Wisconsin Badgers were worse than other teams that turned to 3rd string quarterbacks this season

When Luke Fickell has been asked to defend the Wisconsin Badgers' 4-8 record this season, he often points to the injuries at the quarterback position as the biggest factor in the team's struggles.

And while losing multiple QBs to season-ending injuries is difficult for any team to overcome, it turns out a handful of other teams did a better job of overcoming similar situations under center in 2025.

It makes Fickell's explanation ring a bit more hollow.

"You've got to have some awareness of what happened to us," Fickell said after the season. "We're not at a point now where we're making excuses, but there's a reality behind it, right? I mean, look at the majority of the college teams that played with a backup quarterback and just try to evaluate how they did. And then maybe look at some of them that played with their third-team [QB], and then look at if there is anybody else that played with maybe even the fourth quarterback at some point in time."

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At least five FBS programs had a better record than Wisconsin this season while having to turn to their third- or fourth-string quarterback like the Badgers did.

To be clear, injuries to more than one quarterback made every team play worse, and only one finished above .500 in that scenario this season.

The most successful team that turned to their third-string quarterback this season was Louisiana Tech, who finished 7-5.

Starter Trey Kukuk started Weeks 1 and 2 before the Bulldogs turned to Blake Baker for the next seven games. He tore his ACL in November, so LA Tech turned to third-string QB Evan Bullock for a few games before going back to Kukuk for the last two weeks of the season.

For comparison, the Badgers had starter Billy Edwards Jr. for two games this season, backup Danny O'Neil played in seven, third stringer Hunter Simmons started four and true freshman Carter Smith played in the last four games of the year.

Related: Wisconsin Badgers fans critical of Billy Edwards for transferring away after playing only 2 games

The Bulldogs may have had their quarterbacks slightly more this season, but Wisconsin turned to its fourth-string QB as a benching, not because of injury.

The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns also started multiple backup quarterbacks due to injuries, and they found a way to go 6-6.

Starter Walker Howard suffered a quad injury in Week 1 that sidelined him for most of the year. Backup Daniel Beale took over for the next four games before Louisiana switched to third string quarterback Lunch Winfield as the starter for the final seven games of the season.

The Ragin Cajuns won their final four games of the season with their third-string QB under center. The Badgers won two of their final 10 games after Billy Edwards Jr. went down, though they both came against ranked opponents.

Coastal Carolina found a way to go 6-6 with three different starting quarterbacks as well, following a similar trend: Two games for the season-opening starter M.J. Morris before second- and third-string QBs Tad Hudson and Samari Collier split the rest of the season due to injuries.

A lot of people have been asking about the Badgers swath of injuries this season

I thought Fickell gave a very telling answer to my question yesterday, stating “older guys will train differently” moving forward

This is clearly something he’s thought about quite a bit too pic.twitter.com/HGKaj32rL2
— Riley Jauch (@rileyjauch) November 18, 2025

The two other teams that finished with a better record than Wisconsin will turning to three or more starting quarterbacks this season were Marshall and Kent State, both at 5-7.

None of these teams had the daunting Big Ten schedule that the Badgers faced, but Wisconsin fans weren't expecting Fickell to pull off upsets over Ohio State or Indiana.

They wanted to see UW put up a fighting chance against its conference peers like Iowa and Minnesota, that should have been winnable games even with quarterback injuries.

Other teams found ways to win more games with third-string quarterbacks. It's not a good excuse for Fickell and the Badgers performing as poorly as they did.

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