Madison — Following an emotional comeback victory over Illinois in Champaign, Wisconsin prepares to host the No. 3 ranked team in the nation, the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Head coach Luke Fickell met with reporters Monday and addressed a variety of topics including his history with Ohio State, Braedyn Locke's progression and much more

Ohio State is of course Fickell's alma mater, but his most recent brush with the Buckeyes came in 2019 when he led his Cincinnati Bearcats' into Columbus in early September. Ohio State got a resounding victory, besting Cincinnati 42-0.

"We didn't play well...the first thing to start off with is it's not about me. We have some guys on our staff with some obvious history there, whether they played there or coached there. But that's not what it's about. For me, I don't wanna get too much into it," he said. "It's about the players, it's about our team, it's about the program, it's about the journey that we're on and the process that we're in, not the specifics of, 'hey, you went to school there, hey you got guys on your staff from there.' When the ball is kicked off that will have absolutely no effect on anything that happens on that field. So we try to focus on the things that are going to have the greatest effect on Saturday night."

Fickell humbly directed the attention away from himself when asked about what this matchup means to him. He also added that he's been asked to do interviews this week in regards to playing his alma mater, and every time declined and suggested that a player be interviewed instead.

Fickell was a nose guard with the Buckeyes, starting 50 consecutive games between 1993 and 1996. He was asked what he learned from his playing days in Columbus and how he managed to find success.

"Who said I was successful as a player?" he joked. "You're just assuming that because there were a lot of really good players around me, and it made me realize that in this sport in particular, if you don't have great people around you, you're gonna struggle...I think for me, as a player regardless of where you play, if it comes really easy for you and you're always the best, you learn some things but I don't think you learn as much. Just like last week in times of chaos and stress, when you're in a position where it's not in your favor. I would say that's kinda the way I was as a college football player, maybe not the biggest, the fastest, the strongest but you find ways to battle through struggles and you really figure out this is something that you're passionate about. Whether it's the game, the competition, finding a way to be better than someone who's more talented than you. There's a lot of things that we all figure out from playing this game. I don't know that I'd be any different from anyone else. Jack Bicknell played at Boston College, there's a lot of things he learned as an undersized offensive lineman that he takes with him to be a better coach today. When I left there as a player and a coach, the difference was an expectation. Sometimes, you make yourself better because of the expectations that are around you."

Wisconsin got embarrassed by the Buckeyes last season in Columbus, losing 52-21. The defense especially looked completely lost against Ohio State's high-octane offense, to the point where former defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard used the phrase "seeing ghosts" to describe how his players performed.

"We can look back at last year, and last year is last year. Like I said, once the ball is kicked off, it won't have a whole lot of bearing, hopefully, other than things that happen in your mind, but you gotta find ways to close the gaps. If we don't use what happened last year as a learning lesson, whether we were here or not, than we wouldn't be doing our job as coaches and as players as well. So finding ways to continue to close the gaps. There's gaps in everything. Every week, there's a gap in something. Whether they've got better 'this' than you...So we've gotta continue to close gaps."

Fickell then noted that even though there might be presumed gaps in the talent level between these two teams, that's not always the determining factor in the outcome of a game.

"The best teams don't always win games, right? The most talented teams don't always win games. I mean, flip on college football every Saturday. It's crazy how things happen. So regardless of what that is, it's about the preparation. It's about closing some gaps, and then ultimately, can you play loose, can you play fast and can you still play aggressive no matter who you're playing?"

In recent years under Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, the Buckeyes have been known as offensive world-beaters. This season, with a young quarterback in Kyle McCord, the Buckeyes have leaned more heavily on their defense.

"They're a team. They find ways, whatever they have to do, to be successful. Again, they've got a young quarterback, a first year starter...I know they've had a couple first-round draft picks at quarterback, obviously that can make things a little different. So I'm sure right now they're playing a little more to their strengths. And with a younger quarterback, they probably aren't doing quite as much. Does that mean they're relying on their defense? Maybe they are, I think (their defense) is more talented than even four, five years ago when we (Cincinnati) played them. But I think nonetheless, you see the complete team, you see them being able to play offense, defense and special teams regardless of if they've got a first-round draft pick quarterback and they're scoring 55 points-per-game."

Make no mistake, Ohio State's offense is still completely loaded with an embarrassment of riches. Still, with McCord, they're not the offensive juggernaut we've come to expect in Columbus.

