregon, Washington, at Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota?
4. I’m fine with AD Chris McIntosh coming out postgame and voicing his support for Fickell to the Wisconsin State Journal and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. At this point, silence would be deafening, especially after Fickell whacked Paul Chryst just five games into the 2022 season. But the end result here seems inevitable.