Madison — Luke Fickell spoke with reporters Monday as the Badgers prep for their first road test of the season, Washington State.

The head coach addressed a variety of topics, including Jordan Turner's suspension, issues with missed tackles, preparing for the Cougars' offense and much more.

BadgerBlitz.com has complied the key takeaways:

Wisconsin has a tall task ahead of it on Saturday when their defense lines up against Cougars' quarterback Cameron Ward. Ward is coming off an excellent performance in Week 1 against Colorado State, throwing for 451 yards and three scores, while completing 75.5 percent of his passes and adding 40 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Last year against the Badgers, Ward wasn't quite as dynamic but still operated the Cougars' offense well enough to upset Wisconsin in Madison. One of his defining traits is his ability to make lays with his legs.

"I don't think he ran as much last year as he did in game one. It was the situation they were in, and he was aggressive. It was definitely noticeable (from watching last year's game against Washington State). There's some differences to him. His aggressive nature running the football is probably the one thing that I've noticed more than anything."

The Badgers defense will have their work cut out for them as they try to slow down Ward, who appears to have hit another gear in his second season with Washington State.

Last season's home game against Washington State was a nightmare for Wisconsin. They lost by three points and had several mind-numbing miscues, none more notable than the two fumbles, both of which came at the least opportune times imaginable. Fickell says the staff has spent some time going over last year's game, even though they weren't in town.

"You study last year as well because it's still a lot of the personnel. A lot of the things you're looking at, at least offensively from them, there's some similarities and things like that but you're looking more at personnel and tendencies. But I don't know that we're making an over-emphasis on what the situation was last year. I think the guys that were here understand that and know that. There's a lot of things for us to focus on, our first road trip, our first road challenge, and obviously a great challenge for us. No matter what, this is one of those games that we've talked about how to finish. The emphasis on finishing will be pounded the entire week."

This will be Fickell's first road game with the Badgers, and he was asked what his protocol is for away games and how it differs from preparing for a home contest.

I don't know that there's anything in particular. You've gotta do things a little earlier. You've gotta make sure you get rest and some things like that later in the week; you don't get as much when you're going on the road. I think the idea that there's specific things offensively and defensively that you have to do to be successful on the road is critical. And I'm not telling you something that any other coach wouldn't tell you, but you can't go on the road and turn the ball over. You can't go on the road and not be able to run the football. You can't go on the road and have an incredible amount of penalties," Fickell said.

"That whole idea of being disciplined and playing clean that we emphasized last week, why I didn't feel like we played the way we should and that sloppiness is the things that are gonna be key for this week."

Starting inside linebacker Jordan Turner was ejected in Week 1 for targeting, and as it came in the second half of the game, he won't be allowed to play in the first half against Washington State. Fickell addressed the situation and had high praise for Jake Chaney, whose role should increase this week as the Badgers play without Turner.

"I don't expect to have Jordan. There's an appeal out there, but I don't know. I think you get 24 hours and we should hear for sure, but we're not counting on that. We'll learn from it and continue to move on. The good fortune for us is that I think we've got three starting inside linebackers. I wouldn't say we have two; I wouldn't say that Jake Chaney is not a starter and wasn't a starter. So I don't think we miss a whole lot, obviously we miss Jordan. But I don't think you can say, 'oh, you're out of a starter.' What we don't have is depth and the ability to roll as much and that's tough."

"Jake did a great job, I thought he played a really good football game. I know he wasn't as fired up as I was about I was about his game. I called him up after the game and he was kinda curious as to why he was up there, he said 'I don't think I played that well.' But what he provides energy-wise, what he provides in flexibility for us, he provides a lot. So, excited for him, it's another opportunity for him, but he also knows we need Jordan too, and it looks like we'll get him back in the second half."

There's no doubt about it — the Badgers had some tackling issues against Buffalo. According to Pro Football Focus, Wisconsin missed 10 tackles,. That number is obviously way too high, and Fickell was asked about cleaning up that area of the defense.

"Twofold. I think it's the ability for us to play with more control, and we don't talk a whole lot about that, we talk more about the effort and energy and your ability to play fast, fast, fast. Maybe there was a little more of an emphasis on that and not as much as fast as you can play but still be under control. So, I kinda had a feeling that might be that way, but I think everybody is a little bit different. You know, if I look back at it, after being in game one, maybe we should've tackled a little in the spring, maybe we should've tackled in fall camp. It didn't have an effect on our running backs — they did a great job of taking care of the football. When they had the opportunity to make people miss, they weren't out of practice of making guys miss. You can always look back on it, but I think most importantly in some ways, you knew you had to be able to play through that, especially in the first game."

Missed tackles is an area Wisconsin struggled in in last year's game against Washington State, and if they rear their ugly head once again, the Badgers will be in trouble.

The Cougars play at an extremely fast pace, much like Wisconsin's offense. They get up the ball and get the play off very quickly, which is something last year's Badger defense wasn't accustomed to at all. Now, after going up against Phil Longo's system in practice all offseason, it stands to reason that Wisconsin's defense is a little better equipped to face Washington State.

