The Wisconsin Badgers know they’re going into one of the most hostile environments in the country in Week 4 when they face the Penn State Nittany Lions on the road in primetime. Kickoff is set for 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Peacock.
Wisconsin is looking for the biggest win of the Luke Fickell era and is hoping to win on the road at a place they haven’t won in since 2003. The odds are not in their favor, though, as the Badgers are 9.5-point underdogs heading into the weekend.
When talking about his opponent
heading into the week, Fickell did not mince words when noting the difficulty of the environment, sharing that Penn State is the toughest place to play in the Big Ten.
“To be honest with you, I don’t look at the schedule a whole lot. I knew that we were opening up obviously at Penn State for the first Big Ten game, but man, there’s just so much that we had to focus on. There’s so many things we continue to focus on. To think about a stretch, to think about anything beyond— I’m not saying we don’t think about obviously Saturday, but beyond that is really difficult. And so I hope our guys don’t feel the same way.
“I hope that’s not some type of burden or something that’s placed on their plate, something that they even think about when they see something on social media. Like, I don’t know that’s in any of our mindsets, but we also understand that this thing’s about playing well in the league. This thing’s about getting your thing, getting started on the right foot inside your league. And there’s no better place. There’s no tougher place to play. And in my time in the Big Ten, there’s no tougher place to play than Happy Valley.”
The Badgers have already been tested this season, as they lost 41-13 to a top-five team in Week 1 when they faced the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. While Fickell and the Badgers can draw some similarities from that game, there will be some differences that they’ll have to be ready for.
“Yeah, I don’t know as much about the environment [in Week 1] because where that was a great environment, it was electric. It also wasn’t a hostile environment,” Fickell said about the feel against Notre Dame. “So it was somewhat split, neutral, whatever you want to call it. This will be different as an environment. But I think for us and some of the things that we did recognize and we learned, and maybe I was criticized, I don’t know, I don’t pay attention a whole lot to being too honest and open maybe after Game 1 of saying what happened to us in the second half, whether it’s being wore down mentally, physically, emotionally, whatever.
“That was a really big game against a really, really [good team], a top 3, top 5 opponent. This is going to be another top 10, top 12 opponent. But there’s an emotional side of things that we’ve got to be prepared for. And whether that’s from the very start in an environment like that to obviously coming out after half, being able to play 60-plus minutes, I think that there’s a lot of things that we can draw upon from Week 1. The only thing missing would probably be that environment. They have not been in an environment like this. It can be really, really fun. Don’t get me wrong. Like, it’s electric. It’s not going to be, you know, some of them 11 o’clock kicks where you just got to remind yourself of, it’s not the same thing as a 6 o’clock or 6:30 kick in Camp Randall Stadium.
“And so there’s a lot of different things that just the idea of going on the road and stuff that we’ve got to be prepared for. But I know that Week 1 will give us a lot of things that we’ve already addressed and can recognize, with the exception of the environment.”
Wisconsin will have its hands full with an opponent that has dominated teams to start the year. It doesn’t help that they’ll have a hostile environment working against them in a Saturday night game.
