PHOENIX -- Maema Njongmeta offered his teammates a simple yet powerful message before Sunday's bowl practice. The four quarters against Oklahoma State on Tuesday will serve as a lasting image of the 2022 season until the Badgers' kickoff against Buffalo on Sept. 2, 2023.

The performance won't erase the turbulent 12-game regular season. A win, however, could provide some closure to what was a bumpy four months.

"However we play in this bowl game, that’s all that’s going to be on our mind from January until September, so make sure whatever you do, do it in a way that you’re going to be proud," Njongmeta said during media availability on Monday. "Like, alright, no matter the outcome, I put in on the line and I’m proud of the performance I had and that’s all you can ask for.

"You want to ride off into the sunset - a happily ever after."

Those words take on an entirely different meaning for this team. When the Badgers walk off the field after the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, it will mark the end for almost all the assistants who recruited and coached the current roster. Included in the bunch is defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, who was passed over in favor of Luke Fickell to become the next head coach.

"You don’t want to end on a bad note, especially because we have coaches who gave everything to this program, so we want to send them off on a good note," Njongmeta added. "Coach Leonhard’s calling his last game here and you want to send him off on a good note."

The junior linebacker isn't losing focus on the game ahead, but the magnitude of the moment isn't lost on him.

"It’s looming," Njongmeta said. "Like you know it’s there but you really want to just focus on the game. In the locker room after the game that’s when the emotions will hit for sure. It’s one of those things that it still hasn’t hit you yet. After the game in the locker room, it will definitely hit."

Leonhard will carry out the matchup with Oklahoma State as the interim head coach with Fickell there on the sideline. Fickell has described himself in the past few weeks as a "figurehead."

John Torchio sat at a table directly to the left of Fickell during the bowl game's media day. While fielding a question on the importance of the contest, he spoke about wanting to send Leonhard off "on the right note" before turning to his right and pointing to Fickell.

"Playing for Coach Leonhard, playing for the staff and going the other way, introducing (Fickell) to Wisconsin and giving him his first win," Torchio said.

While the field will be shared by a pair of teams scrapping together lineups - the Cowboys down six starters and the Badgers down four of their own - the messaging has been consistent and simple from Fickell.

"We're going to Arizona for one reason and that's to win a game," he said.

A win could help spark what many think will be a "new era" at Wisconsin. Running back Chez Mellusi reaffirmed what the group hopes to have brewing in Madison.

"I’m excited. He (Fickell) definitely has a blueprint for where this program is going and I’m excited to be a part of it," Mellusi said.

"The motivation is always there but I think it’s just more exciting. We have more of an excitement about it because we know it’s a new era and there’s an opportunity to do something special starting tomorrow," Braelon Allen added.

A potential victory over Oklahoma State certainly doesn't wipe away a 2-3 start and a recent inability to contend for conference titles. A win can, however, continue the ever growing momentum in the month since Fickell was named head coach on Nov. 27.

"That’s the thing about bowl games, when you go into the offseason you have to find ways to create energy and momentum," Fickell said.

"There’s no doubt that how to finish a season and how you go into an offseason and the momentum that’s created from the season, but a lot of times from the bowl experience and the bowl game, you can see the direction the program is going to go in."

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