Madison — Luke Fickell spoke with reporters Monday morning as the Badgers get ready for their third and final out-of-conference game against Georgia Southern.

BadgerBlitz.com was on hand and as always, has complied the key takeaways from Fickell's presser.

To open his press conference, Fickell addressed the loss to Washington State as a whole.

"It was a tough one to swallow. Going on the road and not performing the way we would've liked to perform. And we got outplayed, to be honest with you. That's just being real. And we said that to our guys after the game; especially when you go on the road, you've got to earn everything that you're gonna get. And we didn't do a good enough job at that."

Still, Fickell said that he liked the position his team was in to win the game towards the end of the fourth quarter.

"If you would've told me on Friday as we took off and left, 'hey, this is gonna be a battle. It's gonna come down to the last six minutes of the game, you're gonna have the ball on the 50 yard line, down two, would you take it?' I'd say yeah. That's what we've trained for, that's where we wanna be in a battle, to give us a chance to close a game out and find a way to win."

The Badgers are now -5 in the turnover differential department on the year, with two picks and three fumbles from the offense and zero forced turnovers from the defense. It's one of the reasons why the Buffalo game was slightly close for comfort, and Saturday in Pullman didn't end with a Wisconsin victory.

"Sometimes they come in bunches, and that's kinda a unique thing. We're o-for in two games. And that's tough, that's tough to overcome in a lot of those situations. You have to manufacture everything, you have to get every stop. There were some unique ones in the game, the ball snapped over his head and it takes one hop back to the quarterback. They drop the ball in the end zone and it takes one hop to the quarterback," Fickell said. It just happens. I tell the guys all the time, when you're on the road in particular, you've gotta make things happen. You can't just hope the ball bounces your way. But in some of those situations, I think it's quite unique. I think I showed the defense three of the first eight plays of the game, we had an opportunity to have a takeaway..."

Fickell's mindset is that turnovers don't happen, you have to go make them happen. Wisconsin will need to improve mightily in that department as Big Ten play lurks less than two weeks away.

Wisconsin only accumulated 90 yards on the ground Saturday. Star tailback Braelon Allen had just seven carries. Fickell addressed the running game's performance against Washington State, or lack thereof:

"I think they did a really good job on the edges early on and took some of that away from us. And then the score, and the situation and the way things were going maybe dictated a little bit of that. As we started to throw the ball a little bit better, it gets into what they're gonna give you," he said.

"There's a lot of possibilities offensively. It's not just a one-man running show, it's not just one wide out. There's a lot of ability to move the ball around from the slots to the outside guys to the tailbacks. Now, we've gotta be able to find a way to be able to manage it, make sure we're giving our guys an opportunity to create momentum in different ways, but I give them some credit. They did a really good job of shrinking the edges and making it difficult to run. But we've gotta do a better job at being a little more creative and finding other ways to get our guys in the mix."

Fickell didn't sound that concerned about the lack of a running game, as he credited that to how the game unfolded. Still, Wisconsin's offense started slow for the second week in a row, and a stalling running game certainly didn't offer any help.

Fickell was asked about what kind of adjustments he's comfortable making offensively when his offensive line, or a particular lineman, is struggling. On Saturday, left tackle Jack Nelson allowed two massive sacks as he dealt with the tall task of blocking Cougars' star pass-rusher Ron Stone.

"We can add the tight end into the mix. There's no doubt. We can add the back into the mix. I think you go in with a game-plan, and I don't know that we were saying we were gonna help anyone in particular, but you've gotta be able to adjust and adapt. They're all within the system, there's plenty of ways of doing that. Maybe we'll be a little more apt to get to it a little quicker, if that's what's happening. But as we settled down, we did a much better job on the edges. And I don't know that we changed, we just did a much better job later in the second half in particular."

One of the biggest criticisms of the new coaching staff in Madison through two games has been a perceived lack of adjustments to in-game happenings. Fickell did admit that they need to identify those areas quicker, but wouldn't name any concrete adjustments, in pass protection specifically, they made in Week 2.

Wisconsin's offense hasn't come out to the blazing hot start that many fans dreamed of. The reality that this is an entirely new system with entirely new players has set in, and it's clear that there will be a learning curve as the offense gets up to speed. Fickell was asked how close he perceives the offense to be to consistently operating how Phil Longo envisions.

