MADISON — Head coach Luke Fickell met with the media on Monday for his weekly press conference, where he offered some final thoughts on the 44-25 loss to Nebraska, the importance of the upcoming rivalry contest against Minnesota and more.

BadgerBlitz.com has compiled the key takeaways.

Fickell took almost no time at all to acknowledge the obvious importance of Friday’s matchup.

“This is what makes college football the greatest sport out there. And this is what makes college football so interesting, right? It’s this particular week. Rivalry week. And I've always said that's why I've loved college football. I've grown up my whole entire life understanding and knowing about rivalries. So, regardless of what has happened and what happened this past weekend, it's one of those things where we knew darn well that, after Saturday night, it was going to be about one thing. It was going to be about the battle for the axe,” Fickell said.

Wisconsin and Minnesota will duke it out for the 134th time, a series in which the Badgers lead 63-62-8.

The Badgers are 17-3 over the last 20 matchups, but have lost two of the past three. The 6-5 Gophers just had an impressive outing against No. 4 Penn State, losing 26-25 in what was a very winnable game. They seem to pose a much greater threat than they did last year.

But, as Fickell noted, perceived advantages and disadvantages often shrink when it comes to rivalries of such importance.

“[With] rivalry games, you throw records out the window. You throw, sometimes even the home field advantage out the window. It comes down to who wants it more?,” Fickell said.

“Regardless if it's Friday at 11 o'clock or if they'd have put it on Saturday at night, it comes down to a one-game season. It comes down to a battle for an axe, and anybody that can't get up for that doesn't belong to either one of these places.”

Even when he was asked about Wisconsin’s 22-year bowl streak being in jeopardy, he redirected focus back to the rivalry.

“When we start at the beginning of the season, we talk about rivalries, we talk about the battle for the axe, we talk about the history of the game more than we talk about different types of streaks and things like that. I'm not downplaying it. I'm not saying it's not incredibly important. I'm not saying it's another thing that's on our plate. But when it gets down to this last week, it's about one thing. It's about the rivalry. It's about preparing to play it in the most important game of the year,” Fickell said.

After allowing just 16 total points during the three-game October winning streak, the defense has dropped off dramatically since then.

Over the recent four losses, they’ve allowed 28, 42, 16 and 44 points.

When asked about the defensive inconsistency, Fickell first brought up the general challenge of facing such an abundance of different offensive styles.

“The great thing about college ball is you get something different every week. That's the difference between the NFL. Not that they don't do things differently in the NFL, but it's pretty consistent in what you see,” Fickell said.

However, he spent the majority of the answer acknowledging their own shortcomings.

“We've played really well, and then we've had some times where we've struggled, and when it comes down to struggling, it comes down to the fundamentals. It comes down to the little things. It comes down to meet-and-defeat blocks, it comes down to leveraging the football, and it comes down to tackling. And when we've had our lapses, that's where it's been,” Fickell said.

“It sounds like a simple thing, but it doesn’t always make it the easiest thing to correct.”

With the end of the season in sight, Fickell was asked about the older players who may or may not return next year, and if he’s had conversations with those players.

“During the bye weeks, we had some conversations with guys and kind of started to lay some things out. We've obviously got a lot of things scheduled for the next few weeks, but it's kind of one of those things that's a little bit tougher of a time,” Fickell said.

“But like you said, as you get into those last three weeks of the season, it's not where you want people's minds and thoughts to be, whether they're players or us as coaches. So it's a delicate kind of situation, but it's not one that we can just put behind us and say, ‘It's not something that's going to be important to us.’”

Perhaps the biggest question hanging over Wisconsin’s program, in regard to returning players, is whether or not quarterback Tyler Van Dyke will return for a sixth college season.

The Miami transfer suffered an injury in just the third week of the season, which would make him eligible for a medical redshirt.

“I sat down with Tyler. I mean, he's got a long way to go. And his mindset is, he thinks he would like to have another year, but he still doesn't know how well he's going to heal, how fast he's going to heal. He's obviously feeling better, and he's moving around, but there's still a long way to go for him.

As expected, Fickell wasn’t willing to offer many details.

Badger fans were greeted by a surprise on the pregame injury report, which listed defensive lineman James Thompson as questionable rather than out, for the first time all season.

Thompson suffered a torn pec shortly before the season began and was believed to be done for the season, although the official report only listed him as being out “indefinitely”.

Fickell was asked about Thompson’s progress, but was hesitant to express too much confidence.

“It was a situation where we thought we could get a few snaps out of him, but I don't think it ended up being what he thought and what we thought. And so it was very limited. We'll see if those things can grow for him. It really comes down to a confidence level and a comfort level for him more than anything,” Fickell said.

A silver lining from the Badgers’ near 20-point loss to Nebraska was the performance of their passing game, and specifically, receiver Vinny Anthony. The junior tied his career high in receptions (seven), but shattered his top yardage mark (137, previously 81).

In the absence of Pauling, Anthony became the de facto WR1.

“He’s one of those guys that we really kind of felt coming along through spring football and through the winter, of how he built his body. And, earlier in the season, maybe he didn't get as many of those shots. We actually removed him from the kick Game On, on the punt return, because he was kick returning. But he's a guy that we felt like, obviously, earlier we got him some shots at USC and things like that,” Fickell said.

“He's just continued to grow. I'm not saying he scratched the surface because he's older than a one or two year guy, but just what he has continued to do, and his ability to build his body and his ability to withstand through the entire season has been really impressive and we're going to rely upon him a lot.”

Last week’s firing of offensive coordinator Phil Longo obfuscated many aspects of Wisconsin’s plans for the future

Fickell was asked what effect that decision might have on players’ decisions to return, as well as recruiting.

"Whether it's in recruiting with, obviously, not having an offensive coordinator, or it's with our own guys, you gotta have faith and belief in what it is that we're doing as a whole. And I think that's where, to me, the guys within our program, the guys that you're recruiting, that's the way we've always recruited,” Fickell said.

“That's the way we've kind of kept these guys within the program to say it's bigger than any one person. It's any bigger than anybody that, in theory, is calling the plays. Now quarterbacks, obviously, who's coaching them and things like that, to me, are really important. But to say like, ‘Well, who's going to call plays?’ Well, no. What direction do you want to go? What's it going to look like? And do you have faith and belief in me and what it is that we're doing?”

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