MADISON — Head coach Luke Fickell met with the media on Monday for his weekly press conference, where he offered some final thoughts on the 42-10 loss to Iowa, what he learned during the bye week, the situation regarding Jack Del Rio and more.

BadgerBlitz.com has compiled the key takeaways.

It was revealed on Monday morning that Del Rio was arrested and cited early Friday for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, following a crash in Madison. Del Rio, who had spent 26 seasons coaching in the NFL, joined the program this past offseason as a special adviser to the head coach.

Fickell wasted no time addressing the elephant in the room, bringing it up almost immediately after the press conference began.

“[Del Rio]'s going to move forward, and he's going to resign and move on,” Fickell said.

There weren’t many details given, obviously, but Fickell’s primary message was about not letting the situation become a distraction to him or the team.

“We've got a few weeks left in the season, a lot of things to continue to fight for, and nobody wants to take away from that. Whether it's me or Jack or anybody within our football program. So we'll move forward from that, and now we can focus ourselves on the things that are really at hand here with the number one team in the country coming in.”

Of the many flaws we saw during the recent loss to Iowa, the first to be addressed was their performance on first down.

“Everybody talks about the money down and third down. Truthfully, as you look back at it, first down is the most important thing, is getting that thing started.”

On first down plays against Iowa, quarterback Braedyn Locke completed eight of 12 pass attempts for just 49 yards and an interception.

They didn’t have much better luck on the ground. Their nine attempts resulted in 15 yards, excluding a few Darrion Dupree rushes in garbage time.

“So there's some things we gotta do. We gotta have a better balance. We gotta find ways to make sure that we can loosen some people up. And sometimes that means taking some shots with those things and feeling confident, even if you are in that second-and-10 situation.”

In case anybody needs their memory jogged, Wisconsin’s recent bye week followed an abysmal 42-10 loss to Iowa. Fickell was asked if he considered any major changes during the bye week.

“Oh yeah, lots of them. Are we tough enough? Are we physical enough?

“We're gonna flush this thing behind us and move on. But there's an ownership in it as well. So if you don't take ownership in it, all the things that happen, then you can't get better from it.”

Fickell highlighted the team’s inability to fight adversity and bounce back in the second half.

“We gotta stop the run better. We've gotta be better on first down, as we talked about. There's things we have to handle better, whether it's environments, and then really the ability to make some adjustments and come out the second half and be who we really are. I know we haven't had a chance to talk since then, but that's probably the thing that, of anything, that you look back at and say [about] the second half was we didn't show who we are. Obviously during a bye week, there's some opportunities for you to self evaluate. And I think that's what we did and challenged everybody to be able to.”

One of the leaders of Wisconsin’s defense, cornerback Ricardo Hallman, has mostly flown under the radar this year.

This is generally a good thing for defensive backs, but in Hallman’s case, it calls attention to his lack of turnovers this year. His seven interceptions last season were the most in the country. However, this year, he’s yet to catch a pick. The Badgers as a whole have just three, along with a -5 turnover ratio.

Fickell tried to look at the bright side of Hallman’s turnover decline.

“The most respect people can show to you is if they don't take a ton of shots at you. And sometimes it doesn't feel as good. The stats don't show, people can get frustrated, whether it's Rico in general, or even us.

“So that's a part of that self eval, that's a part of putting yourself into a check situation to make sure you stay focused. Because the number one thing that can happen, especially at that position, is if you lose focus, now the shots really do start to come. And I think in the long run, it'll bode well for Rico.”

Against one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Dillon Gabriel, and Oregon’s potent passing attack, Hallman could have more opportunities for a takeaway this week than he’s had all season.

Amidst an offensive spiral (279.5 average yards over the last two games), Fickell was asked what he’s gonna need to see out of the offense throughout the remainder of the season in order to maintain faith in the system.

He acknowledged some of the obstacles they’ve faced, namely the injuries of Bryson Green and Riley Nowakowski, but remained adamant that he’ll need to at least see some sort of improvement.

“To see the progression, to see those guys finding a way to continue to grow and being able to evolve with all that we have, that's, to me, the most important thing. And that's my challenge, after last week.

“This isn't the NFL. You aren't going to waiver wires and things like that. How do we continue to push forward with what we've got? Put them in a position to see that their growth is happening.”

The offense will have a full plate this weekend, facing an Oregon defense that’s held each of their last three opponents to less than 300 total yards, but after the Iowa loss, the bar for improvement is pretty low.

One of the few positives to take from the recent losses is the visible development of some younger stars. Fickell was specifically asked about the improvement he’s seen from sophomore linebacker Christian Alliegro, who recently registered a career-high 16 tackles against Iowa.

“Christian is a bright spot from the last few weeks, and he’s really coming on.

“I think that he's just now kind of coming into his own. He's getting more comfortable in the game, he's seeing things a bit faster, which now allows his natural size and speed and athleticism to be more of a factor. And he's doing a really good job. You're gonna see more and more of him. And he's a guy that we're gonna rely heavily on him as we make this push these last few weeks.”

As Wisconsin’s current starting linebackers, Jake Chaney (senior) and Jaheim Thimas (redshirt senior), are nearing the end of their college careers, Alliegro offered a glimpse at the potential future of the position.

Of the many glaring issues on display against Iowa, perhaps the most costly was the Badgers’ inability to slow down Iowa’s run game.

Running back Kaleb Johnson finished with 135 rushing yards and three touchdowns, while the team as a whole rushed for a whopping 329 yards. It was the first time Wisconsin gave up 300+ rushing yards since 2018.

Fickell was asked about their failure against the run.

“When you can't control the line of scrimmage, I think it starts there.

“What it comes down to is physicality. People talk about getting penetration and creating negative plays in a game like that. You gotta be square, you gotta be sound, you gotta be strong, really just kind of owning the line of scrimmage. That's really where it started. Things kind of snowballed, and didn't get any better in the second half. And then that's when the bigger plays kind of started to happen. And then, obviously, the quarterback hurt us as well. So all things that you know, not that we weren't prepared for, that we just didn't do a good enough job in executing.”

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @RaulV45, @seamus_rohrer, @DonnieSlusher_

*Like us on Facebook