Everything Luke Fickell Said After Losing to Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell, who is 0-3 against Alabama in his career as a head coach, was dealt another defeat at the hands of the Crimson Tide on Saturday. Wisconsin (2-1) fell 38-14 to No. 19 Alabama (2-1) in its first-ever visit to Bryant-Denny Stadium.

A full transcript of Fickell's postgame press conference is below. In addition to Saturday afternoon's result and last season's meeting between Alabama and Wisconsin, Fickell was the head coach at Cincinnati in 2021 when the Bearcats lost to the Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff.

Opening Statement:

"Obviously not easy to swallow, and the truth of the matter is, I told those guys, 'That was a much better team than we are right now.' They showed it. They did everything that they need to do. They played complementary football, and we did not. We knew that we had to come out here in the first half, in particular, and play solid, play poised, play confident, find a way to make some plays on both sides of the ball, but really make sure that what we could do was make some adjustments at the halftime, come out the second half, and make sure that we could put the pressure on them. That's exactly the opposite of what we did. It's tough to swallow, but I promised those guys from the get-go when we started this thing. I said there was one thing that I'm gonna be committed to, it's gonna be committed to being positive. It's very easy to stand up here and rant and rave and point a finger at a lot of things. We all know that we have to get better. We have to get better as coaches, we have to get better as players, offensively, defensively. There's not a whole lot of bright spots. I know somebody can ask about the kick return [touchdown], but the truth of the matter is, even that right there gets overshadowed by the way that we executed. So, more than anything, we know that this was a measuring stick. We're not measuring up to where we want to be or expect to be. There's a long way to go, and the key is, where do we go moving forward? And continuing to find ways to get better and keep pushing, cause the season starts now."

On shuffling within the offensive line group:

"It's hard to just point a finger at that. There's so many things from today. I thought, we kinda thought Jake [Renfro] was gonna make it, but that was late in the week. We weren't sure. He did not practice very much. If not, it was gonna be Kerry [Kodanko] who, I think after the first series, went down and couldn't play, and then [Ryan] Cory had to go in there, and went back and forth on some things, so there's a lot of shuffling parts. We knew that was gonna be the case. We knew that if we were starting three redshirt freshmen on the offensive line, or playing with three redshirt freshmen on the offensive line, things were gonna be, probably, a little bit tougher at times. But I don't know that I can say that there's one glaring thing. There's a lot of other things that maybe stood out more than exactly how the younger guys played up front. It's a process that we've gotta figure out, and find a way to get the right combination of those guys together, keep them healthy in some ways, and find a way to run the ball better."

On Renfro's health, as it relates to his availability in the second half:

"It's hard to say. Obviously, went down. It wasn't his knee. It was his ankle, I think, or something. I don't know exactly how Ryan did when he was in there. Obviously we didn't move the football a lot. There wasn't as glaring of things that I would say, 'Hey, we couldn't go that direction.' Hopefully, there are some options there. We've just gotta figure out what that best combination is and find a way to get in a groove a little bit better. I'm not saying we ever got in a groove, and I know late in the game, doesn't matter, but there's some things where we can find ways to move the ball better, even as we get these guys growing up and working better together. Not to say, that's a darn good football team, a darn good front, that took it to us today."

On the challenges of losing:

"It is very challenging. I don't know where else to go. And the truth of the matter is, we knew this was gonna be a mountain to climb. I don't just mean this game. I mean this entire season. I knew, we know, that there was gonna be some mix-and-matching, didn't always expect the injuries and things as early in the season that you have to mix and match, but knowing there was gonna have to be a competitive maturity even on my part. Don't get me wrong, we're gonna tear this thing apart and we're gonna move forward, but finding ways to understand, we cannot lose eash other at any point in time. Not in a game. Not in a half. Not in a quarter. And sure as hell not in the season."

On this year's group being in a better place:

"I don't know if I said that... There's a lot of things that go into being in a better place. I really do feel like these guys have a better grasp of each other, but that's gonna be tested. That's always a challenge, so to speak, in camp when you're grinding through some things. But these are the real adversities. These are the real challenges to see, do they really have the commitment level? Them, and me, and everybody in that locker room. Everybody's sick. Nobody likes to, not only lose, but lose the way we did. Not perform in any way, shape or form the way that we had prepared to perform. It's tough to be positive in some of those things. Where else do we go? We know that the season really begins now. We've gotta be able to move forward. We've gotta be able to get ourselves out of here. We've gotta be able to get as healthy as we can. We've gotta get into league play and we've gotta get better."

On penalties and miscues:

"I can't blame that. If we can't make life on Ty Simpson any harder, it's gonna be really difficult for us. Give him a lot of credit. He did a hell of a job. He played a hell of a game. Threw the ball really well, but they protected him really well. And that's on us. If we're gonna be, we're gonna get better at that. The discipline things that we have to do show up. Those penalties and those situations, just like turnovers. It's not like, I'm not saying it wasn't a good play, but when we throw them right to them. We've gotta make people earn things, and those are the ones that stand out right there. You're not gonna go on the road and beat a team like this making those types of mistakes."

On what's led to slower starts in the first half than his team wanted:

"There's a lot of things. You've gotta give other teams credit, but I think that the trying to figure out the continuity of how we, what's the combination of guys, whether it's up front, and with, I say a new quarterback, but with Danny being in his second game, there's a lot of things you're trying to figure out. What do we do really well? That's what we've gotta figure out. That's on us as coaches, moreso than it is on the guys and the players. That's the challenge for us to say, moving forward, we've gotta put ourselves in a better position. Especially in that first half, to build a rhythm, to have some poise and build some of that confidence. It shows up moreso in that second half, and that's the idea that complementary football that obviously was not displayed today."

On whether he saw defense as a path to the upset and what surprised him:

"I'm not saying I didn't give the quarterback [Simpson] as much credit. Obviously, he played really, really well today, and we gave up big plays. The ability to handle some of those things and respond is what is key. The third down, you have a penalty and you give them the ball back, and then I think two plays later, they hit a dig for a touchdown. It's a little bit more of a surprise to me. I thought that, the way we had played in the backend of our defense in particular, defensively, I thought that was gonna give us a better opportunity to get that thing to the second half and find a way to put some pressure on, in particular from the defensive side of the ball and we weren't able to do that."

On how to stay positive after results like Saturday's:

"Yeah, we gotta flush it pretty quick, but there's a lot to learn from. I think that's where, no matter what, when you're going through these games and seasons, you've gotta be able to put it past you. I tried to do some studying over the summer, trying to figure out, knowing what this thing was gonna look like, and a part of that competitive maturity had to do with me as well. Not being able to handle some of these situations, and being able to move forward, it's like I try to tell them afterwards. It's not that we're gonna wash this thing away and forget about it, but we have to move on. It's not accepting losing. It's not accepting playing the way you did, but it's accepting the ability to [say], 'Hey, let's correct this thing and let's move forward.' Because the league starts, and the season starts now."