Fans stormed the cold and snowy field of Camp Randall Saturday celebrating the Wisconsin Badgers’ impressive showing over the then No. 23 ranked Washington Huskies. The Badgers won 13-10 and now find themselves 3-6 overall and 1-4 in Big Ten play.
Before playing Washington, Wisconsin was in the midst of a miserable six-game losing streak that exposed the Badgers lack of identity and caused fans to furiously criticize head coach Luke Fickell after every game.
It was a more than reasonable statement to conclude the Badgers would not win another game, but Fickell and the Badgers left it all on the field with a win that will no doubt be memorable for Wisconsin fans for a long time to come.
Fickell, who was told by Athletics Director Chris McIntosh before the game that he would return for the 2026 season, had a massive weight lifted off his shoulders Saturday.
After the game, Fickell was all smiles.
“It feels really good, let’s just say that,” Fickell said in the postgame press conference, “In this game you don’t always think you get what you deserve and I will sit here and tell you that week-in and week-out that these guys deserve something because they continue to battle and continue to fight.”
Wisconsin’s victory came in an unorthodox manner.
The Badgers, playing in a wet snow-globe for a field, once again shuffled quarterbacks Wisconsin had Danny O’Neil, Hunter Simmons and Carter Smith step onto the field on different occasions. Nonetheless, their leading passer was their punter, Sean West, who completed his lone pass for 24 yards on a fake punt.
On just the Badgers’ second drive, O’Neil, the starter, was carted off the field after injuring his leg on a 21-yard rush. He was ruled out for the rest of the game, giving way to fourth-string true freshman quarterback Carter Smith.
With Smith in and the weather brutal, offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes opted to go for a rush-heavy attack. Smith often ran the ball himself, totaling 47 rushing yards on 15 attempts, scoring Wisconsin’s only touchdown.
“He gave us a chance. He gave us hope,” Fickell said about Smith’s performance.
Wisconsin opened the scoring early in the second quarter with a 42-yard field goal by senior kicker Nathanial Vakos, putting the Badgers in the lead for the first time in over a month. It also marked Wisconsin’s first points at home since September 20 against Maryland.
It was then immediately matched by the Huskies’ special teams on the very next drive of the game, with their kicker Grady Gross powering the ball through the uprights from 42-yards out.
Wisconsin’s offense was then forced into a three-and-out after a sack resulted in an 8-yard loss. On the ensuing punt from Wisconsin’s own 17 yard-line, West had his kick blocked and recovered by Washington at the 1-yard line. The Huskies made quick work of the opportunity, with a 1-yard rushing touchdown that gave them a 10-3 lead and reverted the Camp Randall crowd back to misery.
But with Wisconsin’s back against the wall, their defense met the moment and continuously made big plays throughout the rest of the night.
True freshman linebackers Cooper Catalano and Mason Posa led the Badgers defensive rampage. Catalano ended the game with 19 total tackles, 1.5 of them for loss, earning him Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. Posa totaled 11 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss.
After the game, Catalano said the announcement of Fickell's return next season “reaffirmed [the team] and it definitely motivated me.”
Posa came up huge in the third quarter when he recovered a forced fumble fromWashington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. at the Washington 7-yard line. It set Wisconsin up for their only touchdown of the game.
“I saw him step up in pocket and I came down. I saw that ball loose and I hit the ball,” Posa said. “It was just amazing. It was awesome and you could see it in [the team’s] eyes and just their body language.”
“That’s pretty impressive,” Fickell said when asked about how important these two young players are. “They’re just doing a great job and they’re playing the game the way the game is supposed to be played. They have that energy, they bring that energy, they have a communication side to them and there’s some natural things that you don’t teach. They got that.”
After Posa’s forced fumble, Smith decided to rush the 7-yards himself to get into the endzone, tying the score at 10-10.
“Moving the ball up and down the field and putting points on the board, that’s all that matters. But it’s something I’ve dreamed of for a really long time so to be able to do that in the end with my boys was a surreal moment for me,” Smith said about his touchdown.
The last scoring drive of the game came from Wisconsin late in the third quarter, with Vakos delivering the winning field goal from 32-yards out, putting the Badgers ahead 13-10
The atmosphere was electric at Camp Randall throughout the game as fans persevered through a downpour of snow to support the Badgers.
With Wisconsin leading in the fourth quarter, the Huskies lined up to kick a 50-yard field goal that would have tied the game. But in a miraculous play by Wisconsin’s sixth-year defensive lineman Ben Barten, Washington had their kick blocked.
After Wisconsin’s offense couldn’t put any more points on the board, the defining moment of the game came with 1:13 left in the fourth quarter, when Posa made a diving sack on Williams Jr., stopping the Huskies on 4th and 6.
“We were scrambling, [the quarterback] didn’t want to throw the ball and I saw a big hole and I just took my shot. I sacked him and it was pretty awesome,” Posa said in a postgame interview.
Seconds later, the Camp Randall faithful let go of a season’s worth of frustration, storming the field in a scene of jubilation.
leading rusher Gideon Ituka was a crucial gear in the offense getting it done Saturday, tallying 73 yards over 19 carries and averaging 3.8 yards per carry. When asked about the monumental challenge awaiting the Badgers in facing the No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers next week, Ituka said, “We got to keep playing hard, aggressive, violent. Offense has to keep attacking and defense has to get those stops, in the end we just have to play Wisconsin football. We block out the noise and stay where our feet are.”
Camp Randall burst into celebration as the final whistle rang that evening, and one can hope the Wisconsin Badgers are just getting started.