Locke was thrown into the fire against Iowa, and played valiantly even though the Badgers couldn't complete the comeback. Against Illinois, he was once again forced to grow up in a hurry, and he got a win in the process. Fickell was asked what he's seen in terms of Locke's development:

"More than anything, experience is critical. Your ability to take the experiences that you get and move forward are really important, and maturity shows in that. Those 30 snaps in the Iowa game that he had, his ability to move forward and mature from those 30 snaps, I thought really showed on Saturday. Was it perfect? No, I didn't say that. With what happened last Saturday, to not have the same things happen this past Saturday, that's where he shows his greatest progression. And to see how he took that and moved forward into this past week, it's not just about how he finished the game. Obviously that builds confidence, not just in him. People are different, right? Some people have a true, internal confidence. And you never really know whether it's real or if it's fake sometimes until guys are out there playing. He showed me that internal confidence is real. But also, the people around you get better when they have more confidence in you as well."

Locke's gotten quite the gauntlet in his first three games of legitimate college football action. Iowa's defense, a road game in windy conditions and now the No.3 team in the nation. The moxie, swagger and confidence that his teammates and coaches raved about, however, appears to be very real.

Somewhat unprompted, Fickell stated in as close to absolutes as he gets that he needs his players who aren't necessarily the stars to step up.

"We've gotta find a way to make sure these guys that are the 2s and 1Bs step up a little more right now. We're going into the second half of the season, and we're not going to be able to play 72 snaps with Braelon Allen at tailback. He did an unbelievable job, maybe he was out for 8-10 plays. You can't continue to do that. CJ Goetz played 72 snaps on defense; you can't continue to do that," Fickell said. "We've gotta have other guys that have to step up. They're not young anymore , whatever experience they have, they've gotta prove a lot to all of us so on Saturday night or the following Saturday, we can use them and continue to grow with what we're doing on both sides of the ball."

For all of the talk about rotation and finding 22 game-ready players on both sides of the ball, there hasn't been a whole lot of that in recent weeks at particular positions, two of which Fickell touched on: halfback and outside linebacker. As the season wears on, look for the coaching staff to go slightly deeper into their depth charts. Still, Ohio State may not be the most opportune game to break in some fresh faces.

Wisconsin has struggled with penalties recently, especially along the offensive line in the form of false starts as well as on special teams. There have also been some other unforced errors such as blown assignments that have kept the Badgers from playing as well as they can. Fickell was asked about how he teaches discipline.

"Discipline is a gift. Everything that we do within the program has to do with discipline. It's not something that's just taught, it's something that over time continues to grow. It's a skill. I don't know if we had as many critical false starts...But obviously there's some other mistakes across the board. We dropped a field goal snap, it cost us three points or at least an opportunity to kick the field goal. We had plenty of mistakes, don't get me wrong. We emphasize, we talk about discipline as a core culture of our program, yet I said on Sunday as we recap the game, the most important thing about our victory Saturday was about playing disciplined, and I said we did not do that. So, we might've corrected it in some ways, I thought the offensive line did a better job in third-and-short situations where we know guys are gonna move on us because we put it on film. We did a better job there, but we still had a penalty on special teams...but there are some areas where I thought we did a better job."

A lot needs to go right for the Badgers come Saturday night to have a chance at toppling the unbeaten Buckeyes. If they can't play clean and with discipline, they're not going to have much of a shot.

Camp Randall Stadium hasn't witnessed a Big Ten night game since the 2020 opener against Illinois when there weren't fans in the stands. Wisconsin is 4-0 in it's last four conference night games in Madison. Their last lost in such games? A 30-23 overtime loss to Ohio State in 2016. Fickell was asked how an environment that's expected to be electric can be used as a recruiting weapon.

"We all know: the game-day experience is critical. In developing not just a relationship, but for guys understanding what it's like when they're on campus. So this is a great opportunity for us. Obviously we know it'll be an electric environment and atmosphere, we gotta do our part to make it sustainable throughout the entire game. But it'll be a big part of what Saturday is," he said. "I've already met with the recruiting guys, there's a few things, it being a later game, that we'll spend a lot more time doing, if we can get guys to campus a little earlier. But I think it's a great opportunity for all of us to showcase what it is that we've got here. Not just on the football field, but our ability to create an environment or an atmosphere that you'd wanna be a part of. Whether you're a student or you're gonna be a player."

This game has been circled on the calendars of coaches, players, fans and staffers alike since the 2023 schedule was released. The environment will be rowdy, especially with the city of Madison having an entire day to...get in the right mindset for a top five team rolling into town.

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