"I do think that we're close. Some balance and some things that we've gotta do a better job of, but what I think it comes down to is the belief. It's harder to believe when you don't see it as much. I think when you find a way to win even though you don't play well, it's a little bit easier...I think for us, this is gonna be a big step. Being able to be humbled enough to recognize there's some really good things (on offense), but not being selfish enough to think, 'well, it would've been different if I'd have got the ball, if we had run the ball,''' he said.

"Ultimately, we didn't play complimentary football...so I believe we're close, but it's not just going to happen. I could sit up here every week and say, 'we're close, we're close, we're close.' The reality is, just like turnovers, they don't just happen. You've got to make them happen."

A lighter opponent from the Sun Belt in Georgia Southern will offer a good chance for the Badgers to get their offense in gear before the gauntlet that is the Big Ten rolls around.

After failing to register a sack in Week 1, the Badgers got Cougars' quarterback Cameron Ward on the ground twice courtesy of James Thompson and CJ Goetz. Fickell was asked how he evaluated his players up front after watching the tape.

"I think in the first half, we probably struggled a little bit in some of the three-man pressure stuff. But I thought those guys, really for the most part, ended up doing a really good job. We came into the game on both sides of the ball saying we have to dominate the edges. I'd say in the first half we did not do that on either side of the ball. But as a whole, as the thing went on, the good thing about it is that I think there were eight guys that played defensively. There was no one that played more than 41 snaps, I think. So we're setting the standard of the effort level you have to play with, and you gotta realize if you're only gonna play that many snaps, that you gotta take advantage of every single one of them with your effort. So I think we're in a good place, I think we've gotta continue to grow, I think we've gotta become a little more dominant, especially on the edges, and that's what our expectation will be."

Wisconsin absolutely needs to crank up the heat from a pass-rush standpoint, and Fickell knows it. Two weeks into the season, though, no defensive front seven player has shown a particular nose for the quarterback.

Wisconsin has some injuries to players expected to get starter-level snaps. Fickell was asked for an update on Isaiah Mullens.

"Well, he'll have to earn a lot of those things, just in the sense that there's a lot of guys that are rolling in there," he said. "We're excited to get him back, I don't know when exactly it will be. It's Monday, it'd be great if we get him this week. I don't know if that's the case. I hope, but we'll have to see come Tuesday, Wednesday. Because if he can't go on Tuesday, Wednesday, then he's not gonna be able to go on Saturday."

Tight end Riley Nowakowski is also dealing with an injury that's held him out of action in 2023 thus far. Fickell was unable to provide a timeline, but had a brief update:

"I'm not very good with updates on injuries. I don't know, I don't expect that he's this week, I don't know or expect that he would be the following week, but I'm not ruling that out. And I would hope and believe for sure that he would (be available) after that bye week.

With the Badgers down two and moving the ball with a chance to notch a go-ahead score, tailback Chez Mellusi coughed up the football. It was his first career fumble lost, and a devastating blow that would be one of the final nails in the coffin for Wisconsin on Saturday.

"He was crushed after the game. And it's not one play, that's what we remind everybody all the time. But it is hard. A guy that has that much pride, who's worked that hard. And he knows that the opportunities are not just, you're gonna line up and get the ball 30, 35 times. We've got a great duo of guys," Fickell said.

"I think everybody's got the utmost confidence in him, and that's what he has to have in himself. We had a little conversation after practice, because I still think he was hanging on to it, which is something you can't do regardless of the situation...You gotta move on, you gotta put it past you, but you've gotta remember the feeling. Those feelings are what's going to continue to motivate you, you can't let them hold you back. So I fully expect him to not bat an eye over it, but I can tell you he took it really hard, but you saw the kind of maturity that his teammates have, the kind of trust they have in him."

Despite the loss, Wisconsin's offense looked much improved in the passing game on Saturday, particularly in the second half. Tanner Mordecai's numbers aren't gaudy; he finished with 278 yards and one touchdown while completing 25 of 40 passes. Still, Fickell liked what he saw from his experienced gunslinger.

"I do think that he's in command. I loved his energy on the field. When it came down to it, you saw that competitive spirit. In the second half, having to pull some things down. I think he's doing a really good job. I think he gives us some options, but the quarterback is still evaluated on how everyone plays around him," he said.

"I think he's in a good place, I think he's being a great example of a lot of things. I still think that he knows that it's gonna depend on how all those guys play around him and how he kinda gets everybody involved and makes everybody around him better."

Through two Weeks, Mordecai has thrown for 467 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 69 percent of his passes. He's been very efficient and hasn't missed many throws. The only true blemishes on his performance this year so far have been the two interceptions in Week 1.

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