"This is gonna be faster than what we've been experiencing through spring and through fall. The good news is we've gotten some work at it, but it's always different when you go on the road, you go into a new environment, you get the anxiety of an actual game. So those kinds of things are really critical. And on the whole idea of being clean, I think sometimes what the pace of the game and the tempo of the game can do to you is cause you some of those issues. So if you're not sound and you're not clean in what you're doing, sometimes the tempo will affect you even more. So that's why I think we've got our work cut out for us in the way we prepare for this. And not just say, 'okay, we've handled tempo because our offense (runs it).' There is a difference to it, and the things that kinda showed up defensively in particular in Week 1 are the things that will be highlighted even more with the pace of the game."

The Cougars play at a breakneck pace. Their offense will be a great test for a Wisconsin defense that came out rather sloppy in Week 1.

Wisconsin added a new tight end to its roster in Mike Cerniglia Jr., a Madison native and former Illinois and Northern Illinois player.

"He did a great job in Week 1. We obviously got a little thin at the tight end position...he came in, got (acclimated) really quick, and wasn't slow-put into the program. Monday, Tuesday practice, he probably racked up 50, 60 reps a day. So it's a good thing we got him and a good thing he's ready to roll for us."

Cerniglia is listed as a redshirt junior on Wisconsin's roster. It remains to be seen when he'll see the field, but for the time being he provides depth for what looks like one of Wisconsin's thinnest tight end rooms in years.

Michael Mack, the cornerback who transferred into the program late in the offseason from Air Force, has been waiting on a waiver all summer to grant him immediate eligibility. On Monday, Fickell said his waiver was denied, and seemed like he was holding in some choice words for certain aspects of the process.

"There's an appeal out...I'm gonna kind of hold my tongue to say anything about the Air Force academy and how they've treated the kid, in my opinion. But we'll wait on the NCAA, it's in their hands. Kinda leave it at that."

When asked for clarification, Fickell confirmed that his waiver was denied and they've since appealed the NCAA's decision.

"He was denied, and then there's an appeal. It's tough, I understand. I'm not saying anything against the NCAA, it's in their hands. But at some point in time I'll say how I feel about the way he's been treated by where he went to school."

In his Wisconsin debut, Fickell donned his signature black sleeveless vest with an acronym on the back — T.E.A.M. He was asked about what it means to him.

"It's a reminder to myself, it's a reminder to all of us that we can't do this alone....whether you have stats, you don't have stats, you got an opportunity to play or you didn't get an opportunity to play. If we're going to be successful and we're going to play our best ball at the end of the year and we're going to continue to grow, we've gotta be able to stay together. No matter what, coaches as well. We can't get into one side of the ball, the idea is we've gotta win," Fickell said.

"I don't pound it every day and tell the guys every day, it's just a reminder that, hey, together, all of us will achieve more. If we aren't together, we'll just be resting on our individual abilities and I'm gonna tell you that's probably not gonna be good enough."

Kamo'i Latu probably had the worst all-around game for the Badgers on Saturday. Pro Football Focus credits him with a whopping five missed tackles. He plays with a great motor and solid speed, but too often he doesn't finish a play after being the first hat to the ball.

"I think he struggled early. I think the thing we look at for him is more so the second half. I think that you saw him, he settled down. We've gotta have the ability with those guys to be able to roll a little bit too. If a guy gets into a situation where they gets over-aggressive, they get out of their norm of what they need to do, then you gotta be able to settle them down. And he's an emotional guy, and I love that about him. But I think until the second half, I don't think he calmed down a bit. Game one, I put it on myself, trying to rile guys up," Fickell said.

"It was not a lack of effort. I think it probably overtook him a little bit in the first half, he had some missed tackles, missed leverage. The good thing is when you look back at the second half he was much more under control. He had some sure tackles, made some good plays, and did a lot more things that he's gonna need to do for us to continue to grow."

Latu had some key missed tackles in last year's game against Washington State, including on Nakia Watson's breakaway touchdown catch. He'll need to clean it up in Week 2.

Tanner Mordecai threw two picks against Buffalo. They weren't backbreaking, but it wasn't the cleanest effort from the passing game and Mordecai wasn't happy with himself after the game. Fickell was asked about what he saw on film, and didn't seem overly concerned.

"I saw the play, I just didn't see exactly how it happened. I think we do a decent job of not replaying some of the plays on the scoreboard, which I think I might talk to someone, sometimes I like to see (plays that went poorly). So in your mind, you can kind of clear it. I wasn't sure exactly what happened, I wasn't sure if it was somebody underneath, it was the guy who was covering and undercut it. It's not one you have to talk a lot about. It wasn't a great throw. He under-threw the guy, and he knows that. He doesn't need a grown man to walk over there and ask him what happened and say, hey, you under-threw that. Yeah, he knows he under-threw it. If he needed to have someone to talk to, I'm sure coach Longo would make sure, if he didn't see where it came from, why it happened. But in those times, he doesn't need another person like myself to come over and ask him exactly what happened and give him an opinion of how to correct it. My big thing is to see what his demeanor is like, how does he handle it. If you look at both those plays, he was the first guy down there to make the stop. And to me, that's a big deal. You can hesitate, you can get mad, you can throw your hands up, and then all of the sudden you act like you're going to make the play and you don't. In both interceptions, he made the play. The one, he made the guy cut back and he ended up falling, but they ended up getting no points out of that. He makes the tackle pretty much on the second one, and to me, that's more of what I wanna see more than anything else."